Orioles have ongoing trade discussions involving Brian Matusz and Ryan Webb (Webb Traded)

[CA-ORIOLE]

If the plan is to more fully expose Matusz to RHB this year I think think we are going to be in for some heavy rolls.

[Aristotelian]

This is nonsense.

You deftly just completely missed the point of my post. Of course Brach didn't deserve to be dump on for giving up a run. Neither did Matusz. It's baseball.

I'm not even a Matusz fan but it just boils my blood to watch the mob mentality build here. Ok, I'm over it. This stuff isn't worth my time. Have fun burning a pitcher down for two walks in his first outing of the year.

It's not one outing. It's the Moustakas home run. It's the 4.95 career ERA. It's the .300 career average against RHB. The two HR in one game to Tampa last year.

I actually still like Matusz as an exclusive LOOGY. I actually have some confidence against guys like Ortiz that are lefthanded but too good to be replaced by a pinch hitter. But we just cannot afford to put Matusz in a high leverage situation where he might face a righthanded batter. Those situations just do not end well. Tonight was a case in point but one among many. As soon as Guyer was announced everyone on the game thread knew some runs were going to score. Buck should have known better and kept him out of that situation.

[eddie83]

It's not one outing. It's the Moustakas home run. It's the 4.95 career ERA. It's the .300 career average against RHB. The two HR in one game to Tampa last year.

I actually still like Matusz as an exclusive LOOGY. I actually have some confidence against guys like Ortiz that are lefthanded but too good to be replaced by a pinch hitter. But we just cannot afford to put Matusz in a high leverage situation where he might face a righthanded batter. Those situations just do not end well. Tonight was a case in point but one among many. As soon as Guyer was announced everyone on the game thread knew some runs were going to score. Buck should have known better and kept him out of that situation.

You don't manage that way on April 8th. He is trying to get work in for guys. You can't let them rot on the bench and then expect them to get people out.

[backwardsk]

You don't manage that way on April 8th. He is trying to get work in for guys. You can't let them rot on the bench and then expect them to get people out.

But he still had Wright who hadn't pitched. I thought that he would be ahead of Brian, but evidently not as Brian also warmed up last night.

Good managing by Cash to go to his bench in that situation.

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[wildcard]

I have never seen a team win when they score zero runs. So the O's were probably going to lose anyway.

Buck spent ST allowing Matusz to start vs righties and lefty hitters. He worked on his change up. So Buck left him in to see what would happen. Matusz was not good tonight. That does not make him terrible.

He is still a good loogy. Good ERA last year. If he is used properly he is an asset.

He sure didn't help his trade value tonight.

I don't think the O's are going to eat Matusz 3.2m contract. Wesley Wright may be easier to trade. Guasman may be easier to send to the minors for a short period of time.

[Rene88]

I still think Gausman should be pitching every 5th day. If this were the playoff run, sure....

Matusz isn't awful. Like I said, some NL team should take a flyer, I would. BUT I will say this 99.5% of this board figured Matusz would be non-tendered this offseason. Clearly, they felt like the smartest men in the room when they decided to keep him.. ...

Like Jake Arrietta, they were wrong. Win some, lose some, but he probably should have been non-tendered as most of us thought.

[hendu]

I have never seen a team win when they score zero runs. So the O's were probably going to lose anyway.

Buck spent ST allowing Matusz to start vs righties and lefty hitters. He worked on his change up. So Buck left him in to see what would happen. Matusz was not good tonight. That does not make him terrible.

He is still a good loogy. Good ERA last year. If he is used properly he is an asset.

He sure didn't help his trade value tonight.

I don't think the O's are going to eat Matusz 3.2m contract. Wesley Wright may be easier to trade. Guasman may be easier to send to the minors for a short period of time.

The problem is that these guys can and will help the team win. If they cut him, and another team acquires him and pays him $1M, am I incorrect that the O's wouldn't only owe $2.2M? I will kick in $1,000...anyone else want to help?

It was alluded to earlier, but how many lefties will the O's face that are irreplaceable in a game? Of the 72 games vs the East, I can only think of Ortiz. Cash knew to replace his #6 hitter (the same one that vied for the cycle yesterday) in the 6th inning for a guy that isn't very good. It doesn't matter if Guyer is lefty or righty if he can't throw a strike. Heck, according to the pitch tracker, some of those called strikes weren't even strikes. The strike zone wasn't like it was on Sunday Night Baseball, but still.

