I have been writing throughout this month at BaltimoreBaseball.com and really have enjoyed and appreciated very much the forum I was provided here.
Some fans and readers may have seen my announcement Thursday of a move for me to Substack and that move has been made.
Readers moving forward can find me at Steveonbaseball.Substack.com. There will always be free content there but also a subscription element and any fans and readers that choose to support me that way, well, thanks times a hundred!
You already know, if you are here, that BaltimoreBaseball.com is and will continue to be a destination for Birdland to get great O’s coverage. I will continue to follow the coverage here.
A few predictions before I exit stage right.
And since I lean toward the positive, I will lean that way with these fearless predictions.
The Orioles will win the AL East: While a lot of time and space and airtime has been devoted to what is missing from this team, like ace Corbin Burnes, there is still plenty here to like.
The falloff of the offense late last year in my mind will prove to be an outlier. For most of the last two years, this offense has been very solid. In fact, even with the late-year falloff, the O’s rank fourth in the majors in runs scored since 2023.
They will score some runs and if a few key players stay healthy and/or young guys take a step forward, they could rank again among the game’s best here.
The pitching is the main concern for me. Their first five in the rotation I see as solid, but can they stay healthy? History says no, something will go wrong. Then the depth will be tested.
Jackson Holliday will be an above-average player: You can’t keep a good man down, even if he is just 21 and looks younger.
The MLB average OPS in 2024 was .711 and I see Holliday exceeding that and maybe putting up a .750 or more. My sense is that he is on a two-year run of trending upward in his numbers. I don’t see an explosion where he takes a massive leap forward and looks like an All-Star right away, but I think he will be on his way when this new season begins.
Charlie Morton will turn back time once again: At 41, can he be productive for the Orioles? My optimistic take says yes. This guy won’t be pitching at 50 will he?
Proving to be amazingly durable even as he got older, Morton has thrown 30 or more starts the past six full seasons. Over the past two years, he’s thrown 328 2/3 innings to an ERA of 3.92 and a .248 batting average against with 24 quality starts.
His ERA+ was 120 in 2023 and 99, about league average last season. I say he gets close to that 120 number and that would indeed be a nice surprise. Father Time eventually gets all pitchers and he is coming for Morton at some point.
But I say he has one more big year in the sun in him.
Here is to a great season O’s fans, you all deserve it. Thanks to BaltimoreBaseball.com for the opportunity and the hospitality.