TOUGH POSITION
Struggling O’s say it’s ‘premature’ to discuss selling parts
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — Mired in a struggle just to stay close to .500 with a pitching staff amid an unprecedented run of bad results and a lineup whose top producers haven’t lived up to that billing so far, the short-term question of whether the Orioles can turn it around is already being considered with the longer term in mind.
Executive vice president Dan Duquette said it’s “a little premature” for talk of tearing down a team that has been a contender for years and was, at least internally, expected to be one again. But the only thing that can prevent the Orioles from being stripped down for parts would be a dramatic improvement in the on-field product.
“Our aim was to be a contender, and the first quarter of the season we were,” Duquette said. “For the second quarter, we haven’t been up to that standard.”
That the season isn’t halfway over, and that the Orioles have had such disparate stretches through the first 73 games, makes predicting this season’s fate difficult. Analysts look at a team in free-fall with assets toward the end of their contracts and a thin farm system and call for the Orioles to sell. Others look at the American League standings and see a dozen teams, the Orioles included, right there in the hunt for a playoff spot. But no one at any level of the organization sees a team playing well enough to be considered a contender.
“And honestly, we’ve seen these guys play a lot better than they’ve played the last month, and we’ve seen guys pitch a lot better than they have the last