Orioles legend just put modern baseball players on blast (and he may be right)

Many of the attacks on the modern game of baseball from traditionalists are pretty silly. The sheer number of people who advocate for sacrifice bunts when pitchers are throwing 98+ mph is wild, and it has long since been shown that stats like wins, saves, and quality starts are pretty silly. However, when Baltimore Orioles legend Eddie Murray took modern baseball players to task recently in an interview, it was a bit different from the usual 'old man yells at clouds' stuff.

Murray's resume as a player is completely unimpeachable. Over his 21-season career, he had over 3,200 hits and over 500 home runs en route to his induction into the Hall of Fame. If anyone knows how to produce consistently over a long career, it is Murray.

More importantly, Murray hasn't been a guy who has gone out of his way to criticize the modern game since he retired. He would certainly talk about how he approached the game when he played and tell stories from his playing days, but Murray doesn't take cheap shots. So when he said in a recent interview with the Baltimore Sun that baseball "hasn’t changed for the best", everyone should take notice.

Eddie Murray thinks modern players lack fundamentals/preparation and it is hurting the game

Again, if Murray was out there complaining about too many home runs or something, that would be easy to ignore and chalk up to generational differences. However, Murray instead put modern players on blast for not only how they prepare and execute on defense, but also for how they prepare overall on both sides of the ball.

Regarding defense, which even the most analytics-driven folks can agree is incredibly important, Murray thinks that modern players make throws without thinking and don't prepare before games like they should. “I see throws that come in, short-hop people and stuff like that, some people have no idea how they throw the ball." Murray went on to say regarding defensive preparation, “Something’s got to happen where these guys stay on the field. I don’t like that. But when you come out here, you don’t see anybody working a lot of time. Nobody taking ground balls."

That is pretty damning and a very reasonable point. Understanding what you, as a defender, can and can't do is really important, and once you start making dumb decisions or executing poorly, it will cost your team. As for hitting, it is a similar story regarding the lack of preparation leading to poor at-bats. "You’re not paid to eat popcorn and peanuts right now to sit here and watch this. There were plenty of times I hit changeups on the first pitch. That’s just knowing who you were facing. You’ve got to have a memory in this game, how somebody gets you out and all that.”

With many experts already saying that the Orioles may struggle to bounce back into contention, it is worth taking Murray's words to heart here. There are already worries that, thanks to a front office that is too passive and a young core that lacks fundamentals, the Orioles have wasted their window of contention. If they want to get back on track, getting back to basics like Murray suggests here is a great place to start.

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