Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts hasn't been on a winning team in his nine-season big league career. This year's club, regardless of its final record, is better than some of the previous incarnations, he said.
"It's hard to win with five 20-year-olds pitching or whatever we have," Roberts said. "But talent-wise, heck no, it's not even close to the worst team that I've ever been on."
Still, Roberts said, losing 100 doesn't hold any significance within the clubhouse.
"It's just a number," Roberts said. "You don't make the playoffs, what difference does it make? In the long run, if Boston were to miss the playoffs, they didn't have any better year than we did. I don't think the number 100 really matters to any of us. Maybe, if we lost more than any team has ever lost, it would matter."
The 100-loss valley likely matters more to a manager than to players, since it might be his name forever linked to it in the history books.
Orioles manager Dave Trembley, usually effusive on baseball subjects, politely declined to comment on the possibility of losing 100 games, saying he preferred to concentrate on the positives.
Really, that's all he can do, said New York Yankees bench coach Tony Pena.
Pena took over as Royals manager in May 2002, when the club was 13-23. The Royals finished that year 62-100, then went 83-79 in 2003, earning Pena the AL Manager of the Year Award. But the Royals lost 104 games under Pena in 2004 and he resigned the next May.
"Of course, you don't want to lose 100 games. You try to avoid that. You try to touch every single option to stay away from that," Pena said. "When you manage, you only can do so many things. It's also up to the players to execute. If you have players who can't execute, you are going to lose 100 games no matter what."
For an overmatched, rebuilding team, September becomes a balancing act between attempting to win and giving young players valuable experience, Pena said.
"A lot of times you can get caught up in thinking you don't want to lose 100 games, but then you have to think about how you have a lot of young kids that you have got to work in every single day and you have to prepare them for the next season," Pena said. "It's not easy. It's tough. Much tougher than people think."
Pena's advice to Trembley as September progresses and the losses mount: "Don't get yourself sick. As soon as you start getting sick, you really have to watch [your health]. ... I know. I went through it."
Baltimore Sun reporter Jeff Zrebiec contributed to this article.
100 loss seasons in MLB since 2000
2000: None
2001: Pittsburgh Pirates (100), Tampa Bay Devil Rays (100)
2002: Detroit Tigers (106), Devil Rays (106), Milwaukee Brewers (106), Kansas City Royals (100)
2003: Detroit Tigers (119)
2004: Arizona Diamondbacks (111), Royals (104)
2005: Royals (106)
2006: Devil Rays (101), Royals (100)
2007: None
2008: Washington Nationals (102), Seattle Mariners (101)
O's five worst records Record Year(s) Pct.
54-107 1988 .335
54-100 1954 .351
57-97 1955 .370
63-98 2001 .391
67-95 1987, 1991, 2002 .414
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