Zaaaaaaaach !!!

[scOtt]

indeed.

:beerchug1:

And not to be misunderstood, I'm excited as hell about him too. Good times! :beerchug1:

[mofome]

You can't ever assume an extension, especially since Boras is his agent now.

cant assume boras will be his agent forever and you can't assume he wont get hurt in the minors and you cant assume the bus wont crash on their way to some crapass game. What you can assume is that he has been our best pitcher so far, every win matters, the team around him sees what he can do, and the guys are here to win now. If i was on the team and i was playing with a guy who was pitching this well I wouldn't be real pleased if someone decided that something that may happen years down the road is more important than a single out right now, much less a possible win.

[Bradysburns]

Right...Some are assuming that Britton definitely outpitches these guys in just a few starts. Its a poor assumption and its just an overall poor strategy.

I can see the value of exchanging four starts now for 30 starts later, or whatever it came out to be.

But I think it's a very safe assumption that Britton would outpitch Tillman and Duke (who cannot stay healthy), based on what I saw today.

[mofome]

I don't think you understand the extra year thing. We could still extend him, but we would be able to do it a year later, saving more money in the process.

That is how baseball works.

The first couple years, the team dominates you in terms of salary and worth.

If you make it out alive and prove you are worth it, the player is in control.

I understand the business aspect of it, ive seen this unfold and I get it, I just think that this team is building momentum around a win now mentality and I dont think we've built a sound enough foundation to risk doing anything that would suggest we're not putting all of our chips into this season.

Hell, it seems the Ms are keeping their prize SP up despite possible financial issues down the road.

Psychologically I think its important. ive been wrong before. Just my view.

We break our own cap 3 times this year then we worry about britton several years down the road? just seems like contradicting actions.

As i have said, I have not seen britton enough to know if hes really that much better than berg/tillman but if the players behind him feel he gives them the best chance to win, in april, which will be the toughest month of our season, I think we need to keep him.

jmo

[OFFNY]

Roch Kubatko also noticed the gun at 96 MPH:

http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roch/2011/03/quick-note-on-britton.html

"Britton's fastball is registering 96 mph on the stadium gun. Not sure how accurate it is, but that's what it says on the scoreboard."

Again, if the YES gun AND the Winston-Salem gun are/were both off, then I'll take these guns with a grain of salt all of the time.

.

[scOtt]

cant assume boras will be his agent forever and you can't assume he wont get hurt in the minors and you cant assume the bus wont crash on their way to some crapass game. What you can assume is that he has been our best pitcher so far, every win matters, the team around him sees what he can do, and the guys are here to win now. If i was on the team and i was playing with a guy who was pitching this well I wouldn't be real pleased if someone decided that something that may happen years down the road is more important than a single out right now, much less a possible win.

And you're assuming Tillman will throw batting practice for those two games.

[Bradysburns]

When I saw Zach pitch two years ago in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the gun had him at 97. I thought that the gun might be off, but with the YES gun saying he was at 96 today ........... it's less likely that both guns were off.

If the YES gun was off today, it was consistently off. He hit 96 on that gun many times. His fastball seemed to float between 93-96. I've read scouting reports that say he tops out in the mid-90s. Maybe that's the four-seamer?

[mofome]

yeah a bunch of people mentioned 96, but he didnt throw a pitch that was 96mph.

fast gun, sexy number, plenty of jump on his fb, but he didn't throw a legitimate 96mph fastball.

[Babypowder]

Assuming they don't have a fast gun.

Britton was pretty much 94-96. Comparatively, Sergio Mitre was 88-90, Mark Prior was 88-90, Joba was 93-95, Berken was ~90, and Gonzalez was 89-92. I would guess the gun wasn't too fast, if at all.

[Bradysburns]

yeah a bunch of people mentioned 96, but he didnt throw a pitch that was 96mph.

fast gun, sexy number, plenty of jump on his fb, but he didn't throw a legitimate 96mph fastball.

What is your source or reasoning behind saying that?

[weams]

The service time issue is three starts. Fifth starter is scheduled April 10th. Service clock issue is over April 20th.

[OFFNY]

Britton was pretty much 94-96. Comparatively, Sergio Mitre was 88-90, Mark Prior was 88-90, Joba was 93-95, Berken was ~90, and Gonzalez was 89-92. I would guess the gun wasn't too fast, if at all.

Thanks for that info. That adds some credence to the gun on Zach today (and perhaps the gun in North Carolina two years ago as well).

[mofome]

And you're assuming Tillman will throw batting practice for those two games.

Im actually not assuming anything.

1) most of what we've seen from tillman is batting practice like

2) april will see the os face the most talented lineups we'll see in any month

3) i said, very clearly, that i havent seen enough of britton, but what i have seen is far superior to anything ive seen from tillman.

4) i said, very clearly, that if the players/manager feel britton gives us a better chance to beat the best teams in the AL, then he should stay.

:beerchug1:

[mofome]

What is your source or reasoning behind saying that?

My eyes.

I watched the game. prior doesn't hit 90 and didnt today. you guys can get excited about a fast gun, but no pitch of brittons today was 96mph. Ive watched enough baseball in my life to know if someone is throwing over 95mph.

Get excited, thats fun. fun is good.

[Say O!]

To answer your question more directly, if a player is on the 40-man roster, he has to spend 20 days in the minors after he is optioned in order to not receive a full year of service time. So, Britton could be up as soon as April 21. As it happens, that would be the 5th starter's day to pitch, and it would only be the third time this season that the O's had needed a 5th starter. So, really he'd be missing only 2 starts, if you think of him as the 5th starter.

This whole post is worth repeating.

2 starts. TWO. dos.

Let's do the smart thing here and "pull a Longoria."