Steve Davis: Have Faith Orioles Fans
I know it looks a little bleak right now. Nelson Cruz is gone, and it appears Nick Markakis is next. What once looked like a sure thing, Markakis returning, now seems to be almost unlikely.
That said, Dan Duquette just won another Executive of the Year Award, this time from Baseball America. And Buck won the manager of the year from the same publication. So, we have the best GM and manager in baseball. Now that is subjective, but if they're not the best, they're in the conversation.
I doubt Duquette is going to let Markakis and Cruz leave without having a fallback. He didn't just get dumb. Understanding that they operate within a budget, I wouldn't have gone 4 years on Cruz, and I wouldn't overpay on Markakis either.
Markakis has been a wonderful Oriole, and he's a good player. Yet, he is replaceable. His numbers were good, but nothing remarkable. The fact they offered arbitration to all 11 of their players tells me that their budget will go up next year, which means they will add to this team.
They do have Machado and Wieters coming back, which will help.
Schoop should improve.
Others, like Pearce, might come down to earth a little.
Still, I have confidence that Duquette knows how to find replacements and Buck knows what to do with them.
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