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

BALTIMORE – The farewell in the Baltimore Orioles clubhouse was deafening, the official obituary for a team that has been playing dead for months.

This much is clear: the honeymoon is over.

When this group was swept out of the American League Division Series last year by the eventual champion Texas Rangers, the reasons seemed valid. They were young and inexperienced. By October they simply ran out of gas. There was dejection, but it was hard to be too upset about a team that had stunned the sport by winning 101 games and the AL East. Time and time again, those around the team offered variations on the same phrase: it was just the beginning of a long run for this young core.

The window is here. And if the organization, everyone from general manager Mike Elias on down, doesn’t learn from its mistakes, the organization could close down sooner than anyone thought.

A new ownership group, led by David Rubenstein, will take a closer look at the company in its first full offseason, and the list of upgrades and tasks is long. This front office would be wise to perform its own autopsy after a listless 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals that should send shockwaves through every corner of Camden Yards.

“It all came down to us sooner than anyone expected,” catcher James McCann said of an Orioles team with World Series expectations of 20 games above .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. It’s also not about the alarming play of catcher Adley Rutschman, who is injured or simply played below-average offensively for the better part of four months.

And it’s not just about playing it too safe at the trade deadline, although you can certainly start there. The Orioles were a .500 team in the second half of the season, and without the acquisition of Wednesday’s starter, Zach Eflin, the deadline could be labeled a total failure. It’s the second consecutive season that Elias and his group have opted not to make a big splash, instead sticking with most of their top prospects and a carefully cultivated farming system.

Maybe bigger moves didn’t exist, but there were other ways to upgrade. One, closer Lucas Erceg, stared them in the face as he finished the job for the Royals in both wildcard matches. Two more, Tanner Scott and Jason Adam of the San Diego Padres, were such significant bullpen upgrades that it makes you wonder: How many games could they have changed for the Orioles? Being bold can give a clubhouse a boost. Being safe, for the second season in a row, can be deflating. “It’s better than nothing,” a member of last year’s team texted me after the team acquired Jack Flaherty and Shintaro Fujinami, both bankrupt, last July. But still?

Optics are important. The dynamics of the clubhouse are important. Experience is important. Especially in the late season.

Kansas City, a small-market team, provided the club with four new players at the deadline and added another trio on waivers in August. It prioritized veterans, knowing postseason experience was important. Who in the Orioles lineup has the experience and cachet to call a pregame meeting to light a fire, or keep things loose in the dugout? Veterans are important, even if they don’t appear in the numbers.

Sure, 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 bewildered and miserable the past two days, flailing at pitches outside the zone, desperate for a three-run homer with no one on base. In perhaps the lasting image of this series, Colton Cowser swinging at a ball that hit him in the fifth inning with the bases loaded. If he had kept his bat on his shoulders, the Orioles would have taken the lead.

The O’s scored one run in the entire series, bringing the organization’s playoff losing streak to 10. They never led and, dating back to last year’s sweep of Texas, have led in just one inning in five postseason games. 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, make the playoffs and go winless in the playoffs in consecutive seasons. Brewers are about to join them.
Others:
Cardinals 2021-2022
2018-19 A’s
1969-70 Gemini@Stathead

— Rob Daniels (@oriolesfactoids) October 3, 2024

“Last year we had Game 1 (we had a) chance, but we didn’t win, but the next two got out of hand,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “This year you felt like these were two winnable games.”

The Orioles front office and coaches will spend a lot of time unpacking all the reasons they became a .500 team: injuries, underperformance, an over-reliance on their young stars. The players, red-rimmed and shocked, will retreat to their offseason homes and wonder what could have happened.

“For this 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 answers for how this team is slipping so far from July. For how the entire lineup dropped in runs per game, slugging percentage, OPS and every other tangible metric as the season progressed.

Someone better find those answers. Next year, the Orioles won’t have top prospect Corbin Burnes — who came over from the front office in a fantastic trade last season — or 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 so crucial. There has never been a time to aggressively chase upgrades and not waste another year of a young, controllable, cheap core.

Changing windows. Injuries happen; players age. The Orioles don’t even have to leave the division to prove how quickly things can turn sour. 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 major league talent. It has done a great job of turning around an organization that was in trouble. Now it’s time to figure out how to take the next step.

Good is no longer good enough. And just going to October is not possible either.

(Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)