Ghiroli: The Orioles’ honeymoon is over and their front office needs to find answers

BALTIMORE — The pats on the back as they said goodbye in the Baltimore Orioles clubhouse were deafening, the official obituary for a team that has been playing dead for months.

This much is clear: the honeymoon is over.

Last year, when this group was eliminated from the American League Division Series by the eventual champion Texas Rangers, the reasons seemed sound. They were young and inexperienced. They simply ran out of gas in October. There was dejection, but it was hard to get too upset about a team that had stunned the sport with 101 wins and the AL East. Again and again, members of the team expressed variations of the same phrase: “It was just the beginning of a long period of time for this young core.”

The window is there. And if the organization, from general manager Mike Elias to everyone, doesn’t learn from its mistakes, it could collapse sooner than anyone thought.

A new ownership group led by David Rubenstein will take a look at the company in its first full offseason, and the list of upgrades and to-dos is long. After a listless 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals that sent shockwaves through every corner of Camden Yards, it would be wise for this front office to conduct its own autopsy.

“It all came crashing down sooner than anyone expected,” catcher James McCann said of an Orioles team with World Series expectations that was 20 games over .500 in the first half of the season.

This isn’t just about Jordan Westburg’s injury, but when Westburg broke his hand, the Orioles’ offense took a nosedive in August and September. Nor is it about the alarming play of catcher Adleyrutschman, who is either injured or has just played the better part of four months as a subpar offensive player.

And it’s not just about playing it safe at the trade deadline, although you could certainly start there. The Orioles were a .500 team in the second half of the season, and had Zach Eflin, Wednesday’s starter, not been signed, the deadline could be considered a complete failure. It’s the second season in a row that Elias and his group have opted not to make a big splash, instead retaining most of their top prospects and the carefully maintained farm system.

Maybe there weren’t any major steps, but there were other opportunities for an upgrade. One, closer Lucas Erceg, stared them in the face as he did his job for the Royals in both wild card games. Two others, Tanner Scott and Jason Adam of the San Diego Padres, were such significant bullpen upgrades that one wonders: How many games could they have changed for the Orioles? Courage can enliven a clubhouse. Playing it safe for the second year in a row can be disappointing. “It’s better than nothing,” a member of last year’s team wrote to me after the team acquired Jack Flaherty and Shintaro Fujinami, both busts, last July. But was that it?

Optics are important. The dynamics in the clubhouse are important. Experience counts. Especially in the off-season.

Kansas City, a small team, added four new players at the deadline and added another trio on waivers in August. Priority was given to veterans because knowledge of postseason experience was important. Who on the Orioles team has the experience and courage to call a pregame meeting to light a fire or keep things casual in the dugout? Veterans are important, even if they don’t show up in large numbers.

Of course, the Orioles could have added Scott, Adam, Erceg and old Mariano Rivera at the deadline, but it still wouldn’t have helped much against Kansas City. The O’s lineup has looked confused and miserable the last two days. They hit pitches outside the zone, desperately trying to hit a three-run home run with no one on base. Perhaps the lasting image of this series is Colton Cowser batting for a ball that hit him in the fifth inning with the bases loaded. Had he kept his bat on his shoulders, the Orioles would have taken the lead.

The O’s scored one run in the entire series, extending the organization’s playoff losing streak to 10. They never led and had led by just one inning in five postseason games since last year’s win over Texas. These don’t just feel like losses; they feel almost inevitable. That’s what needs to change.

O’s became the fourth team to win ≥90 regular season games, reach the playoffs, and go winless in the playoffs in consecutive seasons. Brewers are about to join them.
Other:
Cardinals 2021-22
2018-19 A’s
1969-70 twins@Stathead

– Rob Daniels (@oriolesfactoids) October 3, 2024

“Last year we had a chance in Game 1, didn’t win, but then the next two kind of got out of control,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “This year it felt like there were two winnable games.”

The Orioles front office and coaches will spend a long time trying to figure out all the reasons they became a .500 team: injuries, lack of production, overconfidence in their young stars. Players will retreat to their offseason homes, red-eyed and shocked, wondering what could have been.

“For it to happen two years in a row is a tough pill to swallow,” said first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who like many of his teammates had no answer for how this team has slipped so far since July. For how the entire roster declined in runs per game, slugging percentage, OPS, and every other tangible metric over the course of the season.

Someone better find these answers. Next year, the Orioles won’t have star player Corbin Burnes – who came through the front office in a fantastic trade last offseason – nor Anthony Santander, who hit a team-leading 44 home runs and is also headed to free agency. Those are big shoes to fill.

Make no mistake: This is still a talented young team. But never has an offseason felt more critical. There’s never been a time to aggressively pursue upgrades and not waste another year on a young, controllable, cheap core.

Windows change. Injuries occur; Age of players. The Orioles don’t even need to move out of the division to prove how quickly things can go wrong. Just look at the Toronto Blue Jays.

The front office has proven it can build a minor league system and develop an enviable group of young big league talent. It did a great job getting an organization that was in a tough spot back on its feet. Now it’s time to figure out how to take the next step.

Good is no longer good enough. And it can’t be that it will just be October.

(Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)