You know, there's nothing like beating up on the Yankees in New York to lift your spirits. you even get cool headlines on ESPN.com:
O's drill Yanks
I'm going to leave double entendre out of this one...
Mussina get's rocked, Guthrie pitches great and The Truth delivers his message of hope for the Orange and Black.
But that's not what I have come here to talk about today. It's our pitching staff.
We have only two starters in my estimation. Well, one and a half.
The one is Jeremy Guthrie. He is without a doubt our best starting pitcher. The half is Garrett Olson. He may be a good starter in time but he is far from a guarantee at this point.
The rest?
Daniel Cabrera - Only his ability to eat a few innings keeps him in the rotation. I have been fooled for the last time. He should be tried out in relief to salvage him but he is now through as a starter - Potential Setup Man
Brian Burres - I have harped on this before but Burres' future in the majors is in the bullpen. As a starter, he's been a failure. Only injuries to others has kept him in the rotation. - Swingman
Radhames Liz - He is young and was a bit rushed to the majors but even before he got here there were whispers among scouts that he may be better suited for relief. Now those whispers have grown to open conversation. Liz would be a crazy setup guy or maybe a closer but starter may not be where he projects. - Future Closer
You've got to love our bullpen this year and the prospects for next year. Randor Bierd, Jim Johnson, Chad Bradford, Jamie Walker, Dennis Sarfate, a healthy Chris Ray, Brian Burres, Rocky Cherry, Jim Miller, Bob McCrory...there's lots of options. It's deep and dynamic.
But who's going to start in 2009?
Matt Albers - I was really hoping Albers would get his shot but his season ending injury ended that thought. Look for him to compete for a spot in 2009.
Chris Tillman - Tillman is doing very well as a 20 year old in AA Bowie, much more than holding his own. He may not start the season in the rotation but he will be a quick callup in 2009.
Brad Bergesen - The 22 year-old Bergesen has been under the radar but has improved every year he has pitched in the organization. An extreme groundball pitcher, Bergesen is having a better season than Tillman in Bowie and demonstrates fabulous control. He is the type of pitcher who could make a leap to Baltimore next season but they may take it easy on him. ETA mid-2009.
Unfortunately, that's about all I could come up with. Anybody else with any ideas?
O's drill Yanks
I'm going to leave double entendre out of this one...
Mussina get's rocked, Guthrie pitches great and The Truth delivers his message of hope for the Orange and Black.
But that's not what I have come here to talk about today. It's our pitching staff.
We have only two starters in my estimation. Well, one and a half.
The one is Jeremy Guthrie. He is without a doubt our best starting pitcher. The half is Garrett Olson. He may be a good starter in time but he is far from a guarantee at this point.
The rest?
Daniel Cabrera - Only his ability to eat a few innings keeps him in the rotation. I have been fooled for the last time. He should be tried out in relief to salvage him but he is now through as a starter - Potential Setup Man
Brian Burres - I have harped on this before but Burres' future in the majors is in the bullpen. As a starter, he's been a failure. Only injuries to others has kept him in the rotation. - Swingman
Radhames Liz - He is young and was a bit rushed to the majors but even before he got here there were whispers among scouts that he may be better suited for relief. Now those whispers have grown to open conversation. Liz would be a crazy setup guy or maybe a closer but starter may not be where he projects. - Future Closer
You've got to love our bullpen this year and the prospects for next year. Randor Bierd, Jim Johnson, Chad Bradford, Jamie Walker, Dennis Sarfate, a healthy Chris Ray, Brian Burres, Rocky Cherry, Jim Miller, Bob McCrory...there's lots of options. It's deep and dynamic.
But who's going to start in 2009?
Matt Albers - I was really hoping Albers would get his shot but his season ending injury ended that thought. Look for him to compete for a spot in 2009.
Chris Tillman - Tillman is doing very well as a 20 year old in AA Bowie, much more than holding his own. He may not start the season in the rotation but he will be a quick callup in 2009.
