Major Additions: Welington Castillo, Seth Smith
Major Losses: Matt Wieters, Yovani Gallardo, Pedro Alvarez, Steve Pearce
Strengths: Offense, Bullpen Back End
Weaknesses: Rotation, Baserunning
Potential Breakout Stars: Dylan Bundy, Jayson Aquino, Trey Mancini
The Orioles did not have much roster turnover, with the biggest difference between the 2016 and 2017 teams being behind the plate, where they essentially got back the same player they lost. Matt Wieters played eight years in Baltimore, and he was worth 1.7 fWAR in 2016. Instead, they'll go with Welington Castillo in 2017, who is a year younger and was also worth 1.7 fWAR in 2016. The offense was the calling card last year, and the offense will be the calling card this year. MLB home run leader Mark Trumbo is back, as are big power hitters Chris Davis and Adam Jones. AL MVP candidate Manny Machado will be at the center of everything, and Jonathan Schoop, Castillo, and fellow new addition Seth Smith all look to generate plenty of runs. The outfield looks to have an interesting dynamic this year; not having Mark Trumbo there (he will DH) is a huge boon for the defense, though there looks to be lots of platooning. Jones will man center field, but three of the other four outfielders are left handed hitters. Smith and Kim have well-documented struggles against left handed hitting, and Aneury Tavarez has never played in the major leagues. That leaves Joey Rickard as the only right handed hitter aside from Jones, which will be interesting as they go up against the Chris Sales and David Prices of that division. Trey Mancini is also an interesting player to watch, as he is blocked at first base by Davis and at DH by Mark Trumbo, as he had a very strong season with AAA Norfolk before slashing .357/.400/1.071 in a brief, five game MLB debut. Manager Buck Showalter will jump at the chance to use him whenever possible. On the mound, Chris Tillman and Kevin Gausman are a great start, but the Orioles will need a lot to go right with the rest of the rotation. Dylan Bundy made progress last season (10-6, 4.02 ERA, 1.38 WHIP), but he'll need to take another big step forward as the number three starter this year. At 24 years old, he may be able to do just that. Wade Miley has seen his ERA rise each year since 2012 (3.33 to 5.37), and he'll need to reverse that trend to survive another year in a major league rotation. Lastly, Ubaldo Jimenez is among the most inconsistent pitchers in baseball, so he'll need to be "on" more than he's "off." If those three pitchers do what they need to do, this rotation may be able to avoid being a liability. In the back of the bullpen, Zach Britton is as good a relief ace as any in baseball, and Darren O'Day and Brad Brach add to that. Even Mychal Givens took a huge step forward. This is a team with a lot of holes, but teams find ways to patch up those holes, and if everything breaks right, the Orioles can be a force in 2017.
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