Grand Slam!

The Orioles will be a more exciting team to watch this year.

They should hit more home runs.

They will have a former AL MVP at shortstop, a position that traditionally was one of strength for them—and should now be once again.

They will have a first baseman who put together the best five-year hitting spree in Baltimore Oriole in history.

They will have a catcher who hit 43 home runs last season.

They will have back the starting pitcher who led the team in wins in 2003 — even though he toiled the last two months of the season for the San Francisco Giants.

They will have four young position players—three of them homegrown — who have exhibited signs of being stellar major league players — and, perhaps, even major league stars.

They will have a gratefully reinvigorated fan base that finally has a sense of hope once again, after six successive seasons of sinking to the lowest depths of despair in Baltimore baseball history.

Those are a lot of pluses to begin a new baseball season for the Orioles — as they embark upon the first year in the second half century of their existence. The excitement in Baltimore and beyond is palpable. Ticket sales already have soared over those of the past two years for spring training games in Ft. Lauderdale.

It's wonderful to look forward to baseball once again.

Yet a lingering question remains to be answered: Will the Orioles win enough games in 2004 to escape the fourth-place finish that has become their virtual squatters' right in the highly competitive American League East?

As with many baseball issues, the answer boils down to a single word — pitching. The Orioles have built up what should be a formidable lineup: Rafael Palmeiro back at first base, hoping to finish off a likely Hall-of-Fame career in Baltimore; the maturing and still-improving Jerry Hairston at second base (unless the club decides to trade him and entrust the job to Brian Roberts); power-hitting and razzle-dazzle glove man Miguel Tejada at short; last year's lone Oriole All-Star, the one-man-band Melvin Mora at third; young sensations Larry Bigbie, Luis Matos, and Jay Gibbons in the outfield; former Braves catcher Javy Lopez behind the plate; and savvy vets B. J. Surhoff and David Segui, or young slugger Jack Cust, at DH.

Scads of runs should cross the plate with those men yielding the sticks of ash for Baltimore this year. But will the pitching staff be able to contain opponents from scoring even more runs?

As good as Tejada, Lopez, and Palmeiro might be for the Orioles, the reacquisition of Ponson could be even more important for the team.

That's because the team's starting pitching is extremely questionable with just about six weeks to go for spring training. Ponson, who went 14-6 for the Orioles last season before being sent to the Giants for three young pitchers, immediately becomes the team ace. A popular parlor game, before the team signed the 27-year-old right-hander back again on January 14, was who might start on the mound for Baltimore on Opening Day. Kurt Ainsworth, one of the pitchers the Orioles acquired from San Francisco for Ponson? He's 25, and scouts love his potential, along with his four-seam fastball, his slider and a changeup. But potential is the word that has been pinned upon the chests of scads of young Orioles pitching prospects over the past half dozen years, and the club has seen most of that potential turned into dust. Ainsworth has gone 6-7 with a 3.75 ERA in his brief career and is coming off a broken shoulder blade from last season. He could turn out to be the real thing, or he could turn into … dust.

Then there's Rodrigo Lopez, who came within a hair of winning AL rookie of the year honors with the Orioles in 2002, only to fall apart with injuries and poor performance after poor performance last season. Sadly, his pitching this winter in his native Mexico resembles the 2003 Lopez more than the 2002 model. Lefty Eric Dubose, 27, was often impressive in going 3-6 with a 3.79 ERA for the Orioles in the latter part of 2003. But he's battled serious arm problems much of his career, and it remains uncertain how or even if he might pitch over a full season. Then there's veteran southpaw Omar Daal, who had a calamitous (4-11, 6.34 ERA) first season with the Orioles in 2003. The only time he didn't look bad was during the two months he spent on the disabled list. Perennial prospect Matt Riley, another lefty, also could battle for the rotation. Maybe this finally will be his year.

But the operative word is “maybe,” for virtually all the potential starters other than Ponson. And maybe that “maybe” will churn out on the positive side, as it did for the young Oriole staff in 1989, following the club's worst-ever, 54-107 season in 1988. In that wondrous '89 season, young hurlers like Jeff Ballard, Bob Milacki, Dave Johnson, Pete Harnisch and Gregg Olson all exceeded expectations and almost carried the Orioles to the pennant. Maybe Riley, Ainsworth, and Dubose will sparkle this year. But maybe they won't.

