ESPN: "O's must trade for a starter"

[AlbionHero]

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9440725/baltimore-orioles-make-trade-starting-pitcher-mlb

Baltimore will waste an elite offense unless it improves pitching

Do you think its a necessity or do you think we can get to the playoffs with the pitchers we have now? The national media, not only ESPN, sure seems to think we won't be able to with the current roster.

[Ommaculate]

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9440725/baltimore-orioles-make-trade-starting-pitcher-mlb

Do you think its a necessity or do you think we can get to the playoffs with the pitchers we have now? The national media, not only ESPN, sure seems to think we won't be able to with the current roster.

I think we can get to the playoffs but I lose sleep worrying about getting bounced again without a better starter in the rotation.

But seriously, who is going to stop this insane offense? I have never seen anything like it.

[El Gordo]

It's possible we can get to the playoffs without trading for another SP. But if Hammel, Gausman, and Britton, continue to pitch as they have been, not too likely. And if they step up the lack of a TOR to match up with the other teams' aces will keep us from going very deep IMO.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I wouldnt say it's a necessity, but a solid SP would significantly increase our probability of making the playoffs. Other than that, we need some in-house guys to step forward and/or others to increase their production and hope we don't have anymore injuries.

[Lester Freamon]

For now I'm going off the assumption that we need another starter and another bull pen arm. It remains to be seen, in my estimation, if Britton, Wada or Gausman (who will have an innings limit anyway) can be a dependable 5th starter. Keep in mind however that very few teams, in the AL especially, really have a dependable 5th starter. ALOT also depends on whether or not Hammel is truly turning a corner. I probably have more faith in Hammel then your average member of the national media but I am by no means counting on him just yet, although I am encouraged.

Ultimately, I think "Baltimore will waste an elite offense unless it improves pitching" is a fair statement. Obviously, if the season ended today the O's would be in the post season with the roster as is, but there is a lot of time to go. The national media may be ignoring the potential impact of Chen's return to the rotation, the fact that Hammel has looked better in June, that Tillman and Gonzo are pretty darn good and that, barring another couple injuries to our rotation, Freddy Garcia is no longer in the rotation - just like last year when they didn't seem to grasp that a lot of our poor starting pitching came from Arrieta and Matusz.

[BmoreBoy]

Pitching beats good hitting. Our staff can def get us to the playoffs, but with an Ace (or dominiate starter...I want the human adverb Cliff Lee) we could get to the WS.

We need one ace that could go twice in a 5 game series and 3 times in a 7 game series if we hope to see the WS.

Obviously it could happen without one. I just think that one dominate starter significantly increases our odds of seeing and winning the WS. We pick one up for the post season. Our guys now can certainly get us to the playoffs though and have an outside chance of being enough to make a deep run.

[Hallas]

We are one of the worst teams in the league in pitching. 12th/15 by BBRef, 14th/15 by Fangraphs. The run-prevention end is completely buoyed by the fact that we are one of the best defensive teams in the league.

So yes, we need to fix the pitching. I won't go so far to say that we'll completely waste our offense, but we certainly won't be doing any favors to our chances without improving our pitching.

[sfosfan]

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9440725/baltimore-orioles-make-trade-starting-pitcher-mlb

Do you think its a necessity or do you think we can get to the playoffs with the pitchers we have now? The national media, not only ESPN, sure seems to think we won't be able to with the current roster.

Right now I would throw Tillman and Gonzales up agains anybody and be confident of winning. Hammel is turning things around and if he pitches like he did last year, that's three starters the O's can put up and win 2 out of 3 against anyone. Chen is oming back, but who knows if he can be effective in the playoffs. Way I see it, O's are going to have two very solid pitchers from this bunch come playoff time. Adding another starter could certainly be a difference maker, but it's not critical. Yes Tillman and Gonzalesare inexperienced, but those people who don't think they're good enough haven't been paying attention lately. When it comes to the starter's, the corner has been turned and the problems are in the rear view mirror so I'm not crying out to get one. Although, another shut down bullpen guy an always come in handy.

