So there was this press release:ORIOLES OPTION RHP BRAD BERGESEN TO TRIPLE-A NORFOLK
The Orioles have announced that RHP BRAD BERGESEN has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Bergesen was 3-4 with a 6.50 ERA (54.0IP, 39ER) in 12 games (10 starts) for the Orioles this season.
A corresponding move will be announced tomorrow.
Well, I hate to say I told you so but...I told you so.
...why would Bergesen go to Norfolk for a single start and come back to Baltimore? One solid start against AAA hitters is not enough for me to regain confidence. If you're going to use his option under the premise that he needed to work on his sinker and control, I sincerely doubt that he put everything together in one start. At least three would be my preference.
These are the kinds of things that bother me about this team. The losing sucks and the young players' struggles are concerning but ultimately these things can happen with a team in rebuilding mode. It doesn't always happen on schedule.
But wasting an option on a guy for one AAA start? It just doesn't make sense. Now you've used two options on a guy who may eventually be useful to the big league club. Who really thought that Bergey was all straightened out after one start?
Maybe they think Bergesen is no longer a big league pitcher. Maybe. But they did this with Matt Albers too and now he has no options left, probably the only reason he's still on the big league roster. For some reason, the Orioles seem afraid that someone will claim Albers if they try to get him to Norfolk. But they no longer have the luxury of Albers going to AAA to work out his control, a new pitch or something of that ilk.
If this is how cavalier they are about player options, what else are they not paying close attention to?
And that's when I get nervous.
Options cover the whole season; he can come up and down as much as the O's want in 2010 (within days on the roster rules) and still only use one option.
ReplyDeleteThen why is Albers out of options?
ReplyDeleteOK, I think I figured out where I misunderstood the options rules. Got it now.
ReplyDeleteWoeful that I did not understand that...
Regardless, this was Bergesen's second option season; he was added to the 40-man roster over the winter prior to the Rule V draft in November 2008, and then optioned to begin the 2009 season.
ReplyDeleteAssuming you are added to the roster just before your first Major League appearance, to go through 4 option years means you've never had much success. I think it's safe to say that most guys who are out of options yet deserving of option consideration are probably replacement level players.
Probably most. But some guys (like Jeremy Guthrie) end up out of options after 27 major league innings. Hard to say what a guy's talent level is after that little time. He turned out to be about league average...which is what I would hope for Bergesen.
ReplyDelete