O's The Agony...Here we go again

(Another One For Abbott)

It's been almost 12 years since that infamous Derek Jeter home run in the 1996 ALCS that ruined the World Series dreams of Orioles fans. Even today, mentioning the name Jeffrey Maier inside the other beltway (I-695)is likely to get you a dirty look and a shake of the head. Yet if it wasn't for Peter Angelos, Maier's name would probably be just another mostly forgotten piece of baseball folklore. Instead Maier's name joins the ranks of the other great spoilers....Billy Buckner, Steve Bartman, and the Billy Goat. To O's fans he is a bitter reminder of what could have been, and probably what should have been. So why do I bring this up today? I bring it up because of the Erik Bedard trade to Seattle, which in my opinion is yet another in a series of long mistakes and setbacks suffered at the hands of an owner who can't tell left from right or up from down.

It's no secret that you simply can not win championships without good starting pitching. Sure, the O's pick up reliever George Sherrill in the trade who had an era of 2.36 over 45.2 innings last season. But lets not forget that we are talking about an Orioles team who gave up 30 runs in one game alone to Texas last August. Relief pitching isn't going to count for anything if by the time you bring him in the score is so lopsided you might as well declare the mercy rule.

Ok, so I am saying the O's need better defense so the acquisition of Adam Jones, a top Seattle prospect, should be good news right? Well, the real answer to that is maybe. Defensively yes, Jones appears to be the cork in the outfield that the O's have been looking for, but behind the plate Jones hasn't been spectacular in his (albeit limited) appearances so far batting .246 with a .700 OPS. I will say that those numbers have improved over last year, and are likely to continue to do so, but in my opinion the gamble is going to end up not being worth giving up Bedard.

I don't pretend to be the all wise sage of baseball trades and acquisitions, and here's hoping that I am completely wrong on all of these predictions. However if the Orioles really want to start to rebuild their team the right way they need to start at the top and figure out a way to trade Angelos.