http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jerrybrewer/2015654101_brewer19.html

Baltimore Oriole fans are not alone in their sense of frustration and despair.  The other team I like to follow, the Seattle Mariners, are doing their best to match Baltimore's futility.  Keep in mind they play in the West, where the level of competition is arguably below what the O's have to face in the East.

When matched against the Mariners, the Orioles look like an offensive powerhouse.  However the M's actually have a young pitching staff that has lived up to expectation, unlike that of Baltimore's.  And let's not even think about bullpens.  Seattle has one and we don't.

So this gave me the following question:  Are O's fans on the right track in criticizing the team and in particular Andy McPhaill for a failure to sign good bats or his strategy of developing arms and buying bats?  (As an aside - I believe there is zero question on the policy of spending millions on relief pitchers being both failed and idiotic.)

From my perspective one of the key problems with the Orioles right now and perhaps the biggest cause for worry is that the pitching - which was supposedly the team's strength - is a mess.  I'd follow that closely with team defense appearing to be sub-standard.  Focusing on guys like Vlad and Lee is missing the real problem.  The fact our stable of young pitchers is a chimera (and I'm not referring to the fire-breathing kind).