Time to DFA Ubaldo

[Going Underground]

I have two thoughts about Ubaldo. One: you can't quit on him (unless someone out there is willing to pick up a large piece of his salary, which seems inconceivable, and maybe not even if that were the case). He represents, after all, a proven talent in an area where there's desperate need, as well as a lot of sunk costs. Two: right now, you can't hand him the ball every fifth day without doing serious harm to the Orioles' pennant/playoff chances. You have to try, and then try harder, and then try something different, to figure out how to fix his lack of command and get him working on it. In the near term, I'd rather have his place in the rotation taken by anyone -- T.J., Gallardo, Matusz, Worley, a committee of Bundy, Matusz and someone else, Jason Garcia, Parker Bridwell, Chris Lee, Phil Coke, Mo'ne Davis, Henry Wiggins, Casey the Robot from the Twilight Zone. I would hope that gap needs to be filled only temporarily, and that someone, somehow, can get Ubaldo ramped up to mediocrity or better.

The problem with Casey the robot is once he got a heart he was no good.He and Kim both signed a major league contract and both would be on the bench.The Tin man would get disgusted and might complain to his maker.Don't want another Kim situation. Come on down and meet your maker.Come on down and make your stand.

[MDtransplant757]

I see it this way. Good April, Bad May. Good June, Bad July. Good August, bad September. Good october. Its a cycle with him is what i've noticed.

[bpilktree]

I keep seeing people say how bad is at signing free agents and probably true but some of the same ones say we need to spend money. If you look at the free agents the last 5 years you see that almost all free agent signings for multi years are bad. Yet teams continue to sign guys and you can't win trying to buy free agents look at the Red Sox they signed a few guys last year and struggled then decided to use the young guys now the offense is top notch.

[LookitsPuck]

Then by that argument Duquette should be holdin on to his first round picks and competitive picks, no?

[thezeroes]

I am sure this could be merged with a dozen or so DFA Ubaldo threads already in existence.

[Nevermore]

Ubaldo has reached a point in his career that many pitchers reach at the ages of late 20s or early 30s. They begin to lose the velocity on their fastball. So adjustments have to be made to at least gain/regain fastball command so that other pitches can be used. In other words, change from being a power pitcher to being a finesse pitcher. This is a difficult adjustment to make and many pitchers wind up ending their careers because they aren't able to make these adjustments.

I don't believe that a trade for Ubaldo can be made. But who knows, perhaps the Cubs will take a chance on him, swapping the equivilent of a bag of baseballs for him. Then he can become the next Jake Arrieta.

Seriously, we'll probably have him until the end of the 2017 season. So somehow, Ubaldo has to be shepherded through these adjustments. Management can't simply keep sending him out there every 5th day to be hammered over and over. I think that another stint in the bullpen can help him with the adjustments. Explain to him that he's not being "demoted" as such, but this will help his pitching. He might be effective pitching 2-3 innings out of the pen while he learns to stabilize his delivery and mechanics. As I recall, in 2014, when he was in the pen, he had one disastrous outing, but other than that, he did pretty good out of the pen. Later on this season, he can be re-evaluated to see if he can return to the rotation -- or else, who knows, he might develop into a top-flight reliever.

As to who will take his spot in the rotation, maybe Vance Worley can to it, at least until Gallardo returns. I believe that Gallardo's bad outings were mainly caused by his injury. I do know that something has to be done.

[Can_of_corn]

Can we add Bundy to this list? He is absolutely atrocious

Sure, let's just write off a former top 2 prospect who has thrown 65 innings in the last three years!

Seems reasonable!

[Can_of_corn]

You really think he's going to amount to anything? I just don't see it.

I don't know if he will or not.

What I do know is he is 23, was very highly regarded and is healthy after missing pretty close to the last three years.

That is not something I am willing to throw away.

He isn't hurting the team by soaking up low leverage innings in the pen.

[brianod]

I have two thoughts about Ubaldo. One: you can't quit on him (unless someone out there is willing to pick up a large piece of his salary, which seems inconceivable, and maybe not even if that were the case). He represents, after all, a proven talent in an area where there's desperate need, as well as a lot of sunk costs. Two: right now, you can't hand him the ball every fifth day without doing serious harm to the Orioles' pennant/playoff chances. You have to try, and then try harder, and then try something different, to figure out how to fix his lack of command and get him working on it. In the near term, I'd rather have his place in the rotation taken by anyone -- T.J., Gallardo, Matusz, Worley, a committee of Bundy, Matusz and someone else, Jason Garcia, Parker Bridwell, Chris Lee, Phil Coke, Mo'ne Davis, Henry Wiggins, Casey the Robot from the Twilight Zone. I would hope that gap needs to be filled only temporarily, and that someone, somehow, can get Ubaldo ramped up to mediocrity or better.

good post, i agree

[brianod]

I don't know if he will or not.

What I do know is he is 23, was very highly regarded and is healthy after missing pretty close to the last three years.

That is not something I am willing to throw away.

He isn't hurting the team by soaking up low leverage innings in the pen.

Absolutely right, glad you aren't wrong all the time:)

[waroriole]

Wow there's a lot of bad ideas in this thread. DFA Ubaldo is silly, angry, reactionary talk. It's not logical. We have nobody to take his place. Worley, the long man, is even worse. No, at least two people would need to be beating down the door before that becomes a legitimate option.

The guy talking about getting rid of Bundy because he had a rough day? Come on. Get your emotions together people!!

[weams]

Wow there's a lot of bad ideas in this thread. DFA Ubaldo is silly, angry, reactionary talk. It's not logical. We have nobody to take his place. Worley, the long man, is even worse. No, at least two people would need to be beating down the door before that becomes a legitimate option.

The guy talking about getting rid of Bundy because he had a rough day? Come on. Get your emotions together people!!

While you are at it, Check out Dallas Keuchel.

Rangers jumped on Dallas Keuchel early, cruising to an easy 9-2 win over the Houston Astros to complete a three-game sweep Sunday. Dallas Keuchel surrendered seven earned runs over six innings Sunday

DFA Him!

[brianod]

Wow there's a lot of bad ideas in this thread. DFA Ubaldo is silly, angry, reactionary talk. It's not logical. We have nobody to take his place. Worley, the long man, is even worse. No, at least two people would need to be beating down the door before that becomes a legitimate option.

The guy talking about getting rid of Bundy because he had a rough day? Come on. Get your emotions together people!!

I agree but we can't continue to strut him out there. He needs to fix it in low leverage situations because it's not just a case of failing expectations, it's not just a case of being in a slump, it's a case where every time he throws is a guaranteed loss.

[waroriole]

I agree but we can't continue to strut him out there. He needs to fix it in low leverage situations because it's not just a case of failing expectations, it's not just a case of being in a slump, it's a case where every time he throws is a guaranteed loss.

I'm not opposed to it, but who is going to take his place?

[tntoriole]

I'm not opposed to it, but who is going to take his place?

What do you do when Gallardo is ready? Do you send Wright or Wilson to the pen (or to Norfolk) rather than Ubaldo to the pen?