New manager Buck Showalter made moves in the off season to try and help the struggling Baltimore Orioles for the 2011 season. The Orioles have been one of the worst teams in baseball since greats such as Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray, Brady Anderson, and Roberto Alomar all moved on from the sport. However, during the off season the team picked up three Major League Baseball sluggers. First baseman Derrek Lee, outfielder Vladimir Guerrero, and shortstop J.J. Hardy will join the Orioles and look to pick up the slack that has been lurking the Orioles over the past few seasons.
The Orioles have not had a winning season since 1997 and Showalter is sure that things are going to change. He will need to rely on veteran players such as Guerrero and Lee. They will need to bring energy to the younger players in the Orioles locker room for this to happen. The team will have many young pitchers, but other players such as Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, and Brian Roberts are all back to strengthen the line up as well. As spring training is under way, Showalter expects the team to play 100% all of the time. Perhaps the Orioles will show up to win some games this year and not just show up to the play America’s favorite past time sport.
New attitudes and new faces began to emerge in the Orioles front office for the first time. Since 1997, the Orioles have either come in 4th or 5th out of 5 teams in the American League East Division. Some say this is absolutely pathetic and that the Orioles have hit rock bottom. Well things cannot get any worse for the Orioles. Things can only go forward from this point on and with the caliber of players that they are signing there is no reason why things cannot turn around for the 2011 birds. Orioles owner, Peter Angelos, and president, Andy MacPail, really tried in the off season to bring players to the Orioles that wanted to win and play for manager Buck Showalter. Showalter is a well respected manager who pays special attention to detail. The Orioles will have to be disciplined under Showalter in order to perform to their fullest potentials.
When the Orioles arrived to spring training in Sarasota, Florida they were immediately redirected back to the buses. The buses took them to a theatre where they watched a movie that highlighted every player’s talents and past World Championship wins. The players were all ready to play opening day right after the movie. This brought the Orioles together and the team is really buying into what Showalter wants out of his club. The 2011 Orioles have had new attitude adjustments and are ready for the season to begin. The Baltimore Orioles will host the Detroit Tigers on April, 4 2011 at a 3:05 game time. The Baltimore Orioles made some serious changes and the players and coaching staff have very high expectations for the 2011 season.
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