How can Penn be this bad????

[Flosman]

How can a guy with as good a track record has he has had be so dreadfully horrible. The guys in the minors still have bats. He makes Chen look like a guy that it is hard to square the ball off of.

[Flosman]

Another question for the history buffs. How indicitive is his early performance of what kind of future he actually should expect?

[Webley Webster]

Hey, he's improving--today his ERA dropped by 72.00. At that pace he'll be an ace very soon.

Seriously, it's a huge jump to the bigs. The guy's 22. I don't think this is anything to get too worried about.

[Skywalker76]

Maybe we just overvalue our own prospects???

[weams]

Maybe we just overvalue our own prospects???

Everyone else values Hayden Penn. Something is different. He was reasonable at this level last year. Maybe a few more outings, or he is hurt, or he is tipping his pitches. I am sure he is one of the most heavily scouted minor league pitchers at this juncture.

[Flosman]

Hey, he's improving--today his ERA dropped by 72.00. At that pace he'll be an ace very soon.

Seriously, it's a huge jump to the bigs. The guy's 22. I don't think this is anything to get too worried about.

Actually I think the way he is getting killed is cause for concern. I f he was walking some guys and giving up a normal ratio of singles to XBHs I would be less concerned. But it appears he does not have major league stuff. He can't get his FB by anybody. Take Loewen for example even when he struggles he gets his share of swing and misses. I think there is reason to be concerned.

[DrungoHazewood]

Another question for the history buffs. How indicitive is his early performance of what kind of future he actually should expect?

There are plenty of pitchers who have poor performances in very limited innings at age 20/21 and then go on to successful careers. See Mike Hampton, Blue Moon Odom, Kevin Appier, Bruce Hurst, Arthur Rhodes, Duane Ward, Goose Gossage, Reggie Cleveland, and Cal McLish for a few examples.

Not sure what's up with Penn, but you don't have a 2.26 ERA in AAA, and good numbers throughout your minor league career at such a young age by pure luck. He's good, I'm not worried.

[Intrepid1]

I think he has just had too much rest in between starts and can't find his rythem.I don't know what his pitch count was but they should have left him in to get to 80 someone anyway. I haven't seen either of his games so I don't know what his mixture of pitches was or if he's rushing the pitches.Has 3 more starts I think so hopefully he'll have some good ones so he doesn't have to agonize over the winter. I definately think the talent is there he just has to get a grip on his emotions and get some confidence going.

[DrungoHazewood]

Maybe we just overvalue our own prospects???

C'mon, that's absurd. He's a 21-year-old kid who had a 2.26 ERA at Ottawa facing almost exculsively players years older than he is.

If these five innings are indicitive of his future then the relationship between major and minor league performance has had a massive, unprecedented, and unexplainable shift overnight.

[Skywalker76]

Everyone else values Hayden Penn. Something is different. He was reasonable at this level last year. Maybe a few more outings, or he is hurt, or he is tipping his pitches. I am sure he is one of the most heavily scouted minor league pitchers at this juncture.

I agree to an extend but I also think that these outings tell us that Penn can be no part of our 2007 rotation, maybe he can be an arm in the bullpen.

[ripkenfan]

wow, these first couple of starts have been a huge disappointment. I mean, all I have heard is that Penn is awesome and will be a future part of our rotation and he comes up here and gets absolutely shelled his first couple of starts. Would it be too much to ask to have one of our highly touted pitching prospects come up and be effective right away like the whole freakin Marlins rotation (except for Willis), Jered Weaver, Liriano, Verlander, etc. Granted Loewen is doing decent, but he still has a ways to go and it took Bedard 3 years to finally get where he is at. Cabrera and Penn are big question marks at this point. Everyone talks about all the talent these two have, but they just can't seem to put it together. Probably a bit premature for this rant about Penn's performance, but it is extremely frustrating to watch our top pitching prospect go out and get shelled again. I sure hope he turns it around. We may have to spend to get an Ace like Zito or Schmidt here.

[Skywalker76]

C'mon, that's absurd. He's a 21-year-old kid who had a 2.26 ERA at Ottawa facing almost exculsively players years older than he is.

If these five innings are indicitive of his future then the relationship between major and minor league performance has had a massive, unprecedented, and unexplainable shift overnight.

Well after his starts in AAA some people were thinking of Penn as a part of our 2007 rotation. All I'm saying is that maybe Penn needs more time and won't be a 20 game winner in 2007.

[weams]

wow, these first couple of starts have been a huge disappointment. I mean, all I have heard is that Penn is awesome and will be a future part of our rotation and he comes up here and gets absolutely shelled his first couple of starts. Would it be too much to ask to have one of our highly touted pitching prospects come up and be effective right away like the whole freakin Marlins rotation (except for Willis), Jered Weaver, Liriano, Verlander, etc. Granted Loewen is doing decent, but he still has a ways to go and it took Bedard 3 years to finally get where he is at. Cabrera and Penn are big question marks at this point. Everyone talks about all the talent these two have, but they just can't seem to put it together. Probably a bit premature for this rant about Penn's performance, but it is extremely frustrating to watch our top pitching prospect go out and get shelled again. I sure hope he turns it around. We may have to spend to get an Ace like Zito or Schmidt here.

I respectfully disagree with this point. Loewen is in the American league. He is exactly where a young future 1 or 2 starter should be at this point....probably ahead.

[TonySoprano]

Maybe we just overvalue our own prospects???

The organization is more concerned with upgrading the team's athleticism, talent level and depth. Club officials were optimistic before the season that if the club stayed healthy, it could compete. However, the pitching staff, thought to be the backbone of the team, has faltered under new pitching coach Leo Mazzone, leaving Duquette to admit that the organization may have over-evaluated what it had.

"I don't think we've underachieved," Duquette said. "There's been some disappointments. Our rotation has not been as strong as we thought it was going to be. Maybe there was some over-evaluation and maybe a little bit of under-performance. Injuries certainly played a part, but everybody had injuries and you can't place the blame there."

Source - Baltimore Sun, July 12

[66-70-83-??]

C'mon, that's absurd. He's a 21-year-old kid who had a 2.26 ERA at Ottawa facing almost exculsively players years older than he is.

If these five innings are indicitive of his future then the relationship between major and minor league performance has had a massive, unprecedented, and unexplainable shift overnight.

What is absurd ? The notion that O's fans overvalue him ? Of course Oioles fans overvalue him.

A 2.26 ERA in AAA is no guarantee of anything.

There have been tons of players who have had alot of minor league success but never repeated it in the big leagues. Hopefully, he is not one of those.