Ubaldo Jimenez is Consistent

[El Gordo]

As we all know every month of every year plays out exactly the same right?

Players tend to follow a similar pattern every season. Ubaldo is a slow starter. Sometimes he rights the ship some times he doesn't. But to take any thing from his early season performance is dumb, and ill informed. Lets see what hew is doing in a month from now.

[Stotle]

Just discussing the idea that he's a notoriously inconsistent starting pitcher. $12.5M per year is a lot of money, especially relative to the O's history, but he has a mean performance around that pay grade as we see on the open market, he just has a lot more variance then some of those guys. Much more dominating than some of them, but the ability to be pretty bad as well. I was simply pointing out that if Ubaldo were/had shown a long track record pitching to his potential at a high level of consistency, then he would have cost a LOT more. That is all.

I completely agree -- and definitely a point we need to keep in mind. My issue with the contract is I felt like the team was paying 4th starter money for a fourth starter, without really needing a fourth starter. That's the one strength of the org right now -- why tie up resources for the next four years in what is almost certain to be a redundant asset?

[Stotle]

I have been telling folks all along that WCS is the O's end up with the 2012 version.

Right. WCS is O's get 2012 Ubaldo this year, which is arguably the only year the Orioles really NEED the front-end to mid-rotation production. If you believe Eduardo Rodriguez, Dylan Bundy, and Kevin Gausman are major league starters, you have three baseline number fours there. It always seemed like a "hey he's available and there's upside" kind of move. If you are drawing up a plan for the offseason based on 25-man and org needs, you don't give Jimenez that contract.

[Can_of_corn]

Right. WCS is O's get 2012 Ubaldo this year, which is arguably the only year the Orioles really NEED the front-end to mid-rotation production. If you believe Eduardo Rodriguez, Dylan Bundy, and Kevin Gausman are major league starters, you have three baseline number fours there. It always seemed like a "hey he's available and there's upside" kind of move. If you are drawing up a plan for the offseason based on 25-man and org needs, you don't give Jimenez that contract.

I think that, for whatever reason, word came down to open the purses and try and win this season.

I think 2015 would have been the better year to make a push.

[Stotle]

I think that, for whatever reason, word came down to open the purses and try and win this season.

I think 2015 would have been the better year to make a push.

I think 2015 fits nicely. If you want 2014 I think the team needed to do a better job laying the groundwork for more impactful moves. There weren't great "one move" fits, which means you're talking about trades to address certain issues and FA to fill the void of the traded assets. You probably need to be more aggressive early in FA even if it means overpaying some. Tough to let the market play out and then aggressively address needs with what's left over.

[john316]

Hey...stop raining on my parade!

If it makes you feel any better mine got a few sprinkles on it too.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[El Gordo]

I'll be tracking Bronson Arroyo v Ubaldo. So far, Arroyo 9.1 IP 4.82 ERA 1.50 WHIP, Ubaldo 16 IP 7.31 ERA 2.06 WHIP.

[srock]

He is the Mark Reynolds of Starting Pitching. Month long stretches of turdery followed up by brief hotstreaks of brilliance.

Safe to say we are currently in his turdery cycle.

Post of the thread!

I hope the brilliance happens soon.

[Dipper9]

This thread is trash. The op has had it out for ubaldo, and thinks Nate mclouth, Scott Feldman and Jason Hammel are difference makers. Every time he's had a chance, he's championed those guys. He sits and waits for his chance to tell us how we should have kept mclouth, or hammel. Troll. The os finally took a risk and signed a pitcher to a semi big deal. He hasn't looked great yet, but 3 starts doesn't make a season so let's just hold off for a little while.

Ahhhh, so you've finally met Oldfan! This is his MO. Don't get too upset about it.

[Going Underground]

I'll be tracking Bronson Arroyo v Ubaldo. So far, Arroyo 9.1 IP 4.82 ERA 1.50 WHIP, Ubaldo 16 IP 7.31 ERA 2.06 WHIP.

Should you also be tracking AJ Burnett? He was the other guy the O's were after towards the beginning of Spring Training. 14 BB's in 16 innings.

[Tony-OH]

While I agree with the folks that point out that Ubaldo is usually bad in April and that its way to early to give up on him, I'd be lying if from a purely scouting stance that his stuff doesn't concern me a bit. First, his velocity is down for the 4th straight year. He doesn't have the command to get away with a 88-91 MPH sinking fastball so when he misses, it's getting hammered. The slider is also inconsistent and again, he doesn't have the command of the pitch to get away with the below average offerings he tossing up there way too often. Finally, he really hasn't used his splitter/split-change all that much and when he has, he either hasn't commanded the pitch well enough to get swings and misses or he's hung it and it's been hit hard.

I guess I'd feel better if it was just command related issues because that's something that can be cleaned up. But the stuff I've seen from him suggests he'll have to have outstanding command and stay on the black for success. I can't imagine this is the kind of stuff to pay 50 million to. Maybe the quality of his stuff will improve. At least the Orioles better hope so.

[Can_of_corn]

Perhaps the lack of velocity is mechanical? Tillman, for example, seems to randomly alternate between 90 and 95, sometimes inning-to-inning. The difference being, of course, he can usually back it up with a ridiculous curve ball and good change. But sometimes a mechanical flaw can cause a drop in velocity and command, so here's hoping it's something fixable.

He'll have innings where despite the lack of velocity, he has really nice 2-seam break on the fastball. But then it never seems to last.

It's been four seasons in a row where a drop in velocity has been noted.

[Can_of_corn]

Yeah true. Wishful thinking I guess.

Well, he seemed to do fine with this velocity for most of last year, right?

Yep, however the margin for error drops right along with the velocity.

Of course it is still early and he might very well turn it around.

[SteveO]

Your not getting a TOR pitcher or even a consistent #2 for 12 million a year on a 4 year deal.

Granted he has struggled but its been all of 3 starts.

Take a deep breath if his ERA is north of 5.00 after 10+ starts with no sign of improvement then I will officially start to be somewhat concerned.

[BohKnowsBmore]

Your not getting a TOR pitcher or even a consistent #2 for 12 million a year on a 4 year deal.

Granted he has struggled but its been all of 3 starts.

Take a deep breath if his ERA is north of 5.00 after 10+ starts with no sign of improvement then I will officially start to be somewhat concerned.

This. Right now, were he to have a very good outing, his ERA would drop immensely. I think it's far too early to consider it a $50M wasted.