Orioles Dead Quiet in Offseason, Not to Worry

Multiple teams so far this offseason have made a lot of moves towards either rebuilding/reshaping their team or to build the talent already in the locker room. One team though, however, who has not done anything, is the Baltimore Orioles. Since the beginning of the offseason, the O’s have been dead quiet, while sitting by the fire, as other teams, including ones in their division, have gone outside in the cold and been aggressive in pursuing free agents or trade targets. Some O’s fans may argue that the team does not need to do much this winter, which is true due to Baltimore running away with the division in 2014 despite many key injuries. But now as December is winding down, the story has changed, as former Orioles Nick Markakis, Andrew Miller, and Nelson Cruz have all decided to sign with new teams, leaving the O’s with some big holes to fill in addition to finding depth for their injury prone 3B and 1B. With the storybook changing dramatically now for the offseason of the Baltimore Orioles, fans have a right to be angry and worried now.

Despite the O’s having lots of work to do, the fans don’t need to worry as much as say Red or Philly fans do because the O’s have a miracle worker as a manger. Since the O’s hired Buck Showalter during the middle of the 2010 season, the O’s have putt up a record of 377-328, while winning the division in 2014 and making the playoffs the last 2 seasons, pulling Baltimore out of a 14-year losing drought. Showalter is known to pull teams out of slumps and turn them into a contender, and that is what he has done for the O’s the past 4 seasons. 2014, however, was the most impressive performance put on by Buck, as despite the injuries to his key players and the lack of pitching talent, he managed the O’s to a record of 96-66 (2^nd in MLB) on his way to winning the manager of the year in the AL this past season. Even though Showalter did a great job managing around injuries and turning the lack of pitching into a 3.44 team ERA, it is not a guarantee that he can pull it off again, as the AL East is going to be a lot tougher in 2015. So with this said, GM, Dan Duquette, needs to do his part and fill the holes with some good players, so Showalter does not need to strain into pulling another rabbit out of his hat for the 2015 season. In order for the O’s to compete again as they did the last two years, they need to add 2 outfielders, a couple pitchers, and an infielder before Spring Training starts, but because of Buck Showalter, the O’s might still be able to compete in 2015 without late offseason additions.