CNN/SI Preview: Baltimore Orioles
Posted: Monday March 01, 1999 06:56 PM
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With home games in hitter-friendly Camden Yards, Belle might challenge McGwire's home run record. AP |
By Dan George, CNN/SI
Player to Watch: Albert Belle,
RF
There isn't a right-handed batter alive who doesn't like hitting in cozy
Camden Yards, but nobody likes it like Albert Belle. Project his career
stats there over a full season, and it comes to a .306 average, 27 homers
and 78 RBIs -- in 81 games.
But when you talk about Bad Albert, talent is just the starting point.
Despite playing on a pennant-winner in Cleveland and signing a $55 million
contract in Chicago, Belle eventually grew disenchanted in both places.
He was all smiles this spring after inking a $65 million deal with the
O's, but how the temperamental outfielder mixes in with equally intense Will Clark and
Baltimore icon Cal
Ripken may well determine how far the Orioles go in '99.
1998 Recap (79-83, fourth place, AL East)
Talk about what went right for the Orioles last season, and it's a short
conversation. After owner Peter Angelos shelled out over $69 million on
free agents, Baltimore stumbled home a whopping 35 games out of first
place.
Compared to the team that won the AL East in '97 under fiery Davey
Johnson, the O's of first-year manager Ray Miller often appeared to be
going through the motions. Baltimore entered the season with more than a
dozen potential free agents, and the uncertainty showed. Injuries that
forced pitchers to miss 37 starts didn't help.
1999 Outlook
Last season's debacle hardly deterred Angelos, who turned around and
dropped nearly $120 million on Belle, first baseman Clark, second baseman
Delino
DeShields and relievers Heathcliff
Slocumb and Mike Timlin over
the winter.
The Orioles' starting lineup is virtually set, but that doesn't mean there
aren't questions. Can Clark, injury-free in '98 for the first time in
years, replace the departed Rafael
Palmeiro and his 43 homers and 121 RBIs? Will DeShields make O's fans
forget Robbie Alomar? Charles
Johnson, acquired in an offseason trade for closer Armando
Benitez, gives Baltimore a Gold Glove catcher, but will he hit more
than .220? And how will he react to losing his arbitration case?
Mike
Mussina and Scott
Erickson and Juan Guzman
anchor a solid rotation, but the Orioles could use a left-handed starter.
In the bullpen, Miller hopes Timlin, who got a four-year deal, can repeat
his strong '98 finish, when he saved 18 of 19 games in Seattle. The
alternatives are Slocumb and Fetters, whose best closer days appear to be
behind them.
Belle and Clark should provide the spark Baltimore lacked last season. The
Yankees appear to have reduced everyone else in the AL East to also-run
status, but don't be surprised if the revamped O's grab a wild-card spot.
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