Baltimore’s Off-Season Moves Add Intensity and Punch to Their Lineup and Clubhouse

Say you’re a pitcher, a young pitcher about to face the Baltimore Orioles.

Say you’re a bit nervous, but you’ve gotten the first couple of batters and you’re starting to settle down a little. Hey, you think, this might not be so bad.

But then you look into the batter’s box at the guy who just strode over from the on-deck circle. You know all about his numbers from last year: the .328 batting average, the 49 homers, 48 doubles and 152 RBIs.

Forget that. Forget even that you’re in Camden Yards, a park where the ball can fly off the bat with little more than a check swing on the right day. None of that is what gets you when you take Albert Belle, the Orioles’ newest power hitter, into your sights.

It’s the scowl. That scowl that makes you think, “oh yeah, it’s that bad.” “I have seen [Belle] absolutely intimidate young pitchers just by standing there looking at them with eye-to-eye contact,” Orioles manager Ray Miller says. “I would like to see more of that on this ballclub.”

Speaking of “this ballclub,” say you’re an Oriole. Say another big losing streak has hit like the three the team had last year, each of which lasted at least eight games. Say, for a moment, you have a lapse and pull up on a play or ease up on an at-bat.

Then get ready to say hello to your other new teammate, first baseman Will Clark.

“If I feel a guy’s not putting out he’ll have something said to him—quickly,” Clark says, steely eyed. “You have to nip that in the bud quickly.”

The Orioles underwent a wild off-season with new general manager Frank Wren riding out some crazy waves as soon as he started surfing the free agent and trade waters. While the club lost out on some of its key targeted players like Brian Jordan, Bernie Williams and its own first baseman Rafael Palmeiro, what it ended up with should help the Orioles over the .500 mark that last year’s 79-83 team missed.

By adding five new key players and a few more role players, the Orioles shook up a clubhouse often criticized for its passiveness last season. While Wren and the O’s didn’t get everyone they wanted, one thing was made clear by the new additions—especially the fire-breathing duo of Belle and Clark—passivity shouldn’t be a problem in 1999.

“The team that we are assembling is one that will be more intense and hard- nosed than Baltimore fans have had in recent years,” Wren says, “and that intensity will serve us well in our push for the postseason.”

The aggressiveness should start at the top of the order with new second baseman Delino DeShields, who signed a three-year contract after leaving St. Louis. DeShields will be hard pressed to replace perennial All-Star and Gold Glove second baseman Roberto Alomar, who signed with Cleveland, but the Orioles have craved his speed and leadoff capabilities.

“With the addition of Delino we add speed near the top of the lineup,” Wren says of DeShields, who stole 26 bases last season and 55 the year before. “Delino is a veteran second baseman who will help ignite the offense and cause havoc on the basepaths.”

Havoc on the basepaths is a subject the Orioles knew all too well last year. Teams often stole bases at will on the Orioles’ pitching staff and catching duo of Chris Hoiles and Lenny Webster. And with back problems nagging Hoiles, who watched in frustration as Kansas City racked up eight stolen bases in a game last July, the O’s made improved catching a top priority.

And they got one of the top defensive backstops in the game when they sent embattled reliever Armando Benitez to the Mets for four-time Gold Glove winner Charles Johnson, who worked with Wren in Florida when the team won the 1997 World Series.

“Charles Johnson puts a definite halt to the running game,” Miller says.

Johnson also frees Hoiles to rotate into a platoon at designated hitter with Harold Baines and fill in at first base occasionally.

Stolen bases were sometimes the least of the Orioles’ problems late in the game last year. With Benitez struggling in the closer’s role—both in performance and behavior, as noted by last May’s beanball and subsequent brawl against the Yankees—a go-to guy for the bullpen was the first component Wren went for in the off-season.

The Orioles added Seattle closer Mike Timlin, who went 3-3 with 19 saves in 24 chances and a 2.95 ERA last year.

“When I first came onboard, it was very apparent that one of our primary needs was to go out and get a closer and we identified Mike from those early meetings,” Wren says.

Signing the 32-year-old Timlin to a four-year contract could be perceived as a risky move in the long term, but Wren says he feels comfortable with it.

“With a relief pitcher, when you’re talking about your closer, that doesn’t concern me as much,” Wren said. “Another team had a four-year offer on the table. If we were gonna get him, we had to go four years as well.”

Timlin will have a familiar righty set-up man in former Seattle teammate Heathcliff Slocumb. Slocumb will try to help fill the void left by Alan Mills, who signed with L.A. and will team with former Kansas City reliever Ricky Bones in the Orioles’ revamped pen. Veteran utility player Rich Amaral should provide depth on the bench.

But if the Orioles’ restructuring is going to result in a dramatic difference in performance, a bulk of the work is going to have to come from Belle and Clark, who should bat back-to-back in the middle of the lineup.

Each player comes in with a question mark they’re eager to answer. For Belle, the big question is his much publicized off-the-field incidents. From beaning photographers to cursing reporters to chasing egg-throwing trick-or-treaters, Belle has attracted his share of the negative spotlight in the past.

But the slugger was amicable at his press conference, often smiling and vowing to work on his relationship with the fans and media, as he said he did when with the Chicago White Sox.

“I would pretty much say the same thing I said when I went to Chicago,” he said. “I made promises that I was going to improve as far as my relationship with the media, which I did. … I have had a great relationship with the fans more so over the last couple years. I am going to continue that in Baltimore. Just because I may not be smiling or waving at you; I am happy.”

Players and coaches attribute Belle’s surly reputation to an impressive work ethic that has led to him playing in 334 straight games, the league’s longest streak now that his new teammate, Cal Ripken, decided to take a rest.

“Everything I’ve heard is that he’s a great teammate, is focused on winning and his work ethic is impeccable,” shortstop Mike Bordick says. “I’m excited to have him as a teammate.”

Says reliever Jesse Orosco, who played with Belle in Cleveland: “Anybody in baseball would take this guy in a heartbeat. I think he’s going to be fine. He’s a very quiet guy. He plays hard every day and he’s going to be out there every game. When you hang around him, Albert’s a real good guy.”

Palmeiro had been one of the Orioles’ good guys for the past five years, but opted to sign with his old team, Texas, at the last minute. Talk about your Texas twisters.

Five years ago, Palmeiro had expected to re-sign with Texas, but the Rangers opted for Clark and Palmeiro ended up with Baltimore. At the time, he criticized Clark, his old college teammate. With the roles reversed five years later, Clark says Palmeiro had said some things he didn’t mean and joked that the pair had some interesting conversations “at first base.”

The biggest concern with Clark is his lack of power. He shouldn’t be expected to come close to the 43 homers Palmeiro hit last year for the O’s. What he lacks in power, though, Clark may make up for in feistiness.

“A ballplayer is a guy who hustles all the time and busts his butt,” Clark says. “Someone who cruises on God-given ability, I don’t consider him a ballplayer.”

So the Orioles head into spring training looking a lot differently than they did last year. You can say what you want about the new-look Orioles, but you shouldn’t be able to say they’re lacking intensity. Young pitchers and slacking teammates beware.