Ryan Romano: Looking ahead to three Orioles and free agency

Ryan Romano: Looking ahead to three Orioles and free agency
Where do the Orioles go from here? Hopefully, pretty far into the playoffs. After a wild card-clinching victory in game 162, the Orioles will face the Blue Jays tonight at 8 p.m. But that's not what I refer to when I pose that question. Rather, I want to focus on what comes after the playoffs: the free agent market. For the second consecutive offseason, multiple key contributors have the opportunity to leave Baltimore. Will the O's decide to bring them back? If so, how many of them and for...

Ryan Romano: What makes Brad Brach's fastball so great?

Ryan Romano: What makes Brad Brach's fastball so great?
The Orioles bullpen has no shortage of underdog stories. Zach Britton washed out of the big league rotation before transforming into the sinkerballer extraordinaire he is today. Darren O'Day went undrafted out of college and bounced around several clubs until Baltimore snatched him up. And Mychal Givens started his minor league career as a shortstop, converting into a pitcher just three years ago. Brad Brach's journey is worth reflecting on, too: In eight years' time, he's gone from...

Ryan Romano: Wade Miley isn't this bad, but he has struggled

Ryan Romano: Wade Miley isn't this bad, but he has struggled
Across April, May, June and July, not a single left-handed pitcher started for the Orioles. The club made sure that would change in August by swinging for the Mariners' Wade Miley, a veteran southpaw with a history of reliability and durability. Yet while Miley has taken the hill every fifth day for the O's, he hasn't pitched very well - opponents have roughed him up for a 7.55 ERA in nine starts and only 39 1/3 innings. As the de facto replacement for Wei-Yin Chen, Miley needs to perform...

Ryan Romano: What's missing in Britton's dominating campaign?

Ryan Romano: What's missing in Britton's dominating campaign?
Even though Orioles fans get to watch him take the hill constantly, sometimes I think we still don't truly appreciate how great Zach Britton is. The organization developed him as a starting pitcher, but after flopping in that role, he looked like another bust. Nowadays, he never starts anything - he just finishes things. Since his move to the bullpen in 2014, he's put up an ERA of 1.45, which trails only Wade Davis among qualified relievers. Now that he leads the majors in 2016 ERA at 0.63,...

Ryan Romano: Digging into Kevin Gausman's clutch season

Ryan Romano: Digging into Kevin Gausman's clutch season
For a few years now, Chris Tillman has carried the title of Orioles ace, but someone else might have taken his throne. After his third straight shutout start, Kevin Gausman has lowered his season ERA to 3.58, the best mark among Baltimore starters. He has the peripherals to back that up, too - his FIP and xFIP both lead the team, as well. Although it took him some time to arrive at this point, the 25-year-old righty has finally broken out, and his ability to perform under pressure has...

Ryan Romano: If Hart fares better vs. righties, he'll have a shot in O's bullpen

Ryan Romano: If Hart fares better vs. righties, he'll have a shot in O's bullpen
While the Orioles have one of the best left-handed relievers in baseball -- and one of the best southpaws, period -- in Zach Britton, their bullpen skews to the right overall. Brad Brach, Mychal Givens, and Darren O'Day each throw right-handed, and they've all had some problems with lefties, albeit to vastly different extents. With Brian Matusz melting down and hitting waivers, Baltimore has tried out a host of left-handed bullpen arms to see if any of them can stick, and most (Ashur...

Ryan Romano: What's to blame for Trumbo's strange slump?

Ryan Romano: What's to blame for Trumbo's strange slump?
As the Orioles go, so goes Mark Trumbo. In the first half of the season, the newest O's slugger put up some of the best offensive numbers in baseball. His .288/.341/.582 triple-slash translated to a 142 wRC+, ranking him 17th among qualified hitters. The club rode that scorching start, and the other hot hitters who backed it up, to a 51-36 first-half record. Since then, their performance has fallen off -- they've gone 16-20 in the second half of the season -- and Trumbo has played a big...

Ryan Romano: What are the biggest hits for Orioles stars?

Ryan Romano: What are the biggest hits for Orioles stars?
The Orioles weren't supposed to win on Sunday. Through the first eight innings, the story of the game was Wade Miley's meltdown and Johnny Cueto's effectiveness. Then Jonathan Schoop happened. With two on and two outs in the ninth, he swatted a three-run homer to turn a 7-5 deficit into an 8-7 lead. According to FanGraphs.com, the dinger improved the Orioles' win probability from 6.5 percent to 84.2 percent, making it the biggest hit of Schoop's young career by far. To commemorate the...

Ryan Romano: Ground balls will help mask woes of O's outfield

Ryan Romano: Ground balls will help mask woes of O's outfield
Through the ups and downs of recent years in Birdland, one thing seems to have held true about the Orioles: They sure can play defense. In 2013, the club set the record for fewest errors in a full season. Since then, they've ranked sixth, second, and fifth, respectively, in flubbed plays. But such a simplistic stat doesn't reflect the fluctuation of the Baltimore gloves, particularly by position. In 2016, the team's fielding in one area has taken a nosedive, and the pitchers would be wise to...

Ryan Romano: Three interesting things about new Oriole Wade Miley

Ryan Romano: Three interesting things about new Oriole Wade Miley
For most of the 2016 season -- and a fair amount of the time before it -- the Orioles have needed a starting pitcher. On Sunday, they finally got one in the form of Wade Miley. Seattle shipped the 29-year-old lefty to Baltimore in exchange for Ariel Miranda; for more general information on Miley's background, check out my Camden Depot colleague Matt Perez's analysis. What I'd like to do in this space, as I've done for past Orioles transactions, is focus on a few esoteric observations about...

