MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
Cal Ripken Jr. grew up in a Baltimore Orioles family, naturally, as his father had been a lifer in the Orioles system as a player, coach and manager; and in those days of young Cal’s childhood, no team in Major League Baseball won as often as did the Baltimore Orioles, who finished no lower than third place in a season for 10 straight years and for 16 out of 21.
When he arrived to the big leagues, in his first full season of 1982 the Orioles took the Milwaukee Brewers to the final day of the season before falling a game short for the American League East title. The following season, the Orioles won their seventh AL East title, their sixth AL pennant and their third World Series in 17 years.
I recall Ripken saying, “Having grown up with the Orioles, and after my first two years, you naturally have a tendency to feel like ‘This is just the way it is and the way it’s going to be every year.’”
Except that it would be 13 more years until the Orioles reached the postseason again, and in that time, the Orioles, who previously had a run of 18 straight winning seasons, finished over .500 just six times and endured three seasons of at least 95 losses, including the nadir of 1988 when they lost the first 21 games of the season and finished with 107 losses.
In Cal Ripken’s Hall of Fame career, all of it spent with the Orioles, Baltimore had an overall record 1600-1618 with 11 winning seasons and 10 losing seasons, with just three postseason appearances and the lone World Series title in 1983.
The window of opportunity – the window for winning – is open for a very small time, and when it slams shut, it can stay shut for a very, very long time.
The young and on-the-rise Orioles got a taste of this last year, having won 101 games and the American League East, only to be shown the fast door in three games by the buzzsaw Texas Rangers, the eventual world champ.
After three months of outstanding baseball to start the season, they’re getting a humble taste of it again in the midst of a dreadful July, even though they somehow have been able to hold on to first place thanks to an even more dreadful July by the New York Yankees; and now both teams’ troubles have cracked the door ajar for the Boston Red Sox.
Opportunity, particularly at the highest level, is fleeting, so when you have the chance, take it, for there is no guarantee there will be another one coming your way soon..
When the Orioles traded for a No. 1 starting pitcher, a true ace in Corbin Burnes, before the season even began, they made their intentions clear that they are in it to win it, and not to merely make a postseason appearance.
With the trade deadline looming – Tuesday, 6 p.m. – the Orioles have been busy and are likely to be busier still, having traded veteran outfielder Austin Hays to the Philadelphia Phillies for reliever Seranthony Dominguez and outfielder Cristian Pache, and three minor league players to the Tampa Bay Rays for starting pitcher Zach Eflin.
Both deals addressed needs for the Orioles, but there are still more to meet, such as more back-end relief help, perhaps another starting pitcher and a veteran right-handed bat.
If any of those needs are to be met, naturally, someone is going to have to go. The Orioles, as we know, are stockpiled with upper tier minor-league talent that they are likely not eager to part with in any blockbuster deals for starting pitching that would require some of their top prospects to be involved in.
It’s human nature, really – when an organization develops the amount of talent the Orioles have they become overprotective of it. Greedy, if you will. They become hoarders.
Conversely, the big-league roster is currently made up of still relatively young players who have been along for every step of the Orioles rebuild and for the success of the past three seasons, and who are more likely to be involved in any trades the Orioles could make.
Not long after the Hays trade, word leaked that the surplus of talent in the Orioles organization has caused a tense environment within the big-league clubhouse in that there is a sense the organization values its prospects more than it does its big-league talent; which, up until the last three weeks, has produced big-league results.
The Orioles are going to make more moves because they believe their championship window is currently open. How general manager Mike Elias walks this fine line of determining who is to stay and who will go will go a long way in determining how long the window of opportunity remains open.
It’s an embarrassment of riches, which feels kind of weird when you consider where the Orioles were five years ago. It is also a paradox because it feels as though the organization is frozen by its depth. Sometimes it’s easy to fall in love with the unknown of potential and take for granted what has already proven to work.
Currently, very little is working for the Orioles – not the starting pitching, the bullpen, the defense, the hitting, nor the baserunning. The team has been in a complete funk.
That, of course, is baseball. After all, the last Orioles team to win the World Series did so after enduring two seven-game losing streaks.
That was a team that was made up of established veterans who knew how to win, including three future Hall of Famers.
Hall of Famers don’t grow on trees, and neither does opportunity. This Orioles team will be well served to welcome an established winner or two for the stretch run.
But somebody will have to go.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @MikeBurkeMDT