For those that missed the guidelines I am using for this series of posts, you can find them here.
Team #30: Baltimore Orioles
General Managers(since 1994)
Roland Hemond (1994-1995): 134-122
Pat Gillick (1996-1998): 265-221
Frank Wren (1999): 78-84
Syd Thrift (2000-2002): 204-281
Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan (2003-2005): 223-263
Mike Flanagan (2006-2007): 70-92
Andy MacPhail (2007-current): 201-284
Team Performance
| Playoffs | Division Finish | ||||||
| WC | League | Playoff App | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
| 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
Well, the Major League team hasn’t shown a whole lot of success in the past 15 years, with only a pair of playoff appearances in 1996 and 1997 while under the tutelage of general manager Pat Gillick. When looking through the rosters, these were the best players that I could come up with at each of these positions. I realize that a few of them are barely in the Majors as it is now, but unfortunately I really didn’t find anyone that played these positions that I would consider to be better than the players listed. All information is drawn from Baseball Reference.
| Position | Name | Acquired | Years with Org. |
Stats with Organization |
Left? |
| C | Matt Wieters | 2007 – 1st Rd (5) | 3 | 153 gm, 13 HR, 60 RBI, 49 R | Currently with Org. |
| 1B | Nolan Reimold | 2005 – 2nd Rd | 5 | 133 gm, .265/.353/.442, 17 HR, 55 RBI, 8 SB, 56 R | Currently with Org. |
| 2B | Brian Roberts | 1999 – 1st Rd (50) | 11 | 1139 gm, .283/.355/.420, 77 HR, 443 RBI, 258 SB, 730 R | Currently with Org. |
| 3B | Mike Fontenot | 2001 – 1st Rd (19) | 4 | No Major League Appearances for Organization | Traded to CHC – 2/2/05 |
| SS | Jerry Hairston | 1997 – 11th Rd | 8 | 530 gm, .261/.334/.371, 26 HR, 160 RBI, 94 SB, 241 R | Traded to CHC – 2/2/05 |
| LF | Jayson Werth | 1997 – 1st Rd (22) | 3 | No Major League Appearances for Organization | Traded to TOR – 12/11/00 |
| CF | Willie Harris | 1999 – 24th Rd | 3 | 9 gm, .125/.125/.167, 3 R | Traded to CHW – 1/29/02 |
| RF | Nick Markakis | 2003 – 1st Rd (7) | 7 | 688 gm, .297/.366/.466, 80 HR, 383 RBI, 37 SB, 393 R | Currently with Org. |
| DH | Gregg Zaun | 1989 – 17th Rd | 7+1 | 146 gm, 8 HR, 40 RBI, 1 SB, 57 R | Traded to TB – 8/7/09 |
| SP | Erik Bedard | 1999 – 6th Rd | 8 | 40-34, 3.83 ERA, 639 K, 254 BB, 658 IP, 1.339 WHIP | Traded to SEA – 2/8/08 |
| SP | Brian Matusz | 2008 – 1st Rd (4) | 2 | 7-9, 4.38 ERA, 99 K, 41 BB, 119.2 IP, 1.479 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| SP | Brad Bergesen | 2004- 4th Rd | 6 | 10-9, 4.36 ERA, 79 K, 50 BB, 177.3 IP, 1.415 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| SP | John Maine | 2002 – 6th Rd | 3 | 2-4, 6.60 ERA, 25 K, 27 BB, 43.2 IP, 1.672 WHIP | Traded to NYM – 1/22/06 |
| SP | David Hernandez | 2005 – 16th Rd | 5 | 6-15, 1 SV, 5.19 ERA, 101 K, 77 BB, 151 IP, 1.570 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| RP | Jim Johnson | 2001 – 5th Rd | 9 | 7-12, 12 SV, 3.87 ERA, 97 K, 60 BB, 153.1 IP, 1.396 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| RP | Koji Uehara | Int’l FA – 2009 | 2 | 2-4, 3.89 ERA, 54 K, 15 BB, 71.2 IP, 1.242 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| RP | Arthur Rhodes | 1988 – 2nd Rd | 11 | 43-36, 9 SV, 4.86 ERA, 579 K, 316 BB, 622.1 IP, 1.432 WHIP | Free Agency – 11/1/99 |
| RP | D.J. Carrasco | 1997 – 26th Rd | 1 | No Major League Appearances for Organization | Released – 6/14/98 |
