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.
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| 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
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