Baltimore Orioles: Too much power with Pedro Alvarez?

With the addition of Pedro Alvarez, do the Baltimore Orioles have too much power in their lineup?

I suspect that for the most part, the addition of Pedro Alvarez is going to be a good thing for the Baltimore Orioles. Yes he ususally strikes out over 100 times each year and he’s only a career .236 hitter, but the guy has power. Mind you, we’re not talking power along the lines of a Davis (who’s capable of 40+ homers a year). But he has power.

And as I said yesterday, the Orioles have quietly added a decent amount of power to their lineup through the likes of Kim, Trumbo, and now Pedro Alvarez. Having said that, at the beginning of the off season the goal was to improve on base percentage. The O’s haven’t exactly been able to do that.

And for sure, sometimes we have to redirect our efforts on the fly. Market conditions change, as do various other things. However as a rhetorical question to O’s fans, do the Orioles now have…too much power in the lineup. As a follow-up, is it possible to have too much power? 

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Some people might say how in the world is too much power a bad thing? And that’s a fair point. However I suppose where I’m going with this is that if you think back to your schoolyard days, wasn’t there always some big burly kid that everyone know could pound the living snot out everyone? That’s power, right?

But while the smaller kids were in constant fear of him, all that guy knew was braun. The smaller kids in theory had brains. And often times because the big guy was so focused on beating someone up, they would eventually be outsmarted in some manner.

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So how does that translate? Obviously the O’s aren’t looking to pound anyone into the sand – literally, that is. However one criticism of them could in theory be that their offense is going to be overly one-dimensional. They will in fact be relying on the home run ball, just as they have the past couple of years. So then why would this year be any different than last?

Well for starers, the Birds now have more home run potential in their bats. However of course the flip side is that they have more strikeout potential. It’s a double-sided coin. I suspect that opposing pitchers will probably throw a lot of fastballs, countered with late-count changes to a lot of different Oriole hitters. In this setting at least, that’s how brain can sometimes win over braun.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: Miguel Gonzalez rebounds in 5-1 loss

At the end of the day, Oriole bats will be a force with which opposing pitchers will have to deal. Contrary to what we’re seeing on the field now, this team isn’t going to just turn into a pumpkin. That works contrary to common sense. They might have to work to not accumulate strikeouts. But opposing teams will also have to work to keep balls out of the outfield grandstand.