Brad Bergesen - The 22 year-old Bergesen has been under the radar but has improved every year he has pitched in the organization. An extreme groundball pitcher, Bergesen is having a better season than Tillman in Bowie and demonstrates fabulous control. He is the type of pitcher who could make a leap to Baltimore next season but they may take it easy on him. ETA mid-2009.
Unfortunately, that's about all I could come up with. Anybody else with any ideas?
(edit: I guess the Orioles see Dennis Sarfate as an option..at least in the short term.)
1 comment:
What about the most important releif peice of all dude? GEORGE SHERRILL!
Okay seriously Orioles fans isn't he great? I know his ERA isn't the best in the world (4.21), and his stuff isn't completely insanely dominant, but he's got great stuff, and I think he's the exact CLUTCH performer the Orioles have needed since Randy Myers tossed up 48 Saves in our great 1997 championship bid. He is 30/36 I will take that any day, that is 83%which is right there with Trevor Hoffman's career mark. Seriously we should have a list of guys that are untouchable, we have championshiop caliber players, and it would be stupid to trade them in search for a new unproven championship caliber player - George Sherrill, Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts, Aubrey Huff, Kevin Millar, Luke Scott, Jeremy Guthrie, Ramon Hernandez, Adam Jones, Johnson... and there are even some guys that might be worth keeping - Melvin Mora and Jay Payton have hit well w/RISP, Dennis Sarfate, Matt Albers, Lance Cormier, Chad Bradford, and R Bierd have all shown me they can be contributors to a playoff team. I would like to see the O's keep it's current stars, re-sign Kevin Millar, Jay Payton (if he will re-sign), sign at least a decent veteran shortstop in FA, one big name starting pitcher (Mike Mussina please come back to us for one more run!), one or two decent starting pitcher to compete w/ our current slew of "potential", and WE ARE SET, we will make the playoffs.... thats not too much to ask is it?
How about a lineup, rotation, and back end that looks like this?
2B Roberts
CF Jones
RF Markakis
DH Huff
3B Mora
LF Scott
1B Millar
C Hernandez and fit a shortstop in-
SS Furcal/Eckstein/Renteria/Vizquel
Ace Mussina (its very possible)
SP2 Guthrie (gotta love 'em)
SP3 Depends, someone of our guys will break through, I have a good feeling about Olson, I still beleive in Cabrera but also still beleive he would be a shut down set-up, that guy in the triple A that starts w/ a B he's going to be great and soon... and guys there are a lot of free agent SP think of what adding a Benson, Burnett, Byrd, Dempster, Garland, Glavine, Hampton, Hernandez', Johnson, Lowe, Martinez, Maddux, Moyer, Pavano, Mulder, Sabathia, Sheets, Schilling, Rogers, Pettitte, Wakefield could possibly do?
As far as the bullpen, we are fine where we are at, and I pray we don't deal Sherril, but like I said I'd like to try DCab at 7th innings but for now...
Swinger - Cormier, Sarfate, Albers
6th Inn Setup - Bradford
7th Inn Setup - Ray
8th Inn Setup - Johnson
9th Inn Setup - Sherrill
Okay everyone, lets here what you think, lets guide these Orioles to a championshiop, we all know we've got what it takes, I really hope we don't fuck it up, we made GREAT trades this offseason, I'm scared management are confident about trading and going to undue them somehow.
After all, why did our '96 '97 team dissapear, because we lost Mussina and Palmeiro for one, we couldn't find a closer for a decade until Ray and Sherrill, we thought we could fill Raffy's power shoes w/ Albert ruin the Orioles franchise w/ a hefty contract finally finiahed paying for a player that didn't play Belle... really just stupid moves, offering Mussing 12 million/year and letting the Yankees snag him for 13 million when we know he prefferd to stay an Oriole and all we had to do was match the offer, still the saddest day in sports, Mussina going to the Yankees, come back and win us one!
What you think O's fans?
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