Monday, March 11, 2013

Looking Around The AL East - Baltimore Orioles


The Baltimore Orioles surprised the world finishing second in the American League East last season and winning not only a Wild Card birth but winning the inaugural Wild Card playoff game. The Orioles finished the 2012 regular season in a dog fight with the New York Yankees and ended up finishing the season with a 93-69 record. I wanted to take a closer look at the additions and subtractions of the off season to try and judge just what the Orioles will look like in 2013.


I have put each players WAR from 2012 in parenthesis next to their name.

Additions:
  • Nate Mclouth (0.8)
  • Luis Ayala (1.7)
Subtractions:
  • Mark Reynolds (-0.1)
  • Robert Andino (-0.1)
  • Omar Quintanilla (-0.4)
  • Endy Chavez (-0.7)
  • Joe Saunders (0.7)

Notable Trades:
  • Acquired Danny Valencia
  • Claimed Russ Canzler
  • Claimed Chris Dickerson
  • Acquired Trayvon Robinson


With all the one run game victories and the 16-2 record with 16 consecutive wins in extra inning games almost impossible to repeat factored in with all of the above information I can see the Orioles taking a significant step back in 2013. With the AL East as competitive as it is I can actually see them being a last place team with a winning record. I do not expect more career high numbers from guys like Nate Mclouth and even though WAR would disagree I see Mark Reynolds as a huge loss to this lineup. The only "additions" were members of the 2012 team and they lost a few key members for 2013 and did not add much in trades or free agency claims.

2013 Prediction : 88-74 5th Place Finish

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)