A Reason for Hope in the Charm City

On February 4^th, Dave giddily texted me, “We just signed Vlad!” Sometimes you can sense emotions or even images through a text message. I saw Dave do the following actions in chronological order: place his arms in the air and shout, “YES!!!”; call Wayne(Papa Steinour); text me; text Emily; run to his closet to grab his Ripken jersey; open up a can of Miller High Life (the Champagne of Beers…); sit back on the couch and say, “This is the year!”

Is Dave just a delirious fan or does he really have a reason for hope?

When I received Dave’s jubilant text, I mentally put together a potential opening day lineup for the O’s. I was surprised to examine the lack of weakness in the line-up. The projected 9^th hitter in the lineup, J.J. Hardy, has the capability of hitting 26 home runs! How many AL teams can say that about their #9 batter?

1. 2B Brian Roberts:
.278 BA, .354 OBP, .391 SLG, 4 HR, 15 RBI in 2010
2. RF Nick Markakis:
.297 BA, .370 OBP, .436, SLG, 12 HR, 60 RBI in 2010
3. C Matt Wieters:
.249 BA, .319 OBP, .377 SLG, 11 HR, 55 RBI in 2010
4. DH Vladimir Guerrero:
.300 BA, .345 OBP, .496 SLG, 29 HR, 115 RBI in 2010
5. LF Luke Scott:
.284 BA, .368 OBP, .535 SLG, 27 HR, 72 RBI in 2010
6. 3B Mark Reynolds:
.198 BA, .320 OBP, .433 SLG, 32 HR, 85 RBI in 2010
7. CF Adam Jones:
.284 BA, .325 OBP, .442 SLG, 19 HR, 69 RBI in 2010
8. 1B Derrek Lee:
.260 BA, .347 OBP, .428 SLG, 19 HR, 80 RBI in 2010
9. SS J.J. Hardy:
.268 BA, .320 OBP, .394 SLG, 6 HR, 38 RBI in 2010

The lineup is a nice mix of hitting styles. There are a couple who hit for average (Roberts, Markakis), several boppers (Reynolds, Scott and Guerrero) and two hybrids (Lee, Jones). The lineup has a diverse experience of players in their prime (Roberts, Reynolds, Jones, Markakis) and some solid veterans (Lee, Guerrero, Scott, Hardy). One player that does not fit in any of groups listed above is sophomore catcher, Matt Wieters. Wieters is supposed to be the “The Perfect Catch” according Sports Illustrated.

Dave assures me that the pitching staff is solid and I really like the addition of Justin Duchscherer. With a breakout year from Wieters, the O’s have the potential to make noise in the AL East this year. And by “make noise” I mean compete with the Yankees and Rays for the wild card(the Red Sox are a lock for the AL East crown).A bust year from Wieters and the O’s come in 4^th place in the Division.