| RP | Jason Berken | 2006 – 6th Rd | 4 | 6-13, 5.65 ERA, 86 K, 52 BB, 151.1 IP, 1.632 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| CL | Chris Ray | 2003 – 3rd Rd | 6 | 10-17, 49 SV, 4.11 ERA, 177 K, 86 BB, 192.2 IP, 1.370 WHIP | Traded to TEX – 12/9/09 |
| BN | Darnell McDonald (OF) | 1997 – 1st Rd (26) | 7 | 17 gm, .156/.206/.188, 1 RBI, 1 SB, 3 R | Free Agency – 10/15/04 |
| BN | Jake Arrieta (SP) | 2007 – 5th Rd | 3 | 1-0, 4.50 ERA, 6 K, 4 BB, 6 IP, 1.333 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| BN | Augie Ojeda (IF) | 1996 – 13th Rd | 3 | No Major League Appearances for Organization | Traded to CHC – 12/13/99 |
| BN | Adam Loewen (OF/P) | 2002 – 1st Rd (4) | 6 | 8-8, 5.38 ERA, 134 K, 106 BB, 164 IP, 1.640 WHIP | Free Agency – 10/20/08 |
| BN | Garrett Olson (P) | 2005 – 1st Rd (48) | 3 | 10-13, 6.87 ERA, 111 K, 90 BB, 165 IP, 1.818 WHIP | Traded to CHC – 1/18/09 |
Clearly, I had to stretch quite a bit to get some of these starting positions filled. Nolan Reimold has never played at 1B in the Major Leagues, but has been working at 1B in the minor leagues this season. The next best player to fill that position would have been Gregg Zaun, who has played 2 games totaling 8 innings at 1B in his major league career, none of which were with the Orioles. Overall, this team looks pretty sad overall. You’ve got solid players at 2B, LF, and RF, and a single starting pitcher. After that, you have good young players who are too new to have shown exactly what they can do yet at C, 1B, and 2 of their starting pitchers. There are some good role players, but unfortunately the build for this team kind of looks similar to the real-life organization at this point: Very raw, and not particularly good.
Looking at their drafting results, they have had 29 first round picks in the last 15 drafts (not including 2010). Ignoring the 2009 draftee, they have had only 11 of these picks even play a single game in the Major Leagues. Even giving the benefit of the doubt for the 4 players who were first round picks but have not made it to the Majors yet, that still brings the Orioles to 14 misses in 15 seasons. Generally, the first round is the one round where an organization will have the best chance of finding a MLB quality talent, and with the poor performance of the Orioles throughout the years, they’ve had 8 picks in the top 10 in the last 9 years. As evidenced by the revolving door that has been the general manager’s office, that’s not getting it done.
Something else that has really illustrated itself as I go through the players is the lack of players from international markets, the ones outside of the draft. While it remains to be seen if there are specific reasons that the Orioles are not concentrating any effort to Latin America and Asia, the fact that they aren’t is clearly hurting their development as an organization.
Overall Grade: I think I have to give them a D-, due to the fact that I was barely able to fill the whole roster with players, and the fact that they’ve missed on so many first round picks. This team would have a hard time competing against nearly every major league team on a day-to-day basis. Throw in the fact that this 25 man roster is essentially 14 or possibly even 15 pitchers really doesn’t bode well for them. Hopefully the Orioles will start to see some of the fruit of the system shortly, as they really need it.
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