Ryan Romano: Should Gallardo keep Wright and Wilson out of the rotation?

Ryan Romano: Should Gallardo keep Wright and Wilson out of the rotation?
What words come to mind when you think of the 2016 Orioles rotation? For me, the first few are ones that I can't print here. After that though, "fluid" arises as the most apt euphemism. Chris Tillman and Kevin Gausman have stuck around and pitched well, but beyond them the waters get murky. Dylan Bundy is currently a starter after beginning the campaign as a long reliever; the same applies to Vance Worley, for the most part. Ubaldo Jimenez, Mike Wright and Tyler Wilson have each had extended...

Ryan Romano: Schoop improves his situational plate discipline

Ryan Romano: Schoop improves his situational plate discipline
If you've watched the Orioles on MASN recently, you've likely seen the ad featuring Jonathan Schoop. The announcer provides the denotations for a number of words like "fluke" and "luck," interspersed between clips of the second baseman's more impressive plays, before bragging about some element of his performance. These doubts have always seemed to haunt Schoop, which is why his apparent breakout in 2016 feels so sweet. Through, Schoop had hit .302/.335/.515, by far the best line of his...

Ryan Romano: Just how good is Brad Brach?

Ryan Romano: Just how good is Brad Brach?
Heading into the season, everyone knew that the Orioles would rely heavily upon their relief corps. Thus far, the group has had some ups and downs. Darren O'Day has an ERA above 3.00 for the first time since 2011, and his trip to the disabled list has prevented him from improving on that. Mychal Givens has a high ERA as well, albeit an unlucky one. And the supporting cast....to put it lightly, they haven't really supported. Thanks to Zach Britton and Brad Brach, though, the bullpen has fared...

Ryan Romano: O's run bases well, despite lack of steals

Ryan Romano: O's run bases well, despite lack of steals
Every so often, I hear legends -- faint whispers upon the breeze -- of Orioles squads that would steal bases. Brian Roberts, Brady Anderson, Al Bumbry: These speedsters could constantly threaten to break for the open bag, and many times they made good on that threat. But they have come and gone, and the team has sorely missed their presence, especially as of late. For the third straight season, the Orioles rank last in the majors in stolen bases. On a more advanced basis, they don't fare much...

Ryan Romano: Tyler Wilson needs to improve his fastballs or changeup

Ryan Romano: Tyler Wilson needs to improve his fastballs or changeup
Tyler Wilson has one great pitch, but the rest need work The Orioles direly need starting pitchers. Both Ubaldo Jimenez and Mike Wright have struggled as of late, and Yovani Gallardo's first start post-disabled list didn't inspire much confidence. Their play has inflated the rotation's ERA to 4.94, the fourth-highest in baseball. Amid this uncertainty, Wilson has done well enough, notching a 4.16 ERA and 4.17 FIP in 63 innings. That's happened on the back of one pitch in particular; his...

Ryan Romano: Shedding some daylight on O's struggles under the sun

Ryan Romano: Shedding some daylight on O's struggles under the sun
In the nearly 150-year history of organized baseball, night games are fairly new. The first professional contest under the stars occurred in 1930, and it took a while to catch on - Wrigley Field didn't install lights until nearly 60 years later. By now, though, most baseball fans have become accustomed to the different start times, especially in their typical, two-night/one-day arrangement. For the most part, all games are the same, regardless of their time, right? For the 2016 Orioles, no....

Ryan Romano: String of bad luck has skewed Givens' numbers

Ryan Romano: String of bad luck has skewed Givens' numbers
The 2016 MLB season has passed the one-third mark, but that doesn't mean every small-sample fluke has disappeared. Some players still haven't played up to their true talent level, while others have performed far above where they should have. For the Orioles, a few position players -- Adam Jones for the former, Hyun Soo Kim for the latter -- fit each of these molds. The best example of an unfortunate player, though, lies on the other side of the ball. In his sophomore season, Mychal Givens has...

Ryan Romano: O'Day defying odds with success in crunch time

Ryan Romano: O'Day defying odds with success in crunch time
Darren O'Day has always defied expectations. He went from a walk-on at the University ofFlorida to the team's closer. After going undrafted out of college, he signed with the Angels,then shot through the minors and got a regular role with the Mets and Rangers. And whenTexas let him walk following an ugly 2011 campaign, he signed with the Orioles and took offonce more. O'Day's profile certainly fits the underdog mold; he's excelled despite anunderwhelming arsenal and a cringe-inducing...

Ryan Romano: How unlucky is Ubaldo Jimenez?

Ryan Romano: How unlucky is Ubaldo Jimenez?
One of the trickier elements of baseball analysis is figuring out the role of luck - or the absence thereof - in a player's output. When we look at Ubaldo Jimenez, and see that he has a 6.04 ERA in 2016, we can safely say that he's not this awful of a pitcher, and that he'll allow fewer runs as the season goes along. But how much will he improve? Has he remained the same from 2015, or gotten worse? For Jimenez, the story always seems to revolve around walks. He limited them last year,...

Ryan Romano: Looking at Chris Davis' two big adjustments

Ryan Romano: Looking at Chris Davis' two big adjustments
As players get older, they have to tweak their game to remain elite. For pitchers, this often entails working on a new off-speed pitch or refining command -- to paraphrase a famous expression, they change from throwers into pitchers. Hitters don't always evolve dramatically, but they often shake things up once the years start coming. In the first season of at least seven more with the Orioles, and at age 30, Chris Davis has done exactly that. This offseason, Davis looked like a bit of a risky...