Before the weekend, I intended for my weekly column topic to be about the burden facing the Orioles’ new ownership group and front office to “do something” during MLB’s winter meetings just to definitively prove that there is a difference in philosophy between this group and the Angelos era.
For the last couple of offseasons, Orioles fans had hoped to see legitimate additions because they believed the team was close enough that a few upgrades could help put the team over the top. They did get one last year (Corbin Burnes) to create excitement, but that was a bit neutralized by the news of Kyle Bradish’s UCL injury just days later. This offseason, fans still think the team is just a few upgrades away from serious contention, but the consternation has gone beyond that. There is genuine angst that the hope fans felt regarding Rubenstein’s arrival was correctly guided.
So while signing two qualified Major League Baseball players before mid-December might not be significant news for a lot of fan bases, it certainly generated a stir amongst Orioles fans. Tyler O’Neill and Gary Sánchez are not star players by any stretch of the imagination. But O’Neill is a genuine force against lefties (and at his best is a potential everyday player), while Sánchez looks like an offensive upgrade over James McCann. These are actual baseball players, not guys with eight games of service time three seasons ago who struggled in Triple-A last year.
Signing O’Neill and Sánchez does not complete the roster or turn the current squad into viable World Series contenders. But they’re solid additions who could potentially be the start of the most significant offseason the Orioles have experienced in decades.
That’s why it was so deflating that the news of the signings came on the same day as a report from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon that the team might not be as gung-ho in the market as fans would hope. According to the duo, the team is “reluctant” to consider free-agent pitchers who declined qualifying offers because that would require them to give up a draft pick.
Anyone else having “philosophically we don’t participate” flashbacks to 2017?
The Orioles weren’t in on Shohei Ohtani because they didn’t like how the posting system worked for international free agents. None of the starting pitchers they’ll miss out on if they don’t pursue qualified starters will have anywhere near the impact of a Shohei Ohtani, but it still feels like trying to fight with a hand tied behind your back.
Of course, I recognize the overwhelming significance of drafting and developing in the team’s path to this point and the overall role drafting and developing plays in trying to sustain success. I don’t come here to say “f*** them picks.” Picks are important.
But the moment feels too significant to nitpicks. (I really hope you caught that.) If the Orioles have serious reason to believe that Max Fried, Sean Manaea and/or Nick Pivetta can’t help them win a World Series, so be it. But making a decision like this based on the draft-pick price really feels like a philosophy we hoped this organization graduated from with the arrival of new ownership. It’s particularly bizarre considering the team is slated to receive additional picks if it doesn’t re-sign Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander. Even if that wasn’t on the table, I’d still be frustrated.
Of course, it’s quite possible that, A) the report is accurate (I mean, this is Ken Rosenthal we’re talking about) but not definitive, B) the team changes its mind as dominoes fall this week in Dallas, or C) the Orioles do so much otherwise that we’re not all that bothered that they didn’t sign Fried, Manaea or Pivetta.
A Burnes reunion would be excellent. A Garrett Crochet trade would be electric. Signing Nathan Eovaldi would be … helpful, honestly. We just think they should be aiming higher. And Fried seems like such a spectacular fit in this rotation, too. That adds to the frustration, for sure.
The opportunities are available to make real upgrades to the top of the rotation, even if the Orioles don’t sign Fried, Manaea or Pivetta. If they do that successfully, we’ll never think about this again.
But if the Orioles struggle to find starting pitching early in the year while perhaps facing one or more of these pitchers, it will be hard to shake the “Same Old Orioles” feelings we’ve been so badly trying to shake.
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