If no starter upgrade: eight man bullpen?

[wildcard]

I think Roe is an afterthought to most but he might be a valuable piece, what are your thoughts on Roe?

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Fringe pitcher. 10 season minor leaguer who had a good first half with the O's last year (2.67 ER) and terrible 2nd half ( 6.91 ERA). For me that last spot in the pen needs to be a guy with options. Roe is out of options. Try to get him to AAA. If he gets claimed. So be it.

[Rene88]

Fringe pitcher. 10 season minor leaguer who had a good first half with the O's last year (2.67 ER) and terrible 2nd half ( 6.91 ERA). For me that last spot in the pen needs to be a guy with options. Roe is out of options. Try to get him to AAA. If he gets claimed. So be it.

Who would you take as the swing guy? Vanimal first man up since he has no options?

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[weams]

Who would you take as the swing guy? Vanimal first man up since he has no options?

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I think he is fifth starter. And maybe not because of that.

[Rene88]

I think he is fifth starter. And maybe not because of that.

Well I would hope you are wrong there, lol. Much rather see Wilson or Wright. He hasn't even pitched that well?

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[wildcard]

Who would you take as the swing guy? Vanimal first man up since he has no options?

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Whoever has options and is pitching well at the end of ST. A lot depends on how they use Bundy. Wilson or Drake so far. I'm not a big Worley fan so far.

[Rene88]

Whoever has options and is pitching well at the end of ST. A lot depend on how they use Bundy. Wilson or Drake so far. I'm not a big Worley fan so far.

Yeah me either but very worried about starting staff and they will probably keep him because of that.

Thanks for your analysis, always enjoy hearing your take sir.

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[wildcard]

Yeah me either but very worried about starting staff and they will probably keep him because of that.

Thanks for your analysis, always enjoy hearing your take sir.

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I think Dan adds a starter before OD for depth.

[wildcard]

It may be time to begin considering 13 pitchers.

There is no question that the weakest part of the O's is the starting pitching. Management has to come up with a plan to bolster it.

The pen is solid. Britton, O'Day, Given, Brach, Matusz and Bundy. There is one open slot and I am thinking maybe a second.

The outfield in set with four players. Jones, Trumbo, Kim and Rickard. Rickard can be the defensive replacement for Trumbo. I don't have a real good read on Kim's defense yet. I haven't seen him tested. But I am not hearing anything bad. I expect to see Flaherty in the outfield some. He is not going to see much action in the infield.

Manny, Hardy, Schoop and Davis are everyday players in the infield. I think Buck has Alvarez DH most every day. Maybe switch with Davis at !B/DH sometimes. As the season wears on there may be a need for Manny to spell Hardy as SS with Flaherty playing some 3B. And there will be two catchers. Whether that is Wieters and Joseph or Joseph and Pena.

The point is there is little need for a 25th man. That is Reimold's spot. There is big need to fortify the starting pitching.

Wilson, Wright, Despaigne, Worley and McFarland (TJ gets a mulligan for yesterday as he was coming off an injury). I can see Dan adding at least one starting pitcher through waivers or trade. I see two of them on the team as a really possibility out of the pen.

I notice that BRob's interview with Tillman was not posted on MASN. I guess that is not surprising. It was pretty revealing. It would seem like Tillman is pitching hurt. Like last year. So there will be days where he goes 1-4 innings. There will be innings needed to be soaked up by the pen.

We will not know how bad Gausman's shoulder is for a few days. I notice Buck is talking up Wilson in Roch's blog this morning.

Its also interesting that Buck is talking up the Bowie starting staff. Jason Garcia, Bridwell, Chris Lee, David Hess and Joe Gunkel. Someone may be getting a call up to the majors if they do well for a couple of months.

I am thinking 13 pitchers. If they can just get a lead to the pen the O's will win a lot of games.

[eddie83]

There is no need to start the year season out with 13. Keep in mind it is already hard for Buck to work in his pen at the start of the year anyway. They all need work to stay sharp. It is certainly possible at some point they may have to go to 13 but not at the start of the year. Let things play out a little bit. If Bundy and Worley are in the pen on theory they could have 2 pitchers that could be long men.

[wildcard]

Tillman made 31 starts last year. He failed to go 5 innings in 9 of them.

[weams]

There is no need to start the year season out with 13. Keep in mind it is already hard for Buck to work in his pen at the start of the year anyway. They all need work to stay sharp. It is certainly possible at some point they may have to go to 13 but not at the start of the year. Let things play out a little bit. If Bundy and Worley are in the pen on theory they could have 2 pitchers that could be long men.

No. Reason. None.

[weams]

Tillman made 31 starts last year. He failed to go 5 innings in 9 of them.

He was hurt also. Right? If he is hurt, get another starter.

[wildcard]

Tillman made 31 starts last year. He failed to go 5 innings in 9 of them.

Jimenez made 32 starts last year. He failed to go 5 innings in 5 of them.

Gonzalez made 26 starts last year. He failed to go 5 inning in 8 of them.

Gausman made 17 starts last year, He failed to go 5 innings in 2 of them.

Gallardo made 33 starts last year. He failed to go 5 inning in 5 of them

Mike Wright made 9 starts last year. He failed to go 5 innings 5 times.

Wilson made 5 starts last year. He failed to go 5 inning 2 times.

Total of 153 starts. They failed to go 5 innings in 36 starts.

That is about 24% of the time.

Buck and Dan have said over and over again that the reason the O's did not make the playoffs was the starting pitching. They have to do something about that. A 13th pitcher probably gets used a lot more then a 13th position players.

[Aristotelian]

No. Reason. None.

I don't like the "6th starter" idea. That just gives you an extra day before you get back to the top of the rotation, increasing the quantity of mediocre innings rather than what we really need, which is quality innings.

However, I could see some utility for an extra bullpen arm. In a year that our entire starting pitching staff is very much suspect, an extra bullpen arm would allow us to have a quick hook with the starters when they get in trouble. Up one with the bases loaded with two out in the 4th? You could bring in Bundy knowing that he is backed up by seven other guys. If Reimold is the 25th spot, he offers very little upside over Rickard. The theory would be that it is more likely for an extra bullpen arm to make a difference than Reimold with his bat or defense.

Might not be a good reason but it is a reason.

[wildcard]

He was hurt also. Right? If he is hurt, get another starter.

They don't have anyone better.