Sherzer or Lester idea

[POR]

It's convenient to your argument to call Bumgarner their ace when in fact their ace was:

Matt Cain : 20.833 Million

Tim Lincecum : 17.000 Million

Tim Hudson : 11.000 Million

Ryan Vogelson : 5.000 Million

and then Bumgarner at 3.950 million

Bumgarner was their ace after the fact

It would be like after Gausman carries the O's to the 2015 World Series that he was our ace, when he only rose to that title after the season.

Except that Bumgarner was the opening day starter, was very good in the 2010 and 2012 post seasons and in 2013 he was all star who finished in the top ten in the Cy Young. Comparing salaries is pretty useless since Bumgarner has only four years of service time. What it does show is the value of developing your ace who is very good before he has the service time to make big bucks.

[tntoriole]

No wonder we disagree on the definition of an ace. Your definition of an ace is ridiculous.

So you only think there are two aces in the entirety of major league baseball every year? Ok.

Not worth it to debate this with you. We'll agree to disagree. Thanks anyway for your replies.

You just have a much broader definition of "ace". If it is every pitcher who has the stats you mention and makes the All Star team, then you are talking about 15 pitchers every year. The point is that the Orioles came within one bad series of being in the World Championship. The Royals were in the World Series with no "true" ace. The teams with "true" aces, Tigers had three and the Dodgers had the ace of all aces. All of them finished further out than the Orioles. Growing the pitchers you need internally is the only way this organization will get the "ace" you are talking about- hopefully Gausman or Bundy will be that ace. But it certainly would be disastrous in my view for them to spend the outrageous amount of dollars being asked by Scherzer and Lester. You are right, we disagree about the direction DD should go in this regard. It will be interesting to see who turns out to be right.

[Dark Helmet]

So how did that "ace" idea work out for the Tigers and A's

No thank you, I like the DD approach to deep depth in the pitching staff.

Right now we have 6 pretty good starting pitchers, and heck DD may add more.

I think Gausman will be better than Shields next year, and who knows when Lester or Scherzer will break down?

Not going to gut the depth of my roster to find out.

Would have worked fine if the Tigers had a BP. The SP isn't why the A's struggled. They stopped hitting.

[Dark Helmet]

Too bad Ubaldo is eating up 36m the next 3 years. That could have went towards Lester. The O's seemed to have jumped a year too soon the enter the FA starting pitching market. Lester is the only one worth signing. Though past health issues has to be a concern giving him 6 or 7 years.

[weams]

Too bad Ubaldo is eating up 36m the next 3 years. That could have went towards Lester. The O's seemed to have jumped a year too soon the enter the FA starting pitching market. Lester is the only one worth signing. Though past health issues has to be a concern giving him 6 or 7 years.

I venture that Lester is the more painful contract. There. I said it.