As Rene stated, the O's obviously overestimated his trade value by offering him a contract.

[Frobby]

I have never seen a team win when they score zero runs. So the O's were probably going to lose anyway.

Buck spent ST allowing Matusz to start vs righties and lefty hitters. He worked on his change up. So Buck left him in to see what would happen. Matusz was not good tonight. That does not make him terrible.

He is still a good loogy. Good ERA last year. If he is used properly he is an asset.

He sure didn't help his trade value tonight.

I don't think the O's are going to eat Matusz 3.2m contract. Wesley Wright may be easier to trade. Guasman may be easier to send to the minors for a short period of time.

It's a shame Matusz had a bad outing to start the season. As you say, we scored zero runs. I'm pretty sure we've never won a game when we didn't score.

I really get sick of the Matusz haters who jump on his case after any bad outing and always find a way to deny him any credit when he pitches well. He's not as good a lefty reliever as Zach Britton or Andrew Miller. That doesn't make him horrible. He's so-so. Yeah I think $3.2 mm is a bit steep for what he provides, but it's not like he's the only overpaid LOOGY in MLB.

[LookitsPuck]

I hate having relievers on this club that can't get out righties. Especially those that don't throw strikes. Matusz has issues with control, going deep into counts and leaving balls up.

[CA-ORIOLE]

It's a shame Matusz had a bad outing to start the season. As you say, we scored zero runs. I'm pretty sure we've never won a game when we didn't score.

I really get sick of the Matusz haters who jump on his case after any bad outing and always find a way to deny him any credit when he pitches well. He's not as good a lefty reliever as Zach Britton or Andrew Miller. That doesn't make him horrible. He's so-so. Yeah I think $3.2 mm is a bit steep for what he provides, but it's not like he's the only overpaid LOOGY in MLB.

Maybe the Yankees (or some other money team) can afford to pay a LOOGY 3.2 Million. A lot of us didn't think it was the smartest financial move for us. It's basically the only move by Duquette that I openly criticized this offseason and I was hardly alone. Call us "haters" and take away your football all you want. I agree that Matusz wasn't responsible for tonight's loss but he looked like a deer in the headlights against TB's mediocre RHB's. If the plan is to expose Matusz to more RHB's this year we should all be concerned.

[calmunderfire]

Brian Matusz had the worst single season I've ever seen a major league player have. He can't get righties out. He's failed as a starter, long reliever, middle reliever and just about everything except lefty specialist.

[calmunderfire]

What's Matusz's average against LHB? A decent LOOGY should be under .200

[CA-ORIOLE]

What's Matusz's average against LHB? A decent LOOGY should be under .200

Did your parents block baseball reference.com again? You tell us CUF.

[Nevermore]

Will someone please, please tell me why DD tendered Matusz a contract this year?

[PaulFolk]

It's not one outing. It's the Moustakas home run. It's the 4.95 career ERA. It's the .300 career average against RHB. The two HR in one game to Tampa last year.

I actually still like Matusz as an exclusive LOOGY. I actually have some confidence against guys like Ortiz that are lefthanded but too good to be replaced by a pinch hitter. But we just cannot afford to put Matusz in a high leverage situation where he might face a righthanded batter. Those situations just do not end well. Tonight was a case in point but one among many. As soon as Guyer was announced everyone on the game thread knew some runs were going to score. Buck should have known better and kept him out of that situation.

The problem is that you can never really guarantee he won't face a right-handed batter, because the opposing team can pinch-hit at any time (as they did last night). Only the very best lefties (Ortiz, Cano, etc.) are basically guaranteed to never be pinch-hit for. But if you can only use Matusz against those guys, he'd basically be limited to about 30 appearances a season, facing 30 batters. Or doing mop-up work in blowout games. Either way, that's a waste of a roster spot.

If you're going to carry Matusz on the roster, he needs to face righties at some point. Last night was as good a time as any, considering that he hadn't pitched yet and he wasn't exactly facing the toughest righties in the world. Unfortunately he didn't get the job done, and that's been an ongoing problem for the last couple years.