Show me something!

Perhaps appropriately the Baltimore Orioles are currently in Missouri. I say appropriately because MO is the ‘Show me State,’ and there are plenty of O’s that need to show something during the remaining 59 games of this 2010 season.

While this season was basically ‘over’ during the first week of this year, there is still amazingly 36% of the year left to played. Frankly there are not a whole lot of people still paying attention, but what happens during this last 1/3 of the season is very important.

It is important that the players you want to be able to rely on going forward, give indication that you will be able to do so.

I believe in the talent of the core of players that are here, but enough is enough. This team is getting ready to enter August an amazingly poor 40 games under .500. The O’s have a .311 winning percentage. It just boggles the mind how bad this team has been this year. The players need to play significantly better.

Markakis – Will he show continued signs of taking over the leadership of this team? He has a .643 OPS in 56 at-bats since the All-Star break, can he go on a run and finish with an .OPS between his 2007 (.848 OPS) and 2008 (.897 OPS) seasons?

Jones – Will he eclipse his previous career high in games (132)? Will he continue to play a deeper CF as he has in recent weeks? Will he continue to make hustle plays in CF as he did in the alley last night? Will he continue to get to less balls than he should, and make people believe he should be moved to LF? Before the All-Star Game, Jones had a total of 10 walks in 87 games. Since the All-Star Game, Jones has had 5 walks in 14 games. Will he continue to show an improving level of plate discipline? Jones had a .952 OPS in June, and has an OPS under .700 in every other month. Will he change that during August and September?

Roberts – Last night Roberts avoided sliding head-first into 2nd base. The team also protected him with a night off the turf in Toronto. Will he get through these last two-months?

Wieters – With two homers, and two walks on July 26th, Wieters brought his OPS up and over .700 for the first time since May 27th. He has now gone 1 for 11 in the 3 games since. When will see Wieters produce consistently on offense? Wieters is batting .220 with a .597 OPS against LHP over 82 at-bats. (.671 OPS in 137 at-bats vs. LHP in ’09). Will this be improved? Will he call a better game behind the plate? The pitchers have the ability to shake Wieters off so maybe I should not be holding him directly accountable, but I would like to see him aggressively call for the fastball. Oriole pitchers nibble to often, and need to attack more. That starts with Wieters.

Pie – Like many of his Oriole teammates, Pie has done nothing offensively during the 2nd-half. (10 for 52, .192 average, .482 OPS) Pie is getting the opportunity to play everyday, and he needs to take advantage of that these last two months. He has to produce both offensively, and defensively over these last 59 games, or risk being replaced as the starter prior to 2011.

Bell – With the trade of Tejada, Josh Bell is again back in a Baltimore uniform. He has been on a tear this last week, and pushed his AAA OPS to .810. While he has 38 xbh’s at Norfolk, he also has 78’s, and just 23 walks. (6 walks vs 7 k’s his last 10 games at AAA). Will he be capable enough offensively during this two month audition, that the O’s will pencil him in as the ’11 starter at 3rd? In the brief 6 games he has played the Major League level, he has shown good athleticism and a strong arm. He has also shown somewhat limited foot-work. Will he look like a Major Leaguer these last two-months, or will it be clear he needs additional time back in the Minors?

Reimold – Over his last 10 games for AAA Norfolk, Reimold has a .306 average, and a .901 OPS. He also has 9 walks against just 6 k’s during that time-frame. Will he keep up the production and force his way back to the bigs before the season ends? Will he finish 2010 doing something positive at the MLB level that allows the O’s to pencil him in their ’11 plans?

Matusz – The young lefty has started 21 games for the O’s this season. In those 21 starts he has 11 starts of at-least 6 innings pitched, and 4 er or less. (10 starts of at-least 6 innings, and 3 er or less) He has struggled mightily in July with 3 starts of 3.1 innings or less. This is the second month in ’10 where Matusz has had an era over 7.50. It is vitally important that Matusz looks like a legitimate Major League starter these last two months. He needs to have more confidence in his fastball, and go after hitters. Someone with Matusz’s control should not have 47 walks in 113.2 innings of work. Matusz pitched a total of 157.2 innings in ’09, and should be capable of nearly 190 innings this year.

