Tillman back. Are we happy?

[25 Nuggets]

2 minutes ago, Grt 2BA FL Gator said:

It is kind of a weird market when you think about it. Both Cobb and Lynn with recent Tommy John's.

Lynn's FIP was much higher post injury.. I like the idea of Lynn's overall resume, but his injury and recent FIP concern me. It actually makes me appreciate what we were able to get Cashner for. 

Cashner at the price the Os got for him was pretty good.

I am not complaining about Tillman's contract (provided those incentives have substance to them).  Still not satisfied with the overall rotation though.

[now]

1 minute ago, Grt 2BA FL Gator said:

My question is, if he looked healthy and like the guy that pitched before last year, wouldn't someone else want to offer him a major league deal? 

No doubt the O's got a closer look... and I don't know if there were other MLB offers, but if so, Tillman would probably have chosen the O's.

[wildbillhiccup]

So let me get this straight...not one offered him a ML deal, but us? I bet it took him about two seconds to "choose" the Orioles. Mind boggling. 

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports that Chris Tillman is returning to the Orioles.

Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com reports that it's a one-year, major league deal while Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports hears that it's worth $3 million. According to Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com, Tillman chose the Orioles over accepting minor league offers with the Tigers or Blue Jays. The veteran right-hander is coming off a brutal year where he posted a 7.84 ERA over 19 starts and five relief appearances, but he's hoping to prove himself and hit the open market again next winter. If healthy, he'll presumably join a rotation which is also set to feature Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy, and recent addition Andrew Cashner

[wildbillhiccup]

34 minutes ago, 25 Nuggets said:

If the Orioles roll with the following:

1. Bundy
2. Gausman
3. Lynn
4. Cashner
5. Tillman

...and Tillman rebounds, they'd actually have a competitive rotation

Will all due respect, Lynn would be their #1.

[Ripken]

They've been watching him throw every day for the last month.  I certainly hope they know whether he looks like the Tillman of old.  If he does, then great.  If he doesn't, this is remarkably stupid.

[LookitsPuck]

13 minutes ago, now said:

I get all of what you're saying, but not sure it's quite as bad as that. For instance, maybe Tillman has a guaranteed spot among the 8-10 necessary candidates, vs. a guaranteed spot as #4 or whatever. Or, maybe he's shown enough from the looks this spring, that he really is improved and deserving of a good shot; this we don't know. Finally, it's not like we have any sure things that are getting bumped aside to make room for Tillman. And I agree, 3 million is peanuts, especially if there really is upside.

The Orioles don't pay a guy $3m with incentives that can bump it another $7m to throw him into the mix of "8-10" candidates. No, that money essentially marries Buck and Duquette to the idea of Tillman in the rotation. I can't imagine the negotiations were: "Hey, I know the Tigers have a minor league contract for you and you'd have to earn the spot in the rotation, but we'll give you a major league contract and you'll have to earn the spot in the rotation, too!"

FWIW, $3m is peanuts. I agree. I'd like this deal if we actually had a real rotation. And a 90mph+ throwing Tillman with his control back in spring training being able to bump one of the rotation members out would be a good thing. But we have *3* legitimate major league arms in the rotation right now: Gausman, Bundy and Cashner.

There are *2* spots in the rotation. Everybody else in the running for the rotation spot are either coming off a miraculously awful season (Tillman) or are (as they currently stand) AAAA starters.

[25 Nuggets]

8 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

So let me get this straight...not one offered him a ML deal, but us? I bet it took him about two seconds to "choose" the Orioles. Mind boggling. 

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports that Chris Tillman is returning to the Orioles.

Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com reports that it's a one-year, major league deal while Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports hears that it's worth $3 million. According to Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com, Tillman chose the Orioles over accepting minor league offers with the Tigers or Blue Jays. The veteran right-hander is coming off a brutal year where he posted a 7.84 ERA over 19 starts and five relief appearances, but he's hoping to prove himself and hit the open market again next winter. If healthy, he'll presumably join a rotation which is also set to feature Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy, and recent addition Andrew Cashner

Interesting that the Blue Jays were in on him.

[25 Nuggets]

6 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

Will all due respect, Lynn would be their #1.

I don't know if he would start opening day but he would have the best track record on the staff, yeah.

[Tony-OH]

27 minutes ago, joew said:

Good signing. $3 million for Tillman and his track record in the AL East outside of last year is a good deal. I think Tillman will bounce back and be a solid #4 for us. my predictions of a 11-8 record 4.18 ERA. 180 innings. 

Everyone overreacts