[CA-ORIOLE]

For now I'm going off the assumption that we need another starter and another bull pen arm. It remains to be seen, in my estimation, if Britton, Wada or Gausman (who will have an innings limit anyway) can be a dependable 5th starter. Keep in mind however that very few teams, in the AL especially, really have a dependable 5th starter. ALOT also depends on whether or not Hammel is truly turning a corner. I probably have more faith in Hammel then your average member of the national media but I am by no means counting on him just yet, although I am encouraged.

Ultimately, I think "Baltimore will waste an elite offense unless it improves pitching" is a fair statement. Obviously, if the season ended today the O's would be in the post season with the roster as is, but there is a lot of time to go. The national media may be ignoring the potential impact of Chen's return to the rotation, the fact that Hammel has looked better in June, that Tillman and Gonzo are pretty darn good and that, barring another couple injuries to our rotation, Freddy Garcia is no longer in the rotation - just like last year when they didn't seem to grasp that a lot of our poor starting pitching came from Arrieta and Matusz.

Yeah, I agree with this post almost to a T. The only thing I'd add is that Gonzo doesn't get much respect at all, and he appears to be a pretty darn good pitcher imo. I too think Hammel's stuff has looked much better the past couple starts...so I'm optimistic about him.

[sfosfan]

We are one of the worst teams in the league in pitching. 12th/15 by BBRef, 14th/15 by Fangraphs. The run-prevention end is completely buoyed by the fact that we are one of the best defensive teams in the league.

So yes, we need to fix the pitching. I won't go so far to say that we'll completely waste our offense, but we certainly won't be doing any favors to our chances without improving our pitching.

Most of that damage was done by guys now at Norfolk. The pitching bottomed out last month, so don't let the numbers cloud your vision today.

[Mondo Trasho]

Thing is, we don't have much to trade. I could see what, Nick Delmonico, Xavier Avery, Arrieta, Strop. Not much else of value.

[El Gordo]

We need a real SP in the number 5 slot, and because we don't have a real #1, he has to be better than what most teams have in that spot. Gausman, Britton, and Wada, should be in Norfolk as injury insurance.

[crawjo]

I've long been in the camp advocating patience with the development and improvement of our pitching staff. But thinking it over today, thinking about what we have and what we don't, I came to the conclusion that I think the Orioles should go for it.

That means we should trade for a legitimate ace. Cliff Lee seems like a good possibility. What would it take to get him? How about Gausman as the main piece, with a couple other top-10 prospects thrown in? Would that do it?

I think Lee is going to remain effective for a long time, but this is a risk. But it's increasingly one that I think we need to make. We need to see if our offensive core and defense and bullpen can win us a World Series. It might not work. But for the first time I feel strongly that we ought to try.

If we could go into the playoffs with a starting rotation of:

Cliff Lee

Wei-Yin Chen

Chris Tillman

Miguel Gonzalez

I think we could compete and win a world series.

[AlbionHero]

IF Cliff Lee becomes available (depending on if the Phillies are able to stick around), I think we do what we need to get him. If we get a true #1, we might be the best team in the AL. It fixes our revolving door at the #5 spot and is a huge advantage in any playoff series. It also lets Tillman, Gonzalez and Chen have better chances to win since they don't have to face the other teams top pitchers as much.

[AdamK]

I do think we could use better pitching to push one of our strugglers down in the rotation, but I'm fine with waiting as long as possible to see if someone in house can get in a groove.

I also expect, if we make it to the post season, our home runs dry up a little. Can't help but feel as if our potent offense will be taken down a notch - mostly because the roster, IMO, is a year away from having seasoned play off experience. Just feels that way to me. I love Adam and Chris, I just hope when the stakes are higher that they can avoid becoming inning killers because of free swinging/anticipating wrong pitches rather than staying within themselves. Davis has shown he can be patient for a little while. Jones though...

So that makes the need to limit the other team's runs a priority in order to win. Its true. I looked it up. (no link though sorry)