Ideas on how to fix the O's

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, birdwatcher55 said:

I hope to God you're right.

Slashing the payroll in half might appeal to the younger Angelos.

[FlipTheBird]

6 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Slashing the payroll in half might appeal to the younger Angelos.

Yes, there's no reason to assume that a change of command at the top will automatically mean good things for the organization as a whole. Who knows what John Angelos has been waiting to potentially do?

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, FlipTheBird said:

Yes, there's no reason to assume that a change of command at the top will automatically mean good things for the organization as a whole. Who knows what John Angelos has been waiting to potentially do?

I didn't mean it in a bad way necessarily.  Part of burning it down is slashing payroll.  Doesn't mean I have an opinion on what he thinks appropriate payroll is.

But I know I would be unhappy to be paying 160M for this.

[FlipTheBird]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

I didn't mean it in a bad way necessarily.  Part of burning it down is slashing payroll.  Doesn't mean I have an opinion on what he thinks appropriate payroll is.

But I know I would be unhappy to be paying 160M for this.

That's fair. I just think it's viable to note that while most of us can guess what PA would do in most situations, haven't lived with him for so long... no one really knows if John will be different. Or, if different, better for the organization.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, FlipTheBird said:

That's fair. I just think it's viable to note that while most of us can guess what PA would do in most situations, haven't lived with him for so long... no one really knows if John will be different. Or, if different, better for the organization.

And that goes double for any mythical white knight owner that folks want to come in and save the day.

[maybenxtyr]

48 minutes ago, SteveA said:

So an interesting thread gets started about what specifically to do RIGHT NOW to get some of our struggling players to perform better.  This week.   Tonight.   How to get struggling pitchers to pitch better, how to get our best hitter out of a slump.   A very worthy topic.

And just about everyone that responds ignores the primary topic and turns it into a discussion of firing the GM, blowing up the team, doing a total rebuild, and whether the owner will allow it, etc.

Because of course there are NO OTHER threads like that on the board to discuss those issues.  It has to be discussed in this thread because no one has been discussing it ANYWHERE else on the board.   (That's sarcasm in case anybody didn't get it.   Someone could start a thread about the brand of grass on the field at Oriole Park, and I'm sure webbrick would find a way to get a fire-Duquette or get-rid-of-everybody-and-rebuild into the thread).

Good post, wildcard.   Jim Palmer is a smart man and he has been talking about how the second time through the order Miley and other pitchers throw the same sequence of pitches they did the first time through.   That is a big concern (and has to be somewhat an indictment of Castillo, McDowell, or both, though I don't think a mid-season coach firing is going to fix much so I'm not advocating that.   Especially given McDowell's track record).

It seems to me that Gausman is afraid to throw his fastball for strikes, maybe for good reason because it is straight.   We know he can be better than he has shown recently, even if he'll never be quite as good as his peaks last year.

I know it's easy to say in hindsight that Asher was extended too long.   But his pitch count wasn't THAT high.   And he had pitched very well prior to the 6th inning.   And it's not like we have great guys in the pen.   Let's face it, the guy we brought in after Asher let the first two baserunners get on base.   Not a home run, but to say that we would have held them to two runs if Bleier had come in a couple batters sooner is a big assumption.

Asher has now had two good starts, two HORRIBLE starts, and one start that was very good for 5 innings and then went down the toilet quickly.   I have no idea what to expect at this point but we don't have a lot of options.   A couple weeks ago it looked like Asher & Ubaldo might be a tag team in the #5 spot, with UJ there if Asher got knocked out early.   Then he went and had a good game against the Red Sox and Ubaldo got "moved" in the bullpen rotation.   If you assume Givens and Brach will probably not pitch until the 8th and the 9th, it's pick your poison.   Sticking with a guy on relatively low pitch count and hoping he can work his way out of a jam without too much damage (and maybe learn something in the process that will help him going forward) might be preferable to bringing in one of our non-premium relievers and hoping he can escape the jam.

I think it is easy to discuss fixing things when there's only a couple of things going on. Right now they need to figure out how to fix or replace 3 starters.

 

Tillman unfortunately is not a capable major league pitcher. How do you fix him when his shoulder seems to still be injured?

 

Asher may only be a5 innings pitcher, or 2ish times thru the order guy. So who in the pen can you match up with him for2 innings?

 

Miley was going to come back to earth...can he adjust and become the 4.50 era guy we hoped for?

 

The offense is certainly baffling. I didn't believe Trumbo was a 47 Jack guy, but he has been about what I expected this year.

 

Manny...no freaking idea. I remember early in the year he had a dive play where he seemed to tweak his wrist then. Maybe it lingered.

 

Jones is just getting baseball old. Same with Jj. AJ did respond well to a couple of days off earlier. Other than that I have no idea.

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, SteveA said:

So an interesting thread gets started about what specifically to do RIGHT NOW to get some of our struggling players to perform better.  This week.   Tonight.   How to get struggling pitchers to pitch better, how to get our best hitter out of a slump.   A very worthy topic.

And just about everyone that responds ignores the primary topic and turns it into a discussion of firing the GM, blowing up the team, doing a total rebuild, and whether the owner will allow it, etc.

Because of course there are NO OTHER threads like that on the board to discuss those issues.  It has to be discussed in this thread because no one has been discussing it ANYWHERE else on the board.   (That's sarcasm in case anybody didn't get it.   Someone could start a thread about the brand of grass on the field at Oriole Park, and I'm sure webbrick would find a way to get a fire-Duquette or get-rid-of-everybody-and-rebuild into the thread).

