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

[MikeAD]

We could have used you in some of the debates a few days ago.

:boogie:

I don't wish anyone injury, but damn its tough losing Matusz.

Well, to be fair, a few days ago I wanted to keep him down. :laughlol:

Now that its over I will explain why its a good move.

[mweb]

Why can't they just send him down at some point to save on service time? In June we have off days on the 2nd, 9th, 13th, 23rd and 27th. In July you have the 3 day all-star break and then off days on the 21rst and 25th. You have 3 weeks stretches where you only need a 5th starter once.

Good info.

I'm ok (not really in favor though) with this move if they intend to demote him when Matutz is ready to come back or at some other time (like one of these stretches you describe).

Now obviously if Britton is really good, he won't be demoted, but that's doubtful imo. I think some are expecting too much from him right out of the gate.

[Scrat1]

Jon Heyman votes yes:

http://twitter.com/#!/SI_JonHeyman/status/54002590303793152

Now I'm really against the decision. Heyman probably thinks Britton will only be as good as Blyleven, so it's not that big of a deal whether or not we get the extra year of service time.

[MikeAD]

I have no problem with him being up now based on the circumstances. I am sure they wanted him to throw a couple of games in the minors before coming up. Pitching in this division is very taxing, you aren't going to ask your #1 prospect in this day and age take the ball everyday for an entire season at the age of 23. He hasn't pitched against Boston or New York, those innings don't equate to minor league innings. I just don't think it will be that hard to send him down to the minors at some point.

Oh I know, I was more responding to the response to your response.

[Spy Fox]

I'm not thrilled about the service time issue, so I said no. It's not what I would have done, I think we could survive a few weeks without him.

However, based on his performance he deserves to be in the big leagues, and I can't wait to see how he does. Good luck Zach! :clap3:

[eddie83]

Supposing we're in contention and he's pitching well, we aren't going to send him down for 3 weeks this year.

Like I said they can send him down for 3 week stretch where they only need a 5th starter once for a couple of weeks.

Service time aside you don't see rookies pitching every 5th day today for a whole year. Teams don't do that, they bring guys along slowly.

[SrMeowMeow]

Every win is important when you're a contender. And we are.

[eddie83]

Oh I know, I was more responding to the response to your response.

I hear ya.

At the end of the day I think people are crazy of they think this kid is going to be asked to throw every 5 days. Look at Lester, Price, etc. We shut down our young pitchers before the end of the year in 2009.

[CharmCityCrab]

I think this is the right move. The injury to Matusz really forced the Orioles hand here. You gotta put the team on the field that gives you the best chance to win. One could have argued either way on him or Tillman in the rotation, and maybe the tie goes to the guy who doesn't have the service time issues, but now that's irrelevant because we have another open spot.

If this kid is the next Mike Mussina, then we'd better shell out what it takes to re-sign him when he is a free agent regardless of when that is. If he's the next Brad Pennington, then service time is irrelevant.

Honestly, if Angelos was cheap enough that he'd rather let some scrub pitch for 3-6 weeks instead of our top pitching prospect to potentially save a little money in like 2016, and they hadn't made this move, you'd probably be reading an explicative ladden thread right now starting by yours truly.

This is the right move. It's been 14 years since our last winning team. We need to go for every single win that we can this year. I'm tired of hearing about rebuilding and that kind of crap. A team is entitled to talk about rebuilding for maybe a period of about three or four years following their last winning team. After that, you've got to try to win -- we passed that point 10 years ago. Rebuilding didn't work, at least not on it's own, now it's time to field a winner by whatever means possible, or at least as close as we can get to one. This team needs to be more than Peter Angelos' personal money generating machine.

On the plus side, we did make the right move here, I like the new skipper, and to Angelos' credit he did authorize a less depressingly small payroll than we'd had in quite some time. So we've made some moves in the right direction. And I like what I saw tonight (in the game, that is).

[BaltimoreTerp]

3 + 2 = 5, minus Matusz 5 and there is your answer. Let's say Matusz is not injured. So Britton as #5 gets 2 starts, fine send him down. Let's say Brian goes 4-1 (#2 starter numbers) Now take those away. Promote Bergy as #5 to Brian's spot. What does he do? He pitches well, but is now up against better starters. Say he goes 2-3. Brian may or may not be back at that point, if he is gone 6 weeks or more, then more starts come into play. Plus if you start Bergy for Matusz, who pitches as the 5th starter? It is far more games you are risking against top competition to gain that extra year. A decent gamble by the O's, called by Matusz injury. On comes Britton, results TBD.

Yeah, but they are games that, in the long run, are unlikely to matter versus (many more) games that we should have confidence WILL matter.

[BaltimoreTerp]

If this kid is the next Mike Mussina, then we'd better shell out what it takes to re-sign him when he is a free agent regardless of when that is. If he's the next Brad Pennington, then service time is irrelevant.

So if he comes to the Orioles and says, "I want ten years, $300 million," (and by then that could be the going rate for a starter at the top of the market) the Orioles should just give it to him? A pitcher who will be turning 29 and likely somewhere around the point where he'll be leaving his prime?

As opposed to having another full season of that prime, and letting someone else take on the albatross?

There are multiple risks to not having that extra year as well as multiple ways of making the discussion moot. Getting that extra year is like hedging your bet.

[Sports Guy]

Carlos Pena

Do you anything else because this is one awful example when you consider where Pena was at in his career...and I am not even sure you are right about him giving up FA years here although he may have given up 1.

Either way, when all you can do is come back at me with 1 name, it just goes to show how weak your argument is.

[333WCamden]

I bet the Orioles wish they could go back and have put Britton on the original ML roster. Would have been a nice shot of confidence for the young pitcher and the end result is now going to be the same.

If they send Britton down for for a few weeks later in the season just to save service time, I will be VERY disappointed.

Huge win tonight! Go O's

[Sports Guy]

You honestly think they can't buy 3 weeks at some point in the season to save on service time. There is no way in the world this kid in this division is going to be asked to take the ball every 5 days for the entire season.

I don't care how many innings he pitched in the minors it isn't the AL East.

The only way they save time is if they shut him down at the end of the year and they option him back in September.

Either that or he sucks and gets sent back down.

[The Rick]

Guess what i'm doing Sunday? I'll be glued to my TV for every f'ing pitch. I can't freakin' wait. As others have said, I'll echo - time to embrace it baby, go get 'em Britton!