The Master Architect begins his annual June shuffle

An obvious trend has emerged in Dan Duquette’s time as General Manager (sorry, Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations) with the Orioles. In a pattern that has annually tested what little patience Orioles fans have, Duquette has crafted an Opening Day roster and stayed the course through the season’s first two months, determined to assess his roster and know what he has before making any concrete decisions moving forward. He and Buck Showalter give players ample opportunity to seize a place in the everyday lineup/starting rotation and run with it – and if not, they fall victim to the June purge.

Though receiving plenty of flack over the last few years for periods of apparent inactivity, Duquette always seems to acquire the right piece/make the right move at the right time to fuel the Orioles fire and set the team on a course for the postseason.

Now that’s not to say nothing ever happens after June – the additions of Manny Machado and Jim Thome in 2012, the additions of Scott Feldman and Bud Norris in 2013 and the addition of Andrew Miller last season all took place later on – but June 1 seems to be that date when Duquette begins to weed out the weak links in the chain and fortify the roster for the long haul.

Don’t believe me? Look at the Orioles records before and after June 1 since Duquette came on board:

           Before June 1     June 1 onward

2012:       29-22                   64-47

2013:       31-24                   54-53

2014:       27-27                   69-39

2015:       23-26                     11-5

In 2012, 2014 and so far in 2015 (though the sample size is limited so far), the team has shown a drastic improvement after June 1. The only exception was 2013, when the team faded badly in September and was unable to sustain their strong start, but the trend of beginning the roster retooling still continued.

So far this year, the return of Matt Wieters has provided a spark to an offense that struggled badly in May (they are 11-2 since his return), and I don’t think Duquette is done. Alejandro De Aza and Everth Cabrera have already been shown the door due to inconsistent play and the strong play of Travis Snider and Ryan Flaherty respectively. And believe me folks, there is more to come, especially with newcomer Chris Parmelee recently exploding onto the scene from Norfolk.

Internally, the Orioles can likely count on Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy and Jonathan Schoop providing a significant boost to the team in the second half, with Pearce and possibly others on the hot seat. Mike Wright has also shown potential and could feature in the team’s plans as well.

The Orioles are also in the unique position where they could be a team that both buys and sells at the deadline. The Orioles have many pending FAs and some good pitching depth, so they could trade some of those pending FAs to bring in a masher to man LF or RF – although that may not be needed if Nolan Reimold stays healthy.

It’s all but a certainty that Matt Wieters, Chris Davis or Darren O’Day will not be traded this season. They are too important to the Orioles playoff hopes. Bud Norris is probably the most likely to go, but how much value would he bring back at this point? He has really minimized his value with his poor performances this season. Tommy Hunter is also a possibility, as the O’s have bullpen depth and he likely will not be back next season.

In my opinion, and I’ll probably get flack for this, the Orioles best trade chip is Wei-Yin Chen. He has been solid this season and would likely fetch a good return on the open market. Chen is probably going to be priced out of the Orioles plans this offseason, so why not trade him now and get a good return that could help them down the stretch? Given the most recent roster moves, with Chen potentially unhappy, it may be time for Dan to start pursuing this avenue. The Orioles have options in Gausman and Wright who could step in and fill the void. They may not put up Chen like numbers, but they are capable of coming close and, with an improved offense, would not hurt the Orioles playoff chances.

Regardless of where the team goes from here, Dan Duquette has once again proven that, despite what fans think, he’s not sitting around doing nothing. Just because it may appear he’s sitting back and watching the team flounder early in the season, doesn’t mean he’s not already mentally retooling his roster. He’s always aware of what’s going on, has a fantastic eye for bargains (2012 Nate McLouth, 2013 Danny Valencia, 2014 Steve Pearce, 2015 Jimmy Paredes, etc.) and makes the necessary tweaks to improve the team, while at the same time making sure to maintain the core and not disrupt the chemistry of the clubhouse.

June is off to a good start so far, and I assure you, this will be one of the most exciting seasons yet given all the roster and trade possibilities and directions the Orioles could go in.

So as they say in Birdland…BUCKLE UP! The Orioles success is far from over.

-- Christopher Mills 

    @OriolesOTW

#VoteAnything

Okay, I’ve held out long enough. It’s time for an OTW Public Service Announcement. And yes, this is primarily directed at you, Royals fans.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that eight – yes, EIGHT – members of the Kansas City Royals are on track to start the All-Star Game for the American League. So far only Michael Nelson Trout has been fortunate enough to escape their maniacal fandom.

This year’s voting highlights the problem of blanket votes for one’s team of choice (#VoteOrange, anyone?). I’m a HUGE Orioles fan but by no means do I want to see Ryan Flaherty starting the All-Star Game over the likes of Robinson Cano, Jose Altuve or Jason Kipnis.

I understand voting is fun and everyone wants to support their team, but the ASG isn’t about supporting your team or creating a popularity contest. It’s meant to be a showcase of baseball’s best players in that particular season. And as much as I love Omar Infante…well, just no.

So what’s to be done? The sad fact is that this irresponsible voting of fans who only want to support their players (yes, I said irresponsible) has led to the current debacle. If nothing changes this year, and all these Royals players are in the starting lineup in Cincinnati on July 14, we’re facing the serious possibility of all fans losing their voting privileges.

Kansas City Royals fans are certainly making their voices heard.
But is it good for baseball?

There is debate every year over whether or not fans should keep the vote or not and it’s clear that they cannot be counted on to pick the most deserving players on their own.

So how can the system be fixed? Luckily I’m here to help you, MLB. Follow these easy steps and the ASG will be the event it’s intended to be.

1)      Stop releasing the ballot in April/early May. There’s no way to tell that early who the season’s stars are yet. All you’re doing is promoting this “vote for everyone on my team!” mentality. Wait until June 1 to release the ballot.

2)      Release a ballot with the 5 best players at each position. This way fans still get to select the starters, but we’re guaranteed to get starters who are at very least marginally deserving. (Amendment: if you opt to keep the current system, give managers or the commissioner the right to veto any player they deem undeserving of an ASG start)

3)      Untie the ASG from home field advantage in the World Series. The ASG is an exhibition; a showcase. Who cares if it ends in a tie? Fans in Milwaukee saw 11 innings of high caliber baseball and complained because there was no final result, which landed us here. Yes, seeing a winner is nice, but that’s not the purpose of the ASG. The purpose is to see all the stars from across the league together in one game. If the teams happen to tie, that just means the leagues are balanced that year. Who cares? Making it competitive has actually taken some of the fun out of it and caused managers to use their players in a way that doesn't always allow fans to fully appreciate the appearance of their team's players. 

Beyond that, the only real solution is to take the vote away from fans. If that doesn’t bother you, by all means, use your last weeks of privilege to vote for undeserving players just because of the uniform they happen to wear.

Me? I’ll be voting for the players who have put up the best numbers so far this season; the players the ASG was meant to feature.

So if you have the guts, saddle up and join me…#VoteAnything.

--Christopher Mills, @cjmills82