After 223 losses over two years, can O's fans remain patient?

Yes, we do discuss the Orioles rebuilding a lot on this blog. It's interesting to discuss and it's also the factor that dominates just about everything with the team right now. It seems every baseball decision is made with rebuilding in mind.

Some call it tanking and it is your right to use any word you want. To me, that word has a connotation of trying to lose. I don't see the Orioles encouraging losses, but Mike Elias and his front office inherited a team that lost 115 games. They didn't have to accept or encourage losses, they were just there. They are the reason for the front office change that brought them here.

The recent trades of Jonathan Villar and Dylan Bundy took something from the 2020 roster to hopefully add to rosters down the line. Some see that as tanking, others as a move of players with a year or two remaining on their contracts to try and get talent that will be helping the team well beyond 2020 and 2021.

That is the goal and that is the hope.

If the Orioles are to move this rebuilding process along faster than expected, a breakthrough to the majors of some of their young pitchers could be the reason it happens. A lot of what they are trying to do will rise or fall with the young pitchers.

The Orioles ranked last in the American League in team pitching in 2018 and 2019, and also led the majors in losses with 223 over those two years. Detroit is next with 212, while Kansas City at 207 and Miami at 203 also averaged 100 losses or more over those two seasons.

The prospect of a third straight 100-loss season seems to be part of the longer process to some fans but unacceptable to others. The team doesn't seem to want to make a run at a few upgrades that could lead to a few more wins because that would not be guaranteed and that would just be throwing money at a team that is going to lose a lot no matter.

From 2011 to 2013, the Houston Astros lost 106, 107 and 111 games. Over three seasons - from 2013 to 2015 - they went from 51 to 70 to 86 wins. Now they've played in two of the last three World Series, winning in 2017.

From 2011-2013, the Chicago Cubs lost 91, 101 and 96 games. From 2013 to 2015, they won 66, 73 and then 97 games. Houston gained 35 wins over a two-season span and the Cubs gained 31.

If the Orioles followed a similar path, they would indeed be in a for third straight year of 100 plus losses in 2020 and it would not be until 2022 when they make a real jump in wins and contend for the postseason.

Will O's fans stick around that long and support such an effort? Will an eventual payoff of a winning team and if they can get it, a World Series title, make fans forget the current pain of all the losses?

During the Orioles recent Winter Warm-Up at Camden Yards, manager Brandon Hyde once again thanked O's fans for supporting a team that they know won't contend but will lose a lot come April.

"We fully get it that it's hard to watch at times. It's frustrating," Hyde said. "It's frustrating in the chairs we're sitting in right now also. But we understand the process it's going to take how long it's going to take and we just want everyone to buy into what's going on. I think there's a lot of positive things going forward with the high draft picks. Some of the guys we showcased late in the year, they're going to be fun to watch this next year, so we hope everyone wraps their arms around them and continues to follow us going forward."

The Orioles are asking for patience now because it is needed from a fanbase that already leads Major League Baseball in losses since 2018.

Is the patience still out there for most fans?