Hammel-Chen-Tillman-Britton-Gonzalez

[Frobby]

The last five days we've had five quality starts, 33.1 IP, 7 ER from the starting pitchers. When was the last time we had five straight starts that good? I'm guessing it must have happened in August/September 2010 when we had that great run of starting pitching after Buck arrived.

[Brendan25]

Hunter was the 5th pitcher in this stretch. Not Hammel.

[NewMarketSean]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

Gonzalez has a handful of starts in the MLB, Tillman has never won 2 starts back to back and Britton is coming off an injury.

They look promising right now but things can change on the drop of a dime in Baltimore. This last week is proof of that.

I'd still be very much in favor of adding 2 bonafide MLB starters and not pressing guys into the rotation who have been so up and down over their careers. I don't want to force Tillman or Britton into the rotation if they are still struggling.

[Pickles]

This is all fair. It's also a bit myopic. He may well fail, but his stuff is completely different than what we've seen before. That should be acknowledged, but many hedging their bets don't seem to take it into account.

To be honest, I don't think I've seen one person who's failed to agknowledge that his stuff is seriously improved this year.

[Flash- bd]

To be honest, I don't think I've seen one person who's failed to agknowledge that his stuff is seriously improved this year.

Yet people somehow don't like to factor that into their projections/expectations for him...

[LA2]

I think September may be interesting with the expanded rosters. Buck used a lot of pitchers during that month last year and had a great month. This year they can and will bring up Arietta, Matusz, Berken and others. Each of these guys have had varying degrees of success (and failures) at the ML level. However, the pitching staff will be very deep and perhaps deeper than most teams fighting for the wildcard. Before the O's make a big deal and lose some future pieces with a short term loaner, I hope they can hold it together for the next 5 weeks (a seemingly lifetime) and let the chips fall.

Those call-ups are going to give us a very strong bullpen. Right now we're strongest in the 8th and 9th (Strop, Johnson), getting overextended in middle relief and matching up with lefthanded hitters (Ayala, O'Day, Patton--Buck held him out of the game yesterday to use today against a left-handed Indians lineup), and have no long relievers (Buck's experiment with Ayala looks like it's not going to succeed). Matusz, Arrieta, Berken, Eveland, Pomeranz, and Socolovich should be able to solve the pen's limitations, especially because they include two lefties and almost all of them have experience as starters.

[Pickles]

Yet people somehow don't like to factor that into their projections/expectations for him...

No, I think people are agknowledging that his stuff looks better, but that doesn't in and of itself prove anything.

[Il BuonO]

With DD's no more then 3 years for a FA rule I don't see them signing a big name pitcher, but things could change, who knows!

That isn't DD's rule, it's PA. It's been that way since Mussina wanted an extension longer than three years.

[Pickles]

That isn't DD's rule, it's PA. It's been that way since Mussina wanted an extension longer than three years.

I doubt anybody, PA or DD, have a hard and fast rule like that.

IIRC, didn't AM offer Bedard a 4 year extension before opting to deal him?

[Scrat1]

No, I think people are agknowledging that his stuff looks better, but that doesn't in and of itself prove anything.

His stuff being better proves that his stuff is better, which is, like, a pretty big part of having success as a major league pitcher. Could he still fail? Of course. But his chances of sticking as a starter just increased a whole lot.

[Pickles]

His stuff being better proves that his stuff is better, which is, like, a pretty big part of having success as a major league pitcher. Could he still fail? Of course. But his chances of sticking as a starter just increased a whole lot.

Yes, his odds are greatly improved over last year say. But that still doesn't prove anything. I think the people that are being "skeptical" have history and odds on their side. Those that are practically assuring us that Tillman should be counted on going into the future don't have much more than blind faith.

Better stuff will undoubtedly help Tillman. There's still a lot more that goes into being a ML starting pitcher than stuff.

[Il BuonO]

Gonzalez has made a very good impression on me.

Britton, I'm not sure why he even got called up. He's been okay so far, but I need to see more.

Tillman I seriously doubt. He can be great but I always feel like a collapse is around the corner. I need to see him be consistent.

Uh YES!! Because he's thrown two good starts! And with one disastrous start sandwiched between them! He's INCREDIBLY likely to "collapse," if it can even be called that since he hasn't proved anything yet.

Tillman may not have proved anything to you, but he got into the 9th inning in one game and his velocity has topped 95mph on more than one occasion late in a game. His stuff is improved by all accounts.

You are impressed by Gonzalez who has the highest SO to W ratio off the three pitchers you cited and perhaps it's because his stuff is the least of the three. His velocity sits in the 90-91 range and because of that he has to be really good with his command. He hasn't been. He's also faced some really good opposing pitchers two out of the three times he's pitched so that has worked against him.

Of Tillman, Britton, or Gonzalez, Gonzalez will be the one I would predict not holding up over the long term.

[osbaseball08]

The last five days we've had five quality starts, 33.1 IP, 7 ER from the starting pitchers. When was the last time we had five straight starts that good? I'm guessing it must have happened in August/September 2010 when we had that great run of starting pitching after Buck arrived.

Earlier this season from 4/30-5/4 we had:

Hammel(L) 6.2 IP 2ER

Matusz(W) 6.1 IP 1ER

Arrieta (W) 8 IP 0ER

Chen (W) 5IP 3ER

Hammel(W) 6.2 2ER

32.2 IP, 8 ER, which isn't quite as impressive as Hammel lost his decision and Chen's wasn't a QS, but it does show that the Orioles have the capability to string quality outings together. Whether Tillman and Gonzalez II can add stability for the rest of the season is debatable but we should be in a for a fun ride.

[Il BuonO]

I doubt anybody, PA or DD, have a hard and fast rule like that.

IIRC, didn't AM offer Bedard a 4 year extension before opting to deal him?

Hard and fast? Probably not, he might be loosening up the purse strings as we speak, but it hasn't been his policy to go more than three years for pitchers. I don't recall the Bedard details, but I'd be surprised.

[osbaseball08]

Tillman may not have proved anything to you, but he got into the 9th inning in one game and his velocity has topped 95mph on more than one occasion late in a game. His stuff is improved by all accounts.

You are impressed by Gonzalez who has the highest SO to W ratio off the three pitchers you cited and perhaps it's because his stuff is the least of the three. His velocity sits in the 90-91 range and because of that he has to be really good with his command. He hasn't been. He's also faced some really good opposing pitchers two out of the three times he's pitched so that has worked against him.

Of Tillman, Britton, or Gonzalez, Gonzalez will be the one I would predict not holding up over the long term.

I agree with this, I think as the league adjusts, Gonzalez will start to be exposed. I don't see his stuff translating to long term success as a starter at the MLB level. That being said, I hope I am wrong.