How do we fix our starting pitching?

[ReclaimTheCrown]

You think your prayers are more likely to be answered than Dan's?

Can't hurt to try, right? Ha

[leapinghorsered]

I think there are really four options:

A. Leave it as is and hope they can turn it around' date=' including guys like Wilson and Wright in the minors

B. Sell the "farm" for a good pitcher and go for it this year, future be damned

C. Sell some middling prospect for some middling pitcher and hope to catch lightning in a bottle

D. Sell it all and play for 2018/2019[/quote']

DD has gone with a combination of B and C over the last several years, as a result option B is not really in play. The farm

probably doesn't have the prospects to land a good pitcher. Last year was the year he really screwed up the organization.

He traded away some decent prospects to try and make a mediocre team a wildcard team. What he should have done

was trade Chen and Wieters for whatever he could get. I think you could have gotten a few decent prospects by doing that.

I understand the need to want to go for it every time you have a decent team, but by not honestly evaluating the talent on

last years team he really missed an opportunity to plan for the future.

[FlipTheBird]

We get 5 new guys, basically. The rotation stinks...

Honestly three new guys would work, given that Tillman and Gausman are relatively fine. But that's a massive order.

[srock]

SBNation article on the Orioles trade deadline options.

Summar: Need pitching but don't have the assets to acquire it. Deal seems unlikely. Mentions:

Teheran - Almost certainly too expensive

Pomeranz - Less then Teheran, but with injury history and low cost, why would Padres move him for less then a haul.

Liriano - Seems more promising to me

Hellickson - Cheap but is he actually an upgrade?

[Aristotelian]

SBNation article on the Orioles trade deadline options.

Summar: Need pitching but don't have the assets to acquire it. Deal seems unlikely. Mentions:

Teheran - Almost certainly too expensive

Pomeranz - Less then Teheran, but with injury history and low cost, why would Padres move him for less then a haul.

Liriano - Seems more promising to me

Hellickson - Cheap but is he actually an upgrade?

We could get the guy who is leading the NL in walks to go with the guy who is leading the AL in walks.

[fansince71]

I think we all know that DD is gonna make some trades.

[pfhokie]

I think we all know that DD is gonna make some trades.

I think that he will make a trade but I just don't see it being someone who is going to make a difference. I could see something like

Liriano or Hellickson happening but not a Teheran or Pomeranz. A window-dressing sort of trade.

[LookitsPuck]

Nothing is going to fix it. We quite simply don't have the pieces for a great starter without completely and utterly gutting the future more than it is (i.e. for a Teheran). And if we do trade for a meddling starter, it is only going to sort of plug a hole.

In another words: Tillman, Gausman and Gallardo need to get their ish together.

After those 3? Duquette needs to sack up with his mistake that was Ubaldo Jimenez. He is not going to get better. And even if he makes minor tweaks...it's just going to be loss after loss after loss in the process. He's not worth the effort. I don't give a damn if he goes to another team and "figures it out".

Guess what? Duquette thought Ubaldo figured it out before giving up a 1st rounder and 4 years for the guy. He bought after a half year. Not a wise decision.

Steven Brault is about to pitch for the Pirates. He was one of the lefty starters that was traded for Travis Snider.

Zach Davies has been a solid #4.

Miguel Gonzalez would be a #3 on the O's. And he just went 7 IP and only allowed 2 runs against the Astros in his most recent start. The story of his demise has started way too early, IMHO.

What I'm getting at...be careful what you wish for.

I suppose you could slot Bundy into the rotation for a spot start or 2...have him go 4-5 IP...but if he does well, you're shutting him down with ~a month left in the season.

You could try: Miranda, Gunkel or Despaigne in the rotation. I think any one of those could put up better numbers than Ubaldo. But they're not going to be anything more than a #5 this year.

So we're all grasping at straws here. People were ecstatic with being 17 games over .500. But it was based on the mirage that is one of the worst rotations in the AL and even MLB. Banking on the O's offense to be prolific for the entire year and the rotation to be bad is fool's gold. And that's what fans didn't want to hear. Now we're coming crashing down to Earth as we face good pitching.

[24fps]

I think it is too late for D. The die has been cast.

Yes and that means "B. Sell the "farm" for a good pitcher and go for it this year, future be damned" is what will happen. Personally I think it will fall short of a complete dismantling, but some good assets will be moved and I doubt anyone is untouchable at this point.

[El Gordo]

I think we all know that DD is gonna make some trades.

He needs to make them sooner than later.

[LookitsPuck]

I think that he will make a trade but I just don't see it being someone who is going to make a difference. I could see something like

Liriano or Hellickson happening but not a Teheran or Pomeranz. A window-dressing sort of trade.

I like Hellickson. But Duquette trading w/ MacPhail is just going to be hilarious (scary?).

[El Gordo]

I think that he will make a trade but I just don't see it being someone who is going to make a difference. I could see something like

Liriano or Hellickson happening but not a Teheran or Pomeranz. A window-dressing sort of trade.

Any SP who can give us 8-10 QS will make a difference.

[Nevermore]

I know one thing. Our pitching staff cannot pitch efficiently AND effectively. Im continuously seeing our pitchers with pitch counts at or near 100 pitches before the fifth inning is over.That is just unacceptable.

So too is the fact that our guys are constantly either behind every batter, putting runners on EVERY inning or up 0-2 and then losing the batter to a walk or a base hit.

In fact our pitchers aren't pitching smart, or competitively. Its a horror show to watch these guys.

I doubt any body out there can save ourselves FROM ourselves.

Most of us know that there are huge problems such as what you posted above. So what should we do? Concede the division?

[Nevermore]

I'm for being buyers but that's not the Orioles way. The farm system doesn't have much to offer and taking on loaded contracts is just asking for more trouble (Jiminez).

So it looks like something has to get cobbled together for the rest of the year. If that is the case, we are looking at a really tough second half of the year.

I just thought of something while going through all of these answers.

It sounds crazy, but if DD is in a buying mood, he should look for a really solid hitter or two in order to shore up our offense. Then maybe they can overcome our rotation. I'm not necessarily proposing this as a solution, I'm just putting this out.

[pfhokie]

Any SP who can give us 8-10 QS will make a difference.

I don't see Liriano or Hellickson getting those kind of QS numbers in the second half.