The Orioles are once again being disregarded, but this may be a good thing.
At this point, the national media disrespecting the Orioles ahead of the upcoming season is a time-honored tradition. Last offseason there was a near-unanimous viewpoint on the Orioles that echoed across the media landscape. No matter where you turned, there was a writer or MLB insider calling for the 83-win O’s of 2022 to take a step back in 2023. Predictions of Baltimore finishing fourth or fifth in the AL East were plentiful. All the Orioles did as a response was to put up their first 100-win season since 1980 and capture their first AL East title since 2014.
This year, the offseason disrespect has been more nuanced. The yearly disrespect tour started with FanGraphs releasing its offseason rotation ranking for the 2024 season. Last season, the Orioles starters combined for a 4.14 ERA. That performance helped contribute to a team ERA (3.90) that was the seventh best in MLB.
With that solid foundation to build on, you’d figure the projections would at least have the O’s rotation in the top half of the league. After all, Baltimore is set to bring back bonafide ace Kyle Bradish and get full seasons from Grayson Rodriguez and John Means. Sure, the prospect of Dean Kremer and Tyler Wells being the No. 4 and No. 5 starters isn’t the most exciting thing in the world. However, they still represent a better back end of the rotation than most clubs possess. Altogether it’s a quintet deserving of a top 15 ranking—and yet Fangraphs sees them as only the 25th best rotation in the sport. Disrespect noted.
The disrespect tour continued with another ranking that was none-too-kind to the Orioles. This past Friday, Bleacher Report published a top 10 of the “Least Improved MLB Teams” this offseason. Unsurprisingly, the L.A. Angels top the list. Having just lost the best player in baseball and yet to make a meaningful signing, the Angels are the clear losers of the offseason so far. The Padres coming in at No. 2 on the list is another non-surprise. Payroll concerns already forced the Friars to ship off three-time All-Star Juan Soto to the Yankees. Barring an unforeseen turn of events, San Diego also stands to lose reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell.
The next three teams on the list—the Twins, Rays and Rangers—also already suffered significant losses or stand to lose key contributors in free agency. The departures of Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda and Tyler Mahle from Minnesota rob the Twins of the starting pitching depth that was such a big key in propelling the Twinkies to an AL Central title in 2023.
