Time to give another starter a chance

[Roll Tide]

Gausman will make it to the majors this year before Wright.

McFarland may beat them both to the majors.

I agree on McFarland as I think they should make him the long man and stretch out Britton. One of the guys in the rotation will be moved to the pen as they won't be DFA'd.

[wildcard]

McFarland was already up with the team, so he already won this race.

Its a new race.

[Redskins Rick]

Its a new race.

LOL, and McFarland isn't eligible yet.

Sounds like a handicap situation for sure.

[Flash- bd]

Mike wright? If anyone is taking Gonzalez's place--or anyone's for that matter--before Gausman it has to be Britton. I don't agree with taking anyone out of the rotation, but I must admit I feel a bit insulted--erm...vicariously--for Zach that he's not the very center of the discussion.

[wildcard]

Mike wright? If anyone is taking Gonzalez's place--or anyone's for that matter--before Gausman it has to be Britton. I don't agree with taking anyone out of the rotation, but I must admit I feel a bit insulted--erm...vicariously--for Zach that he's not the very center of the discussion.

The O's finally found a place where Britton is productive. Give him so time to be successful in the pen. If you remember Britton had the same handicap that the current starters have. Couldn't get past 5 innings consistently.

[Going Underground]

Gausman will make it to the majors this year before Wright.

McFarland may beat them both to the majors.

I think McFarland will be back as soon as eligible. McFarland and Johnson are just long men and spot starters. Unless an injury happens these guys will be the starters for at least a month or longer.

[DrungoHazewood]

I've seen enough 4-5 inning starts from Chen/Norris/Gonzo.

This situation is completely unsustainable.

I realize Britton is doing fine where he is but there will be no bullpen left by the end of the season if this continues.

It is time for Britton to get a shot at the rotation. He may crash and burn but it's the only reasonable move to make at this point. Does anybody else want to keep trotting out starters that can barely even make it to the 6th inning, and not even that far many nights? It can't get much worse from an innings perspective than what we have now.

I really don't care which of the Chen/Norris/Gonzo trio goes to the bullpen; draw straws for all I care. None of the three seems very capable of consistently providing innings.

There's no better way to get starters going deep into games than by taking regular starters and replacing them with a reliever who (in his former career as a starter) averaged just over five innings per start. I'm sure he learned to pace himself and go deeper into games by airing it out, limiting his pitch selection, and preparing to face a batter no more than once per relief appearance.

[weams]

MLBTRADERUMORS

Jair Jurrjens is looking to make a comeback after having knee surgery last fall, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman tweets. He is currently throwing 90 MPH. After posting a 2.96 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 152 innings with the Braves in 2011, Jurrjens has struggled badly in the big leagues. He spent most of 2013 with the Orioles’ and Tigers’ Triple-A affiliates in Norfolk and Toledo, respectively.

[El Gordo]

That was a head scratcher today.

Overall we don't have better options in the minors and nobody with their career resumes deserve to be taken out of their spots.

How about striking out 4 batters and only getting two of them called.

[sfosfan]

Which one of them? I think a 4.50 ERA in the AL East is fine for the number four and five starters. Just not the number three.

That's exactly the problem. We've got 3 guys who would be fine as the fifth starter. Can't we put two in the pen and find two other legit starters? I'm not fan of those who say it's too early. We could put two of Chen/Norris/Gonzo in the pen and use Gausman and Britton as starters. Perhaps even Mike Wright. Whomever we use, do it sooner than later. With the everyone in the AL East trying to find themselves, the first one to figure it out could put some serious distance between all the others.

[weams]

That's exactly the problem. We've got 3 guys who would be fine as the fifth starter. Can't we put two in the pen and find two other legit starters? I'm not fan of those who say it's too early. We could put two of Chen/Norris/Gonzo in the pen and use Gausman and Britton as starters. Perhaps even Mike Wright. Whomever we use, do it sooner than later. With the everyone in the AL East trying to find themselves, the first one to figure it out could put some serious distance between all the others.

Norris is fine. Chen is league average. Nothing tells me that Britton would be. Gausman is not available until he recovers from his life threatening illness. I like Mike Wright. I don't see that he would do better than Miguel.

[weams]

That's exactly the problem. We've got 3 guys who would be fine as the fifth starter. Can't we put two in the pen and find two other legit starters? I'm not fan of those who say it's too early. We could put two of Chen/Norris/Gonzo in the pen and use Gausman and Britton as starters. Perhaps even Mike Wright. Whomever we use, do it sooner than later. With the everyone in the AL East trying to find themselves, the first one to figure it out could put some serious distance between all the others.

No, we can't put two league average or better starters in the pen and not think that we would fall on our face.

[DrungoHazewood]

That's exactly the problem. We've got 3 guys who would be fine as the fifth starter. Can't we put two in the pen and find two other legit starters? I'm not fan of those who say it's too early. We could put two of Chen/Norris/Gonzo in the pen and use Gausman and Britton as starters. Perhaps even Mike Wright. Whomever we use, do it sooner than later. With the everyone in the AL East trying to find themselves, the first one to figure it out could put some serious distance between all the others.

There's no way that replacing 2-3 pretty good major league starters with several guys you hope might be pretty good starters at some point wouldn't lead us all on to glory.

I'd say there's about a 60% chance that replacing Chen, Norris, and Gonzalez with Gausman, Britton, and Wright makes the team worse.

[LA2]

There's no way that replacing 2-3 pretty good major league starters with several guys you hope might be pretty good starters at some point wouldn't lead us all on to glory.

I'd say there's about a 60% chance that replacing Chen, Norris, and Gonzalez with Gausman, Britton, and Wright makes the team worse.

You're hedging your bets! I'd say it's more like 90%. We should try to steal from other teams hidden gems like Jake Arrieta, Jason Hammel, Jeremy Guthrie, Scott Feldman, and Alberto Simon.

[atomic]

That's exactly the problem. We've got 3 guys who would be fine as the fifth starter. Can't we put two in the pen and find two other legit starters? I'm not fan of those who say it's too early. We could put two of Chen/Norris/Gonzo in the pen and use Gausman and Britton as starters. Perhaps even Mike Wright. Whomever we use, do it sooner than later. With the everyone in the AL East trying to find themselves, the first one to figure it out could put some serious distance between all the others.

Britton was a failure as a starter. He isn't going to go from pitching an inning a night to pitching 7 innings. Gausman is seriously ill and wasn't even pitching 5 innings in triple A. There aren't better alternatives than what we have in the rotation now. I don't know why everyone is so anti Norris. He has been effective this year. Actually he is barely behind Tillman in War this year for the team lead from pitchers.