Will Orioles spend enough to get to a World Series? | MAILBAG

Question: The Orioles have been in only six World Series, but the Yankees and Dodgers have played each other in the Fall Classic 11 times. How can small-market teams like the Orioles compete against large-market teams? From: Timothy Fowler

Answer: Tim, while two of the top three spending teams in baseball are in the World Series this year, that doesn’t happen every year. Since the Yankees were last in the World Series, in 2009, Kansas City, Cleveland, Detroit and Texas have been in a combined seven World Series.

The Orioles will have to spend more money this offseason to help them better compete, but they don’t have to spend $300 million to do so. David Rubenstein has said that he realizes that Baltimore is not like New York or Los Angeles and that the Orioles can’t spend like that, but they can probably spend as they did during the 2012-2016 time frame, which was league average.

Question: Concerning the coaching shakeup, just how much influence does the coaching staff really have over modern players … especially star-power players?

On one hand, with their own high school, college, and/or minor league coaches … and places like Driveline, and/or private coaches they may have hired all providing input … just how many players really “buy in” to the philosophies the team’s coaches provide? From: Tom in Wyoming

Answer: Tom, the best players want to get better, and if a coach can help them get better, that’s great. Good coaches adapt to players and don’t give the same advice to each player.

Obviously, big league teams think that coaches are important because they have much bigger staffs than they did 10 years ago. The Orioles have three coaches for pitchers, and have had three for hitters in order to provide more specialized, individualized instruction.

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.