Just not our series....

[Youngfan9886]

3 things I think need to happen in the offseason for the O's to have the same amount of success of this season.
1)Re sign Nelson Cruz, 2-3 years, 26-40m should get it done.
2)Re sign Andrew Miller, this one is going to be costly, but will be worth it.
3)Acquire a big LH bat.

I'm going to say get some more speed. There has to be some weight to the fact that only the 2009 yankees have won the world series while leading the league in hrs. Now I'm not saying abandon what got us here but we need to be able to score some runs when we can't hit hrs. A speedy leadoff hitter would be better with Nick in the 2 spot.

 

[NJBuckO's]

3 things I think need to happen in the offseason for the O's to have the same amount of success of this season.
1)Re sign Nelson Cruz, 2-3 years, 26-40m should get it done.
2)Re sign Andrew Miller, this one is going to be costly, but will be worth it.
3)Acquire a big LH bat.

I think Miller might even be #1, since he can be a closer too. Cruz seems to really want to stay but you know how that goes. Markakis will be interesting. I'd like to see them extend Norris at some point also. Machado needs to prove his knees are good long term.

 

[NJBuckO's]

I like the fact they have DeAza for at least another year, that was a nice move for nothing. I used to like Matusz but he can go. Britton i always have my doubts about but he did a really nice job this year.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

I'm going to say get some more speed. There has to be some weight to the fact that only the 2009 yankees have won the world series while leading the league in hrs. Now I'm not saying abandon what got us here but we need to be able to score some runs when we can't hit hrs. A speedy leadoff hitter would be better with Nick in the 2 spot.

To add to your point, I'd generalize this idea to "this team needs to improve in the OBP department." Consider the following team stats for batting:

Orioles, 2014 regular season: 0.256 / 0.311 / 0.422 / 0.734
Orioles' opponents, 2014 regular season: 0.244 / 0.308 / 0.382 / 0.690

[Notice that most of the advantage comes from slugging percentage.]


Orioles, 2014 Postseason: 0.250 / 0.311 / 0.365 / 0.677

[Notice that AVG and OBP remained virtually constant, while SLG dropped significantly. Unfortunately, the critics were right in the sense that this team lives and dies with power hitting.]


Royals, 2014 Postseason: 0.268 / 0.330 / 0.409 / 0.739

[To put the 0.330 OBP in perspective, this would be good for 3rd in the MLB during the regular season.]

 

[CamdenFan]

The O's folded their tent against the NYY in 12 and folded again this year.

On paper they were a far better team, and yet they got their collective asses kicked. Four straight. I'm not sure as a team they have the heart necessary to take the next step. Is it the coaching. Buck has made contenders out of other teams, but has always fallen short. Once he was gone, some of those teams actually made it to the big show.

The fact is that in 12, the NYY were marginally the better team. This year, the O's just don't have that excuse. They got blown out by a team that is not as good as they are, at least on paper.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

3 things I think need to happen in the offseason for the O's to have the same amount of success of this season.
1)Re sign Nelson Cruz, 2-3 years, 26-40m should get it done.
2)Re sign Andrew Miller, this one is going to be costly, but will be worth it.
3)Acquire a big LH bat.

I think a bigger requirement than #3 would be an Ace pitcher! We need to sign Lester or Scherzer! Give them whatever they want to bring them in because I don't care what anybody says, Chris Tillman is not an ace. He's a much better pitcher than he was a few years ago but not an Ace. We need a pitcher that we know will likely go at least 7 innings a start instead of 5 if he's lucky.

In the offseason, I'd definitely try to trade just about anyone on the roster if it can improve our chances of getting further into the postseason next year and for years to come.

 

[jeffro151]

I think a bigger requirement than #3 would be an Ace pitcher! We need to sign Lester or Scherzer! Give them whatever they want to bring them in because I don't care what anybody says, Chris Tillman is not an ace. He's a much better pitcher than he was a few years ago but not an Ace. We need a pitcher that we know will likely go at least 7 innings a start instead of 5 if he's lucky.

In the offseason, I'd definitely try to trade just about anyone on the roster if it can improve our chances of getting further into the postseason next year and for years to come.

Ubaldo's crash and burn eliminates us from signing an ace starter, IMO.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Ubaldo's crash and burn eliminates us from signing an ace starter, IMO.

Which is why I'd trade him for a bag of peanuts if we could get it. But Lester and Scherzer have more of a proven track record than Ubaldo so trying to sign them would make a lot more sense.

 

[skinz2winz]

We clearly need a pitcher to lead this rotation, then Tillman, Gausman, Bundy & Gonzales. Chen and Norris can take a back seat. (BP) Miller must be re-signed along with Cruz and we will be fine.

 

[NJBuckO's]

Norris is solid and a guy any staff should have, I'd actually like to see them re-sign him next year. If Gausman and Bundy live up to things I don't see the need for a big time FA starter. Norris and MG are solid 3/4's so that's a good backend.