Are the O's Pumped for Spring Training...2010?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: being an Orioles fan must really suck. This is the time of year, spring training just a month away, when most baseball fans begin to shrug off the winter doldrums and take an optimistic look at their favorite team. Which of the big Hot Stove deals and free agent signings will help the team? Which of the young prospects are going to make an impact this season?

But in Baltimore, hope does not spring eternal for even the most diehard of O's fan. The pilot was out on the stove and it never heated up. The biggest news was a departure, of their best position player no less, not an arrival. And the two biggest chips they had on the table in Bedard and Roberts remain there, probably to carry the team to yet another season where mediocrity would be an improvement.

Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun says it perfectly:

Will fan favorite and community leader Roberts be dealt to the Chicago Cubs? Will Bedard take his sarcastic sneer and blessed left arm to Seattle? Will the Orioles keep both players, and decide to play seven in the field because they don't have enough legitimate big leaguers to fill out a diamond?

With spring training looming, the 69-win Orioles have traded their most heralded player, shortstop Miguel Tejada, for five youngsters while signing an obscure backup catcher and a Rule 5 reliever.

That's it.

That's it indeed. With the energetic youth in Tampa, this could be a basement finish for the O's. And possibly for 2009 as well. Granted, there is time for the Orioles to make some deals, but it is running out. More from the Sun:

It's a simple equation that MacPhail is proposing in the trade talks: We'll make your good team a true contender this season, and you'll make us better for 2010.

That means - though MacPhail won't say it - that 2008 is a lost season in Baltimore. It's a conclusion without much of a jump.

Any night the Yankees or Red Sox aren't in town might make for an empty Camden Yards. Maybe showing Fever Pitch on the big screen or between-innings fireside chat with Cal Ripken will fill a few seats?