Baltimore Orioles: A Season Deferred

It’s poetic. As blooms burst showing life, baseball players report to spring training with a feeling, maybe at least a hope, that this is the year they will be tackling their teammates on the pitcher’s mound in late October; the last team alive as fall and winter throw a frost over flowers. The Baltimore Orioles are an exception. If they can even imagine making the playoffs, they are delusional. That may be too generous.

With Miguel Tejada being shipped to the Houston Astros, the Orioles have already raised a white flag and conceded this season. With the suffocating power of the Red Sox and Yankees, the solid Blue Jays, and the young talent on the Rays, this is the right play. In fact, it should have been made years ago.

The Orioles need to get worse, much worse, in order to get better. With Tejada gone and Erik Bedard perpetually minutes away from joining the Seattle Mariners, the Orioles need to move other pieces for the chance to have the spring of 2011 be the first spring of hope since 1997.

Peter Angelos needs to put away his oft used and infamous veto when it comes to making deals that would send veteran players away. Brian Roberts, despite his strong fan base and the owner’s affinity for him, needs to move on. The best bullpen money could buy from last winter should be moved right before the trading deadline in July.

Trading established players for prospects is the perfect solution for this franchise. With the Red Sox and Yankees seemingly reaching their financial ceiling and having too many players on the wrong side of 30, the Orioles may be able to take prospects and be an upstart contender within five years.

As one AL scout said in an interview with the Seattle Times, “If Peter Angelos doesn't make this deal, he's a moron. If you keep Erik Bedard, you're not going to win. They need bodies. You have to look three to five years down the road.”

Unfortunately, this spring and most likely the next two after this are lost. However, they will be lost whether or not Bedard is anchoring the rotation. Knowing this, the next few spring trainings should be used to see which veterans are trade bait and which young players can be the supporting cast to Nick Markakis’ show.

This does not mean that Orioles fans should boycott spring training. Because the talent on the fields in Fort Lauderdale, the Orioles’ spring training host, will be a mix of established talent and young hopefuls, Orioles prospects will be able to show their progress respective to the average Major Leaguer and their Minor League peers.

While not the deepest Minor League system, the Orioles should gain a boost when the Bedard trade goes through. According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, Major League talent evaluators are drooling over the possibility of Adam Jones, the keystone of any deal sending Bedard to the Mariners, and Nick Markakis patrolling the outfield of Camden Yards.

One AL Talent Evaluator said that Adam Jones, “[is] going to be a monster.”

The two or three prospects from Seattle and other young talent attained through other trades combined with the established Minor Leaguers in the Orioles system will quickly turn the Orioles into one of the top organizations in terms of Minor League talent. The Orioles will be delighted to watch Matt Wieters, their first round pick in the 2007 Draft, develop into a solid, if not stellar, player.

Even if Wieters does not develop into a useful Major Leaguer, his signing, along with that of fifth round pick Jake Arrieta, show that the Orioles are willing to spend money (Those two received a combined $7.1 million in signing bonuses) to re-stock and prepare for the future as well as negotiate with the infamous Scott Boras.

This is no time for Andy MacPhail, the Orioles’ President of Baseball Operations, to purchase free agent Band-Aids. The Orioles are in need of major reconstructive surgery. With a continued direction towards the development of young players, a little cash in the right places, and a boatload of luck, Orioles fans will wake up from their winter slumber to the smell of leather, the sight of lumber, and the refreshing feeling of a hopeful spring within the next couple of years.

Until then, slip into those daydreams of Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, and your favorite young players stroking the game winning hit off Josh Beckett. Who knows? This dream could come true.