Baltimore Orioles: 5 Changes Needed to Give Them a Shot in the AL East

Let's be real here: The Baltimore Orioles are a baseball franchise in desperate need of some drastic changes.

The thing is, there doesn't seem to be a definite and obvious way of going about fixing this team.

With the hiring of Dan Duquette as the team's executive vice president of baseball operations, the O's may be taking a step in the right direction, considering Duquette's resume and track record.

However, Duquette and the rest of the Birds' front office personnel have a lot of work to do, and since building a winning baseball team is a delicate process, every move of theirs must be carefully calculated.

The following slides show examples of just a few of the things that need to happen in order to turn this baseball team back into a model franchise.

Improve Their Scouting and Player Development

Over these last 14 horrible seasons of Baltimore baseball, the O's have really stunk it up with drafting and developing top talent.

Matt Wieters (pictured) is one of just a few players to come out of the draft and make an impact for the Orioles.

If the O's want to compete, they're going to have to up their scouting ability to a much higher level and get much better at turning that young talent into productive major league ballplayers.

The hiring of former Blue Jays professional crosschecker Gary Rajsich as the team's new amateur scouting director could very well help this cause, though only time will tell.

Fixing the Orioles' minor league system is the biggest piece to solving the puzzle that is this franchise.

Angelos Needs to Open His Wallet

If Orioles owner Peter Angelos honestly wants to see his team succeed, then he's going to have to open his wallet, at least a little more.

For the 2011 season, his team's overall payroll was at $87 million on the year. Not too shabby, but it definitely won't help you hang with the big boys in New York and Boston.

Angelos is going to have to shell out more of his riches to obtain—and keep—top baseball talent.

Big name players (such as Prince Fielder and Mark Buehrle) aren't going to want to come to a perennial loser like Baltimore if they're not going to be grossly overpaid.

Now, I'm not saying to go out and grab those two guys. I actually wouldn't like that very much, as those two aren't the answer to the Orioles' woes.

But what I'm saying is, to get top talent to come to a losing team, the owner is going to have to overpay.

Not to mention, keeping your homegrown talent.

Many of the Orioles' young, talented players will be facing the prospect of free agency before we know it, and to keep those players around, Angelos will need to—you guessed it—pay up.

It's not something that's very likely, but it is something that's very necessary.

Stop Paying Big for Old Stopgap Players

The Orioles have a long and sad history of acquiring these big-name, expensive players.

That history includes players who are over the hill in baseball years and don't produce like they had in the past.

Last year, it was Derrek Lee (pictured) and Vladimir Guerrero. In 2006, we had Jeff Conine (as much as I love him), and 2005 brought us Sammy Sosa along with the return and defamation of Rafael Palmeiro.

Kevin Millar (not exactly a "big name," but he was a stopgap player nonetheless) was here for three years, and though he's a great teammate, baseball guy and did give one above-average season, he wasn't part of the solution.

Then we had Miguel Tejada and Garrett Atkins in 2010, Jay Payton in 2007 and 2008 and the return of Steve Trachsel in 2008.

Yeah, that should be proof enough that the O's pretty much fail at evaluating older talent.

Stick to the young guns, and grab a couple proven vets in their early 30s. No more aging superstars or one-and-done players hoping to strike gold.

Somehow, Someway, Better the Rotation

Relying on the young starters to blossom last season didn't work for the O's, as they had horrendous pitching all year.

Their starting rotation had the worst rotation ERA in all of baseball, and Brian Matusz (pictured) had the worst season a starting pitcher has had in all of baseball history.

So, going with the "relying on the young kids" plan yet again isn't exactly a good idea.

What the O's really need to do is go out there and get a proven, effective starter who can help anchor the top of the rotation with staff ace (by default) Jeremy Guthrie.

As well, there's talk of the O's moving setup man/closer Jim Johnson to the rotation, where he spent his whole minor league career. If he can be just nearly as effective in the rotation as he is in the bullpen, that would give the O's a great, quality pitcher in their rotation, and it would help them immensely.

Pitching wins championships.

Right now, the Orioles would win a championship only for the crappiest pitching title.

Fix the pitching, and the rest should come a whole lot easier.

Find a True Cleanup Hitter

One thing the Orioles have lacked for a while now is a true cleanup hitter. A batter who strikes fear in opposing pitchers like Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton do.

Granted, those two players are one-in-a-lifetime talents, but you get the idea.

The Orioles need a player to bat cleanup. Their lineup is already pretty sound, but there's no true cleanup guy.

Adam Jones and Nick Markakis aren't it.

J.J. Hardy is good, but he's better in the two-hole or lower in the order. Mark Reynolds (pictured) has the necessary pop, but he doesn't have the average and strikes out way too much. He should hit in the six or seven spot.

See what I mean?

The O's have some good hitters, but no one who can be counted on to be that guy in the four-spot of the order.

And I'm not saying to go out and get one now.

No, with the pitching as bad as it is, a big hitter like Prince Fielder wouldn't help. He'd just tie up a huge chunk of the payroll.

When the O's have made the necessary changes to their pitching and feel like the team is one or two moves away from making a run at contention, then get a big hitter for the heart of the lineup.

Because, really, even though pitching wins championships, more often than not you're going to need some big bats as well.