The Orioles' offseason strategy this winter was to pursue big bats, not live arms. There was reason behind this approach. Front office titans Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan believe the Orioles have quite a few impressive pitchers in the minor league system who are yet a year or two—or even moreâ—from the big leagues. It was unlikely the Orioles were going to improve enough in one year to move from fourth place to challenge the mighty Yankees and Red Sox for the AL East championship in one year, regardless of what they might do. So the idea was to acquire hitters this season, cross their fingers that the pitching would be good enough to keep the team competitive and interesting in 2004, and hope that a few of the young minor league hurlers might mature enough to be contributing in the big leagues by 2005. And next winter, the team will still have enough money to go hunting for any missing pieces that might be missing—whether those pieces might be pitchers or hitters. And, if tthe Orioles young p itchers really are as good and as plentiful as team officials indicate, they could be used as trade bait next year to acquire even more major league talent.

But we're jumping the gun.

The 2004 season is still to be played, and it's time to savor the possibilities this year might present, not contemplate 2005.

Beattie and Flanagan, with the blessings and bankroll of owner Peter Angelos behind them, accomplished their major goal of the offseason by giving the Orioles a new look and a sense of optimism. Finally, they have a good mix of youth and veterans in the lineup. If the kids progress from what they did last year, and the veterans show no signs of aging, the Orioles will sport their best lineup since the days of 1996 and 1997, when they last reached the playoffs. It is a shame that they couldn't have bagged the biggest prey, free-agent outfielder Vladimir Guerrero, who is good enough to have been the type of catalyst for the club that Frank Robinson was for the Orioles back in the 1960s. But Guerrero chose to be an Angel, not an Oriole. Flanagan and Beattie still rate high marks for signing the wonderfully talented Tejada, along with Lopez, Palmeiro, Ponson and reliever Mike DeJean.

Tejada has the affable personality that will quickly endear him to Baltimore fans, and a bat and glove that will make them fall in love with him. Because he got off to a painfully slow start with Oakland last season, 2003 was considered an off-year for the 27-year-old shortstop. Yet he still ended up hitting .278 with 27 home runs and 106 RBIs. The previous season, in his MVP year, Tejada batted .308 with 34 homers and 131 RBIs. Those are numbers that would make even Cal Ripken drool—not to mention Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparrra. When the A's played at Camden Yards last September, in one game Tejada made two unbelievable plays, once going deep into the hole and without stopping or even pivoting, firing a bullet to first to get a speedy Oriole runner, the other time dashing behind second base to nab a ball and throwing off balance to first for the out. Wow! But the very next evening, he botched a couple of balls and made one numbskull play, showing that he is human. Tejada might not be as steady and consistent at short as Ripken or Mike Bordick, but he will make more brilliant and acrobatic players than either of those two predecessors. If he plays to just his norm, the $72 million the Orioles are paying Tejada for six years will be well spent.

Catching was probably the Orioles must painful Achilles heel over the past couple of seasons. Brook Fordyce usually didn't hit and almost never threw well. Geronimo Gil showed signs of promise but seemed to be battling demons most of the time. By signing Javy Lopez for three years, the Orioles finally have a legitimate major league catcher—and then some, if he can come close to repeating his incredible 2003 season with the Braves. He had a career year, batting .328 with 43 home runs and 109 RBIs. Wow again!

If Lopez, who is 33, can come close to approaching those numbers, the Orioles should improve by at least several games in 2004, on his bat alone. More likely, they will see something like his career averages of .287, 21 homers and 70 RBIs he posted in 10 starting seasons with the Braves.

Both Tejada and Lopez, as well as Palmeiro and even Ponson, will bring playoff experience and veteran leadership to a young team. Other than Jeff Conine, youngsters like Matos, Bigbie, Gibbons and Hairston haven't had much veteran leadership they could look up to in their few years with the Orioles. They also haven't been exposed to a winning attitude. Winning helps breed winning, and the young Orioles now can play with a bit more confidence, knowing the team finally has a few legitimate stars. Both Palmeiro and Ponson emphasized that they are coming back to Baltimore with the idea that they can offer a helping hand to some of their younger colleagues. Neither Palmeiro nor Ponson were viewed as real leaders during their past tenures with the Orioles. Their new attitude will help contribute to molding the Orioles not only as a team, but perhaps as a winning team.

That's a new concept for the Orioles, and a mighty refreshing one at that. There hasn't been much fun in Baltimore baseball during the past six seasons, either for the fans or the players. Let's hope that 2004 will be a different type of year.