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[BSLChrisStoner]

Balt Sun: Five things we learned from the Orioles’ 2022 season

[dude]

I can't read the article. so I don't know if these are the five things or not.....

 

1) There's a transition in approach coming.  You have a bunch of indicators this year.  Count the number of times "the Team announced" something this year ('22) versus the last 3 years ('19-'21).  The whole lawsuit drama is a huge indicator.  Fun times.  In the voice of Yoda, "this is not the activity you are looking for".

 

2) Winning is more than Talent.  We can add more Talent, but everyone (that wants to) has Talent.  You have to go perform well.  This was the DISTANT 30th ranked pre-season team.  They won 52 games last year and the only appreciable Talent change was an .800 OPS catcher after a third of the way in.  Plus 31 Wins.  Go WAR that.

 

3) Mike Elias still has everything to prove in terms of leading a competitive team.  Mike Elias did not anticipate this team winning (see #2) and given the improbable nature of this season, given a chance to ramp up, he didn't pass any test.  If you want to say he didn't fail either, I'm ok with that, but given the real opportunity to ramp up, he took a pass.  He didn't need to push all of his chips in, that's not even a thing, but he could have played and he folded.  And maybe worse if you care about this stuff, he seemed surprised everyone (locally and nationally) else didn't embrace folding. Then bought a plane ticket to try and cover.  We'll sEve.

 

4) Brandon Hyde still has some stuff to prove in terms of leading a competitive team too. I'm not quite as hard this as many, but there was certainly questionable things in August and September when the expectations tighten some.  This is always the problem, playing without expectations is easier than playing WITH expectations.  Again, if you want to say he didn't fail, I'm ok with that too, but he certainly, given the real opportunity, didn't pass.  Deserves Manager of the Year votes (see #2), but his role for a competitive team wasn't solidified.

 

5) Some really good performance, showings, bounce-backs and opportunity for the future.  We can expand more on this one.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Dude’s 5 things. Hard to disagree with any of it. Other than #4 - Hyde still hasn’t managed a game with expectations. Or I should back up - expectations from who? The fans? Elias? Many fans bought in, but his boss didn’t. I know it’s hard for people to wrap their head around that for whatever reason, but facts are facts. Next year is when the expectations start. Elias has been crystal clear about that.

Regarding #2 - I do think Elias major strength is in adding the right amateur talent. I made some snide remarks when I was super pissed at the deadline like “picking at the top every year makes that easy”, it doesn’t. There’s nothing easy about it. So yeah anyone can add that wants to, but not anyone can identify the right guys like he can.