Good post, wildcard.   Jim Palmer is a smart man and he has been talking about how the second time through the order Miley and other pitchers throw the same sequence of pitches they did the first time through.   That is a big concern (and has to be somewhat an indictment of Castillo, McDowell, or both, though I don't think a mid-season coach firing is going to fix much so I'm not advocating that.   Especially given McDowell's track record).

It seems to me that Gausman is afraid to throw his fastball for strikes, maybe for good reason because it is straight.   We know he can be better than he has shown recently, even if he'll never be quite as good as his peaks last year.

I know it's easy to say in hindsight that Asher was extended too long.   But his pitch count wasn't THAT high.   And he had pitched very well prior to the 6th inning.   And it's not like we have great guys in the pen.   Let's face it, the guy we brought in after Asher let the first two baserunners get on base.   Not a home run, but to say that we would have held them to two runs if Bleier had come in a couple batters sooner is a big assumption.

Asher has now had two good starts, two HORRIBLE starts, and one start that was very good for 5 innings and then went down the toilet quickly.   I have no idea what to expect at this point but we don't have a lot of options.   A couple weeks ago it looked like Asher & Ubaldo might be a tag team in the #5 spot, with UJ there if Asher got knocked out early.   Then he went and had a good game against the Red Sox and Ubaldo got "moved" in the bullpen rotation.   If you assume Givens and Brach will probably not pitch until the 8th and the 9th, it's pick your poison.   Sticking with a guy on relatively low pitch count and hoping he can work his way out of a jam without too much damage (and maybe learn something in the process that will help him going forward) might be preferable to bringing in one of our non-premium relievers and hoping he can escape the jam.

I was not saying replace McDowell mid season.  I am saying  that Mike Griffin has the knowledge of Gausman that probably no one else in the O's organization has.   He could be a supplementary coach like Ramon Martinez is.  Griffin would be brought up to work with Gausman.   That is how important I think getting Kevin turned around is to the ballclub.

Buck is Buck and probably can not be changed.   But Asher is a 5th starter with marginal stuff that  shouldn't be pushed too long in a game.  The post above that talks about times through the order shows that.  Buck knows all the numbers.   He needs to act on them.

As far as who pitches in 6th and 7th.  Bleier is doing pretty well.  Buck has to try some one else after Asher puts the first two on in the 6th.   Yacabonis, or Wright for an inning are probably better than Asher at that point.

[wildcard]

19 minutes ago, maybenxtyr said:

I think it is easy to discuss fixing things when there's only a couple of things going on. Right now they need to figure out how to fix or replace 3 starters.

 

Tillman unfortunately is not a capable major league pitcher. How do you fix him when his shoulder seems to still be injured?

 

Asher may only be a5 innings pitcher, or 2ish times thru the order guy. So who in the pen can you match up with him for2 innings?

 

Miley was going to come back to earth...can he adjust and become the 4.50 era guy we hoped for?

 

The offense is certainly baffling. I didn't believe Trumbo was a 47 Jack guy, but he has been about what I expected this year.

 

Manny...no freaking idea. I remember early in the year he had a dive play where he seemed to tweak his wrist then. Maybe it lingered.

 

Jones is just getting baseball old. Same with Jj. AJ did respond well to a couple of days off earlier. Other than that I have no idea.

Tillman needs to be put on the DL where he can strengthen his shoulder.  Call up Long.   He probably will be better than  an 8.00 ERA.

 

Jones is not an old 31.   He just needs some time  off to heal.   He dives all over the field and that wreaks his body.   The O's just have to put Rickard in center more until Mullins is ready.

[Mayor McCheese]

We need a new GM with a better approach to building a club.  There was a reason why DD was out of MLB for so long with no one knocking at his door....

 

[maybenxtyr]

11 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Tillman needs to be put on the DL where he can strengthen his shoulder.  Call up Long.   He probably will be better than  an 8.00 ERA.

 

Jones is not an old 31.   He just needs some time  off to heal.   He dives all over the field and that wreaks his body.   The O's just have to put Rickard in center more until Mullins is ready.

I don't disagree about Tillman. If you put him on the DL Ubaldo takes his spot. I think Ubaldo can do better than Tillman has this far. There really isn't a lot of pitching options in the minors.

 

Jones is an old 31. He has been declining for a while now, and I believe it is because of injuries. Time off, or time in RF may help him rejuvenate at the plate. Running him in the ground in CF is doing him no favors.

[sportsfan8703]

5 hours ago, maybenxtyr said:

I don't disagree about Tillman. If you put him on the DL Ubaldo takes his spot. I think Ubaldo can do better than Tillman has this far. There really isn't a lot of pitching options in the minors.

 

Jones is an old 31. He has been declining for a while now, and I believe it is because of injuries. Time off, or time in RF may help him rejuvenate at the plate. Running him in the ground in CF is doing him no favors.

Ubaldo is our 3rd best SP at the moment.  

[maybenxtyr]

30 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Ubaldo is our 3rd best SP at the moment.  

I agree. 

[25 Nuggets]

7 hours ago, Roy Firestone said:

I just spoke to a former Oriole. I won't identify him. This person said that Buck is not the blame. He is not the problem with the pitching or the hitting, but this person is still amazed at the lack of development by this franchise in the minor leagues...and THAT IS the problem.

He is right, it is amazing.