Rebuilding Orioles Ready for Next Phase

SARASOTA, Fla. -- As Orioles coaches and staff were laying out plans and schedules for spring training, they included two words that hadn't been used in nearly more than a decade.

Field 4.

For 13 years in Fort Lauderdale, the Orioles had to make do with just three fields. And two of those bordered on Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, leaving players, as one put it, "sucking on jet fumes."

Now the Orioles have a full complement of fields (with cleaner air), having moved to Sarasota. And while it was an old enough complex for Cincinnati to abandon it for Arizona, Baltimore is elated -- and that's even before the $31.2 million the county will spend on renovations for 2011.

What's it like to finally have a Field 4?

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"Like it's supposed to be," O's manager Dave Trembley said. "You can run a real spring training."

The move across Florida also provides an important piece of symbolism. It is the final step in an overhaul of the organization's literal and figurative infrastructure.

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With burdensome contracts off the books, the farm system beginning to produce, a Dominican academy in place, improved video and computer systems and a new spring home, the next step is using the improvements to create a contender.

"The Phase One is now done," President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail told FanHouse. "And that's the most destructive part of the rebuilding process -- the hardest part. We hope we're out of that.

"And now we're starting the launch."

The Yankees left Fort Lauderdale in 1996 for a new complex in Tampa. Meanwhile, the Orioles had been nearly nomads since leaving a rough section of Miami in 1991.

But as new and renovated spring-training facilities blossomed across Florida and Arizona, Fort Lauderdale deteriorated. And became more and more of a travel nightmare as West Palm Beach and Vero Beach lost teams.

So Sarasota held great appeal.

"It's a huge upgrade," pitcher Jeremy Guthrie said. "It's a very nice, spacious, very comfortable clubhouse. It's a great workout facility."

Said Trembley, as diplomatically as possible: "Fort Lauderdale was a very nice place. But the game moves forward. The game waits for no one. Fort Lauderdale was outdated. It's that simple. It was outdated. That's not to be disrespectful to the people, the facility, those who work there. It was outdated. It served its purpose. But it served its purpose not for the way the game is now."

It wasn't just an old facility that made Baltimore itchy to leave. The whole time the Orioles trained in Fort Lauderdale, there was no spot for their minor-leaguers, who were in Sarasota (a different complex than the Reds). When someone got cut, he had to dwell on it over the three-hour drive to minor-league camp.

"This facility is night and day for us," Trembley said. "This facility allows us to run a major-league spring training camp the way you're supposed to. It gives us everything we need. And it allows the players to get the necessary work that they need to get it. It allows the coaches, the players, our support staff, our front office, our media, everybody to be in an environment that's professional, that's conducive to running a big-league camp.

"Probably the most important thing, it gives us an identity and a sense of pride in being a Baltimore Oriole. Because we now feel like we're on an even playing field with everybody else. That simple."

If all goes according to plan, once Baltimore breaks camp this year, work will begin on renovating Ed Smith Stadium and the building behind it that houses the team's offices and the clubhouse. Eventually there will be nine or 10 full fields for workouts.



"This place will be the Taj Mahal, I think, of spring trainings in Florida," Trembley said.

"I feel like we're in a better spot," Guthrie said, "with a better opportunity."

And that's the thing. Now the Orioles have no excuses. They know that their best chance to win is through scouting and player development, and MacPhail finally has those departments where he wants them.

The string of 12 losing seasons might not stop this year. But Baltimore has a talented nucleus in catcher Matt Wieters; outfielders Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Nolan Reimold; and pitchers Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman, Jake Arrieta and Brad Bergesen.

"We showed individual progress in the past," MacPhail said. "Now we need to show collective progress.

"We've got to keep moving up. And [Sarasota] is a big part of that."