Orioles Thinking Big, Spending Small

It's no secret that the Major League Baseball playing field ain't exactly level these days. Any number of fan bases start every season with no reason for optimism, unless their home team is planning an "everybody gets a car" promotion on opening day.

From Denver to Tampa Bay, literally hundreds of baseball fans have no shot of seeing their teams in postseason play, and it's for all different reasons. In south Florida, where payrolls usually hover around the price of the Yankees' latest middle relief specialist, it's a case of bringing a knife to a gunfight every year. It's a lineup of guys you've never heard of against the American League All-Stars, so you can pardon a team like the Devil Rays if they're not exactly putting the fear of God into the Yankees and Red Sox each year.

In Colorado, the Rockies have never been big spenders and have the added challenge of playing in perhaps the most unique ballpark in the majors. Between breaking balls that don't break, an outfield the size of Yellowstone, and lineups that, until this season, couldn't hit their way out of paper bag on the road, the personnel challenges facing the Colorado front office are a little different than for most clubs. Although they probably don't deserve a free pass, the obstacles facing the Rockies aren't all of their own making.

Then, there's a team that somehow underachieves year after year without becoming a punch line. The Baltimore Orioles, whose last winning season came in 1997 (only the Pirates and Brewers have assembled longer streaks), are a little short on excuses. They play their home games at Camden Yards, still one of the most popular ballparks in the big leagues. Their season attendance is annually in the top five in the American League, and it can't be the manager's fault, because they've been through four of those in the nine-year period since they last won more than they lost.

General manager? That's closer to the problem, since Nick Markakis and Hayden Penn are two of the few names on a rather modest list of homegrown stars. The Orioles' farm system is solid, but nothing special, and the lack of impact players from the last 10 drafts certainly points to a shortcoming in the club's player evaluation.

Then again, it's tough to pin it all on a single guilty party, since owner Peter Angelos has employed a dizzying cast of characters at the position over the past decade, from Pat Gillick (1996-1998), to Frank Wren (1999), and Syd Thrift (2000-2002). Then, apparently deciding that a single general manager wasn't getting the job done, Angelos settled on a two-headed arrangement with Mike Flanagan and Jim Beattie serving as co-GMs 2003-2004. Beattie was fired in 2005, and Flanagan now holds the position by himself.

The success of Markakis, a first-round pick from the 2003 draft (.302 average, 16 HRs) and Chris Ray, a reliever taken two rounds later in the same draft (31 saves, 2.95 ERA) suggests that things may be taking a turn for the better on the talent acquisition side of things. Nonetheless, the Orioles are headed for fewer than 70 wins unless they get hot in the season's final two weeks, and they're nowhere near competing with the Red Sox or Yankees for an AL East title any time soon.

Although the Orioles' payroll isn't as high as it has been in the past (at $72.5 million, Baltimore ranks 15th in the majors for 2006), the Orioles still make free agent decisions as if they play in New York or Boston and poor free agent decisions appear to be at the root of Baltimore's struggles more than anything else.

One needs only to look at the highest-paid two or three players on the Orioles' roster each year to see how their biggest investments have usually done little to improve their final record and much to limit their ability to fill holes. In 2006, Miguel Tejada tops the payroll at $11.8 million, and he's a bit of an exception, since few would argue that his .327 batting average and .873 OPS (third among major league shortstops behind Carlos Guillen and Derek Jeter) are the source of Baltimore's struggles.

Kris Benson ($8.3 million) and Russ Ortiz ($7.8 million), on the other hand, aren't so fortunate. Benson's been passable (10-11, 4.54), but nothing special, and for more than 11 percent of his team's payroll, he's being paid to be special. As for Ortiz, here's guessing the Orioles brass was hoping for a little more than five horrendous starts and banishment from the starting rotation. Need we mention LaTroy Hawkins ($4.4 million), who carries around the price tag of a nearly elite closer and the production of a league-minimum middle reliever? Didn't think so.

Ah, but that's just 2006. Take a trip down memory lane and it gets more fun. Try 2005, when Sammy Sosa ($17 million) topped the Baltimore payroll, along with the soon-to-be-gone Sidney Ponson ($8.5 million), and the quickly-slipping Javy Lopez ($7.5 million). Obviously, the Orioles weren't paying Sosa's full salary, but you get the idea.

How about 2004, when Baltimore was paying David Segui $7 million to play 18 games at age 37? Or 2003, when Tony Batista batted a robust .235 with a mind-boggling on-base percentage of .270 and yet was somehow allowed to play 161 games at third base? To be fair, he did hit 26 home runs and drive in 99 runs, but who wants to bet the Orioles could have brought Rob Deer out of the retirement to do the same thing for less than $6.5 million? By the way, Batista's microscopic .663 OPS was the lowest among everyday major league third basemen by 50 points.

Need we go on? No, I think not. The point is that the Orioles have, for several years, made personnel decisions, particularly on the free agent market, as if they have a limitless supply of cash with which to rectify their mistakes. Spending $200 million on his team's salaries, George Steinbrenner can afford to have general manager Brian Cashman take a pricey stab on Kyle Farnsworth ($5.4 million), a guy with a career ERA of 4.43. Carl Pavano ($8 million) has yet to throw a pitch for the Yankees, but Mike Mussina ($19 million), Randy Johnson ($15.7 million), Jaret Wright ($7.6 million), and a lineup jammed with the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Jason Giambi cover his absence up quite nicely.

If the Orioles aren't going to spend like the big boys, they need to start thinking like the little kids and resist the temptation to grab the next aging former star that hits the market. Markakis, Ray, Erik Bedard, Chris Britton, and Brian Roberts are all steps in the right direction. There will be growing pains as the Orioles try to ween themselves off proven talent, but it shouldn't be that bad, since most of their high-priced imports were being outperformed by youngsters anyway.

Baltimore may play near the nation's capital, but the sooner the organization starts thinking like it's based in Tampa Bay and starts letting its cheap youth flower whenever possible, the sooner the Orioles will reprise their 1997 playoff run.