With Spring Training officially underway, and the first game of the 2008 MLB Season just 4 weeks ahead, we’ll start doing team previews here on Endscore.com. Starting in the American League East, the Baltimore Orioles will be the first team to be looked at.

Starting Rotation: The entire 2008 Orioles pitching staff is a question mark. The staff, “ace,” Daniel Cabrera lost 18 games last season, with a WHIP of 1.54, and 108 walks. Cabrera has above average stuff, but hasn’t yet learned to harness his pitches to throw strikes on a consistent basis. The next man in the rotation, Jeremy Guthrie, K’d 123 batters last season, and showed decent control with 47 walks given up in 175.1 innings pitched. At 28 years old, Guthrie will be entering his prime next season; he could very well wind up anchoring this rotation by mid-season. After Cabrera and Guthrie, nothing’s a sure shot in the rotation. 23 year old southpaw Adam Loewen throws a great fastball and curveball, but he doesn’t have the big league experience to be an adequate replacement for Erik Bedard. He’ll be in the 3rd spot in the rotation, well ahead of where he logically should be at this point in his career. The last 2 rotation spots are up for grabs: Troy Patton, Brian Burres, Garrett Olson, Jim Hoey, Matt Albers, Steve Trachsel, Lance Cormier and Jim Johnson will compete for the jobs.

Bullpen: The projected closer for 2008 is George Sherrill, a player acquired from the Seattle Mariners in the Erik Bedard deal. The rest of the bullpen is mediocre at best. The 2 set-up men, Chad Bradford and Jamie Walker, are 33 and 37 years old and will be getting in plenty of games next season. Former closers Chris Ray and Danys Baez will be on the Disabled List until much later in the season; until they return, the bullpen for the O’s will prove no lead to be safe.

Starting Lineup: A bright spot for this Orioles team will be their outfield. Each outfielder (Luke Scott, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis) are still in their 20’s, and can hit for power. In limited big league action last season Scott hit 18 home runs, and Adam Jones, acquired in the Erik Bedard deal, hit 25 home runs with 84 RBI’s for the Mariners’ AAA Affiliate last season. Markakis, as per usual, will be the Orioles’ standout offensive player next season. The rest of the Orioles lineup isn’t any better, and worse yet, older. Kevin Millar will play at first base (37 years old), Brian Roberts will play at 2nd base (30 years old, named in Mitchell report), Melvin Mora will play at third (36 years old), Aubrey Huff will start at the DH position (31 years old), and Ramon Hernandez will catch (31 years old). The starting shortstop will be named as Spring Training goes along, it could be anyone from Luis Hernandez, Freddie Bynum, Scot Moore or Brandon Fahey. Jay Gibbons, who hit 26 home runs just 2 years ago, looks like a lost cause at just 30 years old. He hit .230 last season, and will start the season riding the bench.

Bench: Jay Payton and Tike Redman should make for decent 4th and 5th outfielders. The rest of the bench spots are up for grabs. Even if certain players make bench spots out of Spring Training, don’t count on them to be locks to stay on the big league team for the remainder of the season. Whoever performs well with the Orioles AAA team at the beginning of the season can expect to see some big league time this season.

Overall: This 2008 Baltimore team is absolutely dreadful. They can expect to lose up to 100 games with their shaky all around roster. In the off-season Orioles Management traded Ace Erik Bedard to the Mariners to begin a rebuilding phase, yet kept Kevin Millar, Melvin Mora, and other veteran players who are of no use to a rebuilding team. With the Rays improving this off-season, the Orioles seem destined to finish in last place in the AL East this season.