Before the season began, I went ahead and picked the Orioles to make the playoffs. Doesn’t sound so crazy right? It shouldn’t, especially if you are a diehard baseball fan and can recognize the talent and potential that the team truly has. However, things are not headed in that direction and in fact the team has dug themselves quite the hole and it’s going to be tough to come out of. Is it time to hit the panic button?

Time to Panic in Baltimore 

Recently, I’ve touched on the Orioles rotation and how lackluster it’s been. Charlie Morton is having a year to forget and sadly that was the front offices big add to help boost the rotation. Grayson Rodriguez is still out and it does not look like reinforcements are on the way.

There are many gripes among Orioles fans regarding how the front office has operated. Despite the notions that there would be a change in approach, that has not been the case. The front office has added to the team, but with deals that are not breaking the bank.

The big adds were Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, and then at the plate it was Tyler O’Neill. Well, Morton has a 10.36 ERA, Sugano has a nice ERA but he ranks in the 1st percentile for strikeout rate and 2nd for walk rate. Yeah, that’s not good at all. This is now an Orioles rotation that ranks dead last in the league and they’ve done absolutely nothing to replace Burnes. But hang on, the offense hasn’t been the greatest either.

Despite the pitching, the offense has yet to break out. They rank 18th in runs (108), sit 23rd in average and on base percentage, but they are able to hit for power. Their team OPS is 20th and it just doesn’t have the same pop that it did last year and even the year before. Here’s the problem.

Adley Rutschman is hitting .209 with a .677 OPS. Gunnar Henderson is hitting .218 with a .641 OPS. Jordan Westburg and Ryan Mountcastle haven’t done much and the baseball world is waiting for Jackson Holliday to truly scorch the earth. The thing is; the offensive talent is there and it’ll eventually breakout and work itself out, but as for the pitching, yeah I don’t see that turning around.

Brandon Hyde has been critical of his players and has called them out in the beginning of the year, but that’s toned down some. Instead, he’s aimed to preach positivity, which is a good sign. But there’s reason to panic.

The Orioles have the second worst record in the American League and have a -32 run differential, which is the worst in the AL. That’s a poor recipe for success and they now sit at the bottom of the division. The division is quite competitive, so they’ll need a quick turnaround. But they may have dug themselves a hole that’ll be tougher to climb out of, especially if no changes are made.

This is an Orioles team that won 101 games in 2023. They failed to win a playoff game the last two seasons, despite qualifying for them. This is a team that is built to win RIGHT NOW and has talent in the prospect pool to add to this roster and get the help they need now.

The front office needs to wake up and put a more polished product on the field. The time is now and so is the time to panic because as constructed (rotation wise), this team isn’t winning anything meaningful.