Arrieta – After tossing 3 straight quality starts between July 1st and July 11th, Arrieta has hit a rough patch. It starts with his control, where he has 13 walks in his last 3 starts. Overall Arrieta has 33 walks, and just 25 k’s in his 52.2 Major League innings. There is no doubt that Arrieta has a quality arm. What is interesting is seeing a player that has a lot of self-confidence, pitch somewhat scared. This is part of the learning process though, and the fact that he is taking the ball every 5th day is a good thing. I think you just have to call for the fastball over and over from Arrieta, and make him hit the zone. Arrieta pitched 150.2 innings in ’09, and has now pitched a total of 125.2 innings here in ’10. You want to see Arrieta get 180 innings of work in before the year ends.

Tillman – It has been an up and down year for Chris Tillman. If you are weighing things out on the triple-beam, there is more good than bad. There has to be when you have a 22 year-old that throws both a no-hitter, and 1 hitter at AAA, and has a dominating start in the bigs against a capable Texas lineup. In his return trip to Norfolk, Tillman has made 15 starts and is 8-6, with a 3.40 era. In 87.1 innings, he has allowed 80 hits, with 22 walks, and 65 k’s, holding opposing hitters to a .245 average. The negatives are that in 6 Major League starts (even including that start against the Rangers) Tillman has an era of nearly 8. Since going back to the Minors he has pitched a total of 8 combined innings in his last-two starts, getting hit both times out. You have to wonder if he is struggling as he attempts to harness control over his 2-seam fastball, and cutter. Whatever the issue, he has to produce starting the next-time out. You can deal with him adjusting to the bigs, you can not deal with him struggling in AAA. Tillman pitched a total of 161.2 innings in ’09, and has pitched 112.1 innings in ’10. You want to see him finish with roughly 190 innings, with at-least 50 of his last 78 innings coming in the bigs. Whenever he gets back to the bigs, he needs to show more consistent velocity.

Britton – Zach Britton was so strong in his 14 starts for Bowie in ’10, that Baseball America named him one of the top 10 prospects in all of baseball in their mid-season review. Since being promoted to AAA, he has been plenty solid with a 2.28 era in 5 starts. He pitched 140 innings last-year, meaning ideally he would finish with around 170 innings in 2010. If there is an inkling of promoting Britton to the bigs before the season ends, it should happen now. He has pitched 114.2 innings for the year, so you could look at him over 55 innings and have a better determination if you believe he will be able to help you to start ’11. Of course even beyond questions of is he ready (and his G/F ratio is down in AAA, is allowing more hits per IP, and still has a questionable walk-rate) you also have to consider his contractual status. Meaning even if the O’s think he could help now, they might not be willing to promote him.

Hernandez – I want to see Hernandez become the Closer these remaining two months. The team needs to hand him the ball and give him the opportunity to seize the job. When he blows a game, and faces adversity – put him right back on the mound the following night.

Gonzalez – While not really part of the ‘core’, Gonzalez could greatly improve the O’s bullpen in ’11. Since his return of the DL, Gonzalez has pitched in 5 games, covering 5.1 innings, allowing 3 hits, and 1 er. It is such a minimal sample size that it means nothing, but he looks healthy and that is a start. He has a talented arm that has had ML success. You want to see the guy that completely dominated in the 2nd-half of ’09 for Atlanta. You want to put him in positions that builds his confidence, but you also want to see the O’s be willing to put Gonzalez in positions where he can fail.

So again my slogan for the remainder of this year and probably going into 2011 is ‘Show me something!’ If the O’s want to take the slogan from me, they are welcome to it. We all need to see these players produce during the remaining 1/3 of this season, to have any reason for optimism heading to the off-season.

It will be interesting to see what happens, especially as Showalter takes over the clubhouse.