A take on the rotation, Jonathan Schoop and a winning season

With 13 games to play in the 2015 season, many Orioles fans must have one eye on the present and one on the future at this point. As the hopes dim and are almost closed on this year, there is always hope that next year could be better.

The Orioles' winter will be interesting to follow as we will eventually find out if they can re-sign any of their key free agents. If they don't or can't, we'll find out how they intend to move forward without those players.

With a look back and a watchful eye on the future here are three topics to discuss today:

The rotation has turned into a mess: The Orioles falloff here from last year has been dramatic and a major factor in how far this team has fallen from last year's club that won the division championship.

The 2014 Orioles ranked fifth in the American League with a rotation ERA of 3.61. The 2015 Orioles rank 14th at 4.64, currently ahead of only Detroit 4.86.

As some fans kept a narrative going that the Orioles really blew it last winter in not signing Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis, they were missing out on the biggest issue that impacted this team. It is hard for any team to contend with a rotation that is next to last in the AL.

Bud Norris went from an ERA of 3.65 to 7.06. Chris Tillman from 3.34 to 5.19 and Miguel Gonzalez from 3.23 to 4.85. This was not regression. This was worse. This was going from one of the best rotations in the league to one of the worst.

Looking ahead to 2016, will Tillman and Gonzalez bounce back and pitch more to their pre-2015 track records? Will Kevin Gausman become a top of rotation starter? Will the O's make a play for an ace pitcher in free agency?

A winning season is important: Why do I say that? Because an 82-win or better year would give the Orioles four consecutive winning seasons. That has happened just three times in team history. That is if you count 18 straight winning seasons from 1968-1985 as one time as I did. The O's also had four consecutive winning records from 1963-1966.

The Orioles have not had four consecutive winning records since that long run ended in 1985. So winning 82 or more is significant. This team needs to go 9-4 or better against the Nationals, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Yankees to get there.

Johnny Baseball's breakout year: One of the most exciting things for the Orioles this year has to be seeing the improvement of Jonathan Schoop. He looked like a completely different player from spring training on. Then he got hurt. But he has come back and shown a big improvement over his 2014 year.

Schoop in 2014: .209 average, .244 OBP, .354 slugging, .598 OPS, 65 OPS+
Schoop in 2015: .287 average, .315 OBP, .493 slugging, .807 OPS, 119 OPS+

Schoop averaged a homer every 28.4 at-bats last season and one every 19.4 at-bats this year. Over 600 at-bats, that rate would produce 31 homers.

Here is another stat that bodes well for Schoop: He has produced well against right-handed pitching. He has hit .239 this year with a .598 OPS versus left-handers and those numbers are .310/.907 against right-handed pitchers.

Schoop's strikeout and walk rates have not changed much from last year. He is just chasing fewer pitches, learning more about how pitchers are attacking him and blossoming into a potential All-Star caliber player. The defense is outstanding. He is driven to learn and get better and has a tremendous leader like J.J. Hardy to mentor him. The sky is the limit for Schoop. Yep, he's a nugget for sure.