For a team that entered this season with ambitions of competing for a postseason spot, 2018 has been a complete disaster for the Baltimore Orioles.
The Orioles have lost six straight games and already sit 17 back of the division-leading Boston Red Sox, and 12 games out of the second wild-card spot. With frustration growing, veteran catcher Caleb Joseph challenged his teammates.
"Tough times here," Joseph said following Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Oakland Athletics, according to Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun. "But nobody is going to feel sorry for you. There's blood in the water right now, and there's a bunch of sharks coming after us. We've got to man up, grow up, start playing better. Period. No ands, ifs, or buts about it. We've just got to play better. We're just not good enough right now."
The Orioles have been bad in almost every facet of the game. They rank 29th in the majors in OPS and runs - only ahead of the Miami Marlins. Their pitching staff has been equally miserable. The rotation has allowed the second-most runs in the majors, while the bullpen's 4.43 ERA sits in the bottom half of the league.
With a number of key players hitting free agency this winter - Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Zach Britton, Brad Brach - the Orioles look to be heading into sell mode ahead of the July non-waiver trade deadline, though general manager Dan Duquette said earlier this month that it's too soon to start dealing.
"We're still evaluating our club for 2018. Basically, we still need to figure out where we're going to be, so I think we need a little bit more time to do that," Duquette said on May 1, pointing to Memorial Day as the benchmark.
