Guthrie available as a salary dump (Guthrie traded to KC)

He will not cost a player. I think $2M in salary for the rest of the year may be all he costs. Would you want him back?

http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_21107020/guthries-value-going-going

Interesting that the author calls Hammel a head case. We have not seen that this year. They also say Lindstrom can't go more then an inning.

I think it's just his physical location up there with the Rockies getting him down, plus the different atmosphere/team/league. If we don't have to give anybody up to get him, I'd go for it. Good luck pulling the purse strings of MASN/PA to buy him though.

If our existing starters do well, he'd be great in long relief out of the bullpen. If someone like Chen or Tillman begins having consistently terrible starts, we can put Guts in the rotation. Either way, he'd be a benefit to the team.

He could also serve as an emergency starter to put in 5+ innings in case one of our starters gets injured, gets the flu, has a baby, has to attend court, has to miss a game for another reason, or whatever. With our current thin line of long men, I don't think I'd want to see one of our scheduled starters miss a start -- you don't want Dana Eveland starting. You just don't. You could trot out Guts to give the game at least a semi-competitive edge in the first half, then let inning-plus relievers like O'Day and Patton fill in the middle innings, then if you're winning bring in Strop in the 8th and J Johnson for the 9th.

+1 on Get Him.

P.S. -- Luis Ayala has proven on multiple occasions of late that he is not a viable long man, so I certainly wouldn't want him to make a start, either. If he has any use left, it's for situations normally reserved for Kevin Gregg, e.g. extra innings and blowouts when we're hopelessly behind (15-0, etc).

As a strait salary dump it's a no-brainer.

Guthrie for Gregg.

Interesting that the author calls Hammel a head case. We have not seen that this year. They also say Lindstrom can't go more then an inning.

The Hammel stuff is probably about as accurate as the part about Guthrie being able to out-debate Lincoln and Douglas.

Guthrie for Gregg.

That is less then a salary dump.

I'd take him as a second SP pick up. But I still want a solid mid rotation SP as well.

I have mixed feelings. He could probably be more effective here than he was at Coors, but his record was so poor here even when his ERA was decent that I'm hesitant to bring that karma back to a team that -- let's face it -- has been incredibly lucky.

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We traded Guthrie for Hammel.

And now, we might acquire Guthrie to replace the injured Hammel.

Chilly.

I have mixed feelings. He could probably be more effective here than he was at Coors, but his record was so poor here even when his ERA was decent that I'm hesitant to bring that karma back to a team that -- let's face it -- has been incredibly lucky.

But now the O's have a good bullpen. He still may not win because the O's offense never scores for him but they will score for the pen. It might take extra innings but eventually the O's score. That works for me. Its better then losing in the first inning.

But now the O's have a good bullpen. He still may not win because the O's offense never scores for him but they will score for the pen. It might take extra innings but eventually the O's score. That works for me. Its better then losing in the first inning.

Bring him back. No question. Who are we to be snobs about who joins the starting rotation of this team? Our rotation is swiss cheese right now and there's a player who can be had for next to nothing and has a history of success (or something like it) with the Orioles. This is a no brainer. Get on the phone.

I'd have no problem bringing Guthrie back as a salary dump.

End of Aug. rotation:

Hammel

Chen

WRod

Guts

and one of Gonzo II, Matusz, Tillman, Britton, Arrieta, Hunter. Looks good to me.

I'm in favor. It's reasonable to think that Guts could eat innings at the back of the rotation. How is he much different from Hunter? Obviously Hunter is going to see more starts based on necessity and a very nice start last time out, so why not bring Guts back on the cheap to start occasionally or serve as a long man?

In the flip side, we aren't an offensive juggernaut right now (understatement yes) and I'll cringe every time Guthrie appears for fear of 2011 redux.

He will not cost a player. I think $2M in salary for the rest of the year may be all he costs. Would you want him back?

http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_21107020/guthries-value-going-going

Interesting that the author calls Hammel a head case. We have not seen that this year. They also say Lindstrom can't go more then an inning.

Wow, what a strange article--nothing at all about the headcase's and wimp's fine performances this season with the O's! Didn't know that Lindstrom had a 1.71 ERA on the road last season. I'm sure that caught Duquette's eye, although he never spoke act it in public.

I think Guthrie will be a man on a mission with whatever team he ends up on--and I'd be glad if he carries out successfully with the O's. There were rumors of Buck disapproving of him (his contract negotiations? his W/L record?), but I hope he can put those aside for the good of the team. Having seen 4/5 of his rotation crumble and realizing the folly of trading away prospects, Buck may be able to adopt a new positive attitude to a man who was a dedicated, popular, innings-eating Oriole who had some of Chen's ability to keep us in a game regardless of a bad inning or two.