Trey in Vain

 

It's very funny to think that Trey Mancini was brought up in 2016, during the last great Orioles playoff push, and now he sits here as one of the only remaining survivors of those competitive teams. And having seen the 2016 Orioles team play...yeah, that was an awesome team, gotta say. Mark Trumbo hitting bombs, Machado and Schoop in their prime, Chris Davis back when he could still hit, Adam Jones having fun. Those were great teams, and that was the peak of 'em, I think. In a year where the Yankees were a disappointment, at least until August, it was helpful to have someone like the Orioles who you could be behind. 

6 years later, Mancini is the trusted support pole for a very mediocre iteration of this team. There is a core, of people like Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander, Austin Hays and I suppose Adley Rutschman, but it's not an expansive of a core as 2016. What was great about the 2016 is that you'd get all these great hitters and your #8 man, Jonathan Schoop, could still hit homers for you. We don't really have that here. It's not like, oh, the team's down in the 9th, and they're at the bottom of the lineup, but here comes Tyler Nevin so we'll be okay. There's no security or anything. 

And look, it's getting to the point where the murky quality of this team is dragging down genuinely good prospects with it. Kyle Stowers just came up, and while he did get a nice hit in his first game, it's the only hit he's gotten so far. Adley Rutschman, Tyler Nevin, Rylan Bannon and Kyle Bradish were all pretty well-regarded prospects in the minors, and aren't doing much at all for the team while up in the majors. Rutschman's slow start is even more heartbreaking, because the team expected him to be the savior. At his debut, the Orioles actually printed out collectible stubs that people could sell when Rutschman got big. A good friend of mine who I went to college with just married an Orioles fan, and they mentioned Adley Rutschman in their vows. Imagine how awkward that's gonna be if he doesn't make it. It'd be like if my dad named me Ruben Rivera Schmidt. 

So many aspects of this team feel like they need a disclaimer. Jorge Lopez has a 0.85 ERA and ONLY 9 saves. The team's best starting pitcher right now is Tyler Wells. Cedric Mullins is about halfway to 30 steals, but only a sixth of the way to 30 homers. And right now Ryan Mountcastle, the team's best hitter, is also its worst defender. 

I feel bad that the Orioles are once again 'just like this all the time'. I was growing up when Cal Ripken made the team great, and by the time I started collecting, they were awful again. So seeing this team go from a contender with Machado to terrible now is just depressing. Baseball can't help but be cyclical to teams like the Orioles, Royals, Pirates and Cubs, because sometimes they don't have the budget to sustain perennial winners. 

I hope this team gets better. I don't know if it can right now.

Coming Tomorrow- A longtime home run hitter who seems to be on his last career legs.