Orioles Can Only Hope to Rebound

Team Looks to Rectify Woeful Season

Erik Bedard blossomed into one of the American League's best young pitchers this season. (Charles Krupa - AP)

On a recent day, Miguel Tejada sat unbothered and unwatched at Baltimore's Penn Station, which was bustling with weekday activity. Business executives toting briefcases and newspapers tucked under their arms hurried toward trains sending them to New York or Washington. Teenagers carrying large backpacks sat down for a quick lunch before a long trip.

That Tejada, dressed casually and not disguised in dark sunglasses or a large encumbering hat, was not approached for a single autograph perhaps speaks to how irrelevant the Baltimore Orioles have become even in their own city. How could their star player fail to elicit one stare or even a double take? Cal Ripken would have loved such anonymity.

But this is a different era for the Orioles. Fans are disenchanted, some to the extent of publicly protesting against the franchise and specifically owner Peter Angelos, who claims the team can't compete financially with the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees. Angelos, reached by phone, declined to comment.

"I don't want to get involved," Angelos said.

Baltimore set an attendance low in the 15-year history of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and will lose more games this season than they had the past two seasons. Has it ever been so bleak being an Orioles fan?

"If you look around at other organizations that have made turnarounds, they have seen the attendance come back," Orioles Executive Vice President Mike Flanagan said.

Are the Orioles capable of the type of turnaround that has reinvigorated Detroit, a slumbering franchise until this year's playoff run? That will be the most significant question this offseason as the organization tries to stop almost a decade of losing. Baltimore, officials say, will have plenty of money to spend, but will anyone accept it?

"We would like to see some moves made," said designated hitter Jay Gibbons, one of the longest-tenured Orioles. "They said they're going to spend money. You can say all you want and offer what you want, but you have to get the guy to come here. We want to compete with the big teams in the division. Only way we can do that is to spend money."

Often, it has fallen on players such as Gibbons to half-heartedly trump the positives of the franchise to free agents, whom Baltimore has targeted. Gibbons said he is honest when talking to players, and sometimes that means admitting that the team has often failed in many respects. But for the first time in a long time, Gibbons is optimistic that the team may be on the verge of contention.

"I have a lot of trust in [Orioles Vice President] Jim Duquette that things are going to get done," Gibbons said. "Getting him was a step in the right direction. He told me things are going to get done."

There are reasons to be optimistic. Erik Bedard has become one of the best young pitchers in the league and is considered almost untradeable by some top Baltimore officials. Outfielder Nick Markakis emerged as a potent hitter and will bat in the middle of the order next season. Pitchers Daniel Cabrera and Adam Loewen have shown flashes of brilliance, including the former's one-hitter against the New York Yankees on Thursday. Young closer Chris Ray was dominant and exceeded expectations. The acquisitions of catcher Ramon Hernandez and center fielder Corey Patterson helped fill needs.

Yet there is plenty of work to be done. For all the success with some of the pitching staff, the Orioles still had the second-worst team ERA in baseball heading into this weekend's series against the Red Sox. Those were not the expectations when Baltimore gave pitching coach Leo Mazzone a three-year contract that pays him almost $500,000 annually.