Do you agree with the O's decision to recall Britton from Norfolk?

[wildcard]

So the disagreement here really isn't about whether this move in and of itself is good or bad, its disagreement over speculation about what is to follow this move.

I'd stake my position out as: This is a good move IF AND ONLY IF Britton is sent down at some point for whatever amount of time in order to preserve that extra year of service time.

Now, you may be right about that looking bad and/or there being some stigma to sending someone down only due to service time, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. Others may not be.

I really don't see any difference in send him back down for service time reasons and delaying his call up for service time reasons. Anyone that was in favor of sending him down at the end of ST should be in favor on sending him down in the future for the same reason.

[mweb]

While we can discuss different ways to send Britton down creatively, at this point I think it would be too difficult, unless he is pitching poorly. Assuming Duke and/or Matusz come back healthy and everyone else is pitching well, there is the option to send Britton down. You could also finagle around the All-Star break if you really wanted to.

But I don't see that happening. He is up, most likely for good. But the argument now comes in that the Orioles should be able to reproduce his production by 2016 with a much cheaper in-house option.

I don't think he'll necessarily have to be struggling. If he gets 5 starts while Matusz is out, he could very well just pitch decently, which I think is the most likely outcome. Then as long as Tillman and BB are pitching ok, they can easily send down Britton. Duke could play a role in this as well, although I'm certainly not counting on him for anything.

[Sports Guy]

It's not hard to believe that Britton can pitch 6 innings per start.

Actually, Britton pitched 6 inning per game at Bowie last year. 87 innings and 14 starts in 6.2 innings/start. There was one relief appearance and I don't know how many innings that was but as long as it was not more then 3 innings he still went 6 innings per start.

In the 2nd half, Britton pitched 5.5 innings per start over 12 starts. But since that he has had an off season of strength training and pitched many scoreless outing in spring training which should give him confidence that he can pitch at the major league level.

I don't think it is far fetched to think the Britton can pitch an average of 6 innings per start in the majors.

He may be able to do it but expecting it is dead wrong.

[Sports Guy]

Well, now that the Orioles have made the move, I guess that means they don't get it either.

You do understand that this is an opinion of philosophy and there is no definite right or wrong answer, don't you?

The Orioles made the move on emotion, not rational thinking and intelligence.

They made a right now move, which is not the way the team should be thinking.

[Slappy]

The Orioles made the move on emotion, not rational thinking and intelligence.

They made a right now move, which is not the way the team should be thinking.

The wave of prospects is here. The supplemental vets are here. This is a year to try and win.

[BaltimoreTerp]

The kind of team for which this should be a difficult decision is one like Tampa or St. Louis or Colorado, contenders in medium-to-smaller markets who have to balance actually being able to win now versus getting the extra year's worth of performance before letting them go.

The Orioles are trying to get to that point, but are not there yet.

That is why this is an easy decision. Keeping Britton down a couple weeks will not have an effect on whether the Orioles get to that point: it is 2-3 wins at absolute best. However, having his performance, which we expect to be stellar by that time, could have a significant effect, either directly or indirectly through a trade, on the ability of the Orioles to stay there.

[bmoreb]

Exactly my thoughts as well.

same here, especially not knowing haw bad Matusz's back really is.

[BaltimoreTerp]

The wave of prospects is here. The supplemental vets are here. This is a year to try and win.

84 games?

[Going Underground]

Why not. Who else would you bring up? It will be more then five starts. If he stinks it up you can send him back down when either Matusz or Duke is ready. You can keep him down for the 21 days or longer and you get to see what Britton can do.

[Ohfan67]

The Orioles made the move on emotion, not rational thinking and intelligence.

They made a right now move, which is not the way the team should be thinking.

BS. MacPhail and Showalter didn't make the move based on emotion. If you really believe that, then you haven't been paying attention to MacPhail. That's the craziest thing you've posted in a long time.

[Sports Guy]

BS. MacPhail and Showalter didn't make the move based on emotion. If you really believe that, then you haven't been paying attention to MacPhail. That's the craziest thing you've posted in a long time.

They absolutely did.

They let the emotion of the Matusz injury, the 2-16 start last year and the momentum of the offseason/end of last season get the best of them.

They wanted that extra year and all of a sudden changed their mind? It was an emotionally based decision.

[Slappy]

84 games?

Nobody can predict that. Did anyonne predict San Fran winning the WS, or San Diego winning 90, or Cincy winning their division?

[BaltimoreTerp]

Why not. Who else would you bring up? It will be more then five starts. If he stinks it up you can send him back down when either Matusz or Duke is ready. You can keep him down for the 21 days or longer and you get to see what Britton can do.

And if he pitches well? You don't think it would be hard to send him down?

[BaltimoreTerp]

Nobody can predict that. Did anyonne predict San Fran winning the WS, or San Diego winning 90, or Cincy winning their division?

That's not a road you want to go down.

If you start making decisions solely with the idea of going from 66 to 96 wins, you are going to destroy any foundation you have.

[Sports Guy]

Nobody can predict that. Did anyonne predict San Fran winning the WS, or San Diego winning 90, or Cincy winning their division?

Are we really going to start reaching?

Maybe Izzy will hit 20 homers this year...You never know!