early analysis

[mmmbeer]

Like everyone says, "It's still too early, blah, blah, blah"...

Too many errors so far this season.  The O's are not a team with much margin for error. The pitching staff is average by design. The D must be able to bail them out. If they are letting them down instead, we will continue to see early SP exits and a burned out BP.  It seems like something concentration should be able to fix (Manny), but maybe the ball's not going to bounce their way this year.  They won't be competitive for long if they don't tighten up.

My other technical analysis -- Holy crap, Paredes is a 1 man wrecking crew!

[Deleted]

I agree that the defense has been lacking somewhat in the early going, but the injuries haven't helped, either. If a team's strength is up the middle, as the old baseball adage goes, then the Orioles are lacking right now. Hopefully Hardy is ready soon, Schoop can get back ahead of schedule, and anything from Wieters should be considered a bonus at this point. It doesn't help a defense when you have guys out there who aren't used to playing with each other every day.

Paredes may have figured something out at the plate, but being hot over a short span of time provides no predictive value. His resume is still very light, his career OPS is .620 and he doesn't offer a heckuva lot with the glove. He certainly wouldn't be the first "toolsy" player to finally have everything click, but I'm not ready to consider him a cornerstone of the Orioles going forward.

I'm more concerned about the bullpen than the starting pitching right about now. I still have no faith in Matusz, and while Hunter and Brach are fine, they should be fourth or fifth options rather than second or third. I really miss Andrew Miller, but there's no way the Orioles were going to get into a bidding war with the Yankees to retain him. Still, a lights-out reliever would be a terrific safety net right about now.