A look at where rebuilding led one organization

Sometimes in this space, we take a look at the Orioles at a micro level, checking on the present and future for a player like Tyler Wells, as we did here on Monday. Sometimes we take a bigger-picture view, discussing how the rebuild is going, as we did here yesterday.

The 30,000-foot view can often be more fun to discuss - and more complicated, too. Yesterday's blog produced many interesting comments. Some predictable, some not. As always, some see what the Orioles are doing - the rebuilding - as tanking. Some see team management holding the team back to get a higher draft pick. I would say another reason they get higher picks is because they are not good right now. Thus the rebuilding for a better future.

Some question this plan and others completely see the logic. Some readers believe the team could be winning more as they rebuild and suggest that would be quite meaningful to fans.

I have called it rebuilding fatigue and it's clear some have it. And that is understandable.

The Orioles lost 115 games in 2018 with a team that included Manny Machado, Trey Mancini, Adam Jones, Chris Davis, Jonathan Schoop, Mark Trumbo, Jonathan Villar and Cedric Mullins, along with Dylan Bundy, Andrew Cashner, Alex Cobb, Kevin Gausman, Zach Britton and Darren O'Day on the mound, to name just a few. How that team lost 115 games, managed by Buck Showalter, is a mystery, but it did.

For me, the wild card game in 2016 was the day the music died, and in 2018, the music no longer even played a single note.

So after 115 losses, the team hired a new front office and manager.

The 2019 Orioles then lost 108 games and the 2021 Orioles lost 110. Lot of losing and three straight full seasons with 108 losses or more. To say the least, the fan base is hungry for wins. They are ready to turn a corner. It is just that a rebuilding of an entire organization takes time and doesn't have an exact end or completion date. Too many factors to consider to project that.

But we can look at the Houston Astros and wonder if the Orioles can pull off something similar.

In its rebuild, Houston lost 106 games in 2011, 107 in 2012 and 111 in 2013. During the Astros' rebuilding, there was no pandemic and 60-game seasons, but like the current Orioles, they had three full years with 100-plus losses.

Then it got better.

The 2014 Houston team gained 19 wins from the year before, going 70-92. If the 2022 Orioles gain 19 wins, the club would go from 52-110 last year to 71-91 next year. I think many fans would see that as progress - progress at the big league level, which they are seeking and is more tangible than, say, a minor league organization being ranked No. 1.

From 2015 to 2021 - a period of seven seasons - Houston went to the playoffs six times and played in the World Series three times, winning it all in 2017. Did they cheat in some of those games? Yep, they sure did, and no one will ever forget it. Did they also build an organization that has produced lasting success? They did that, too.

It is clear O's fans are ready to see some progress at the major league level, and maybe the 2022 Orioles, as they add players like Adley Rutschman and Grayson Rodriguez, will give it to them.

Also, maybe Houston has gone places in recent seasons that the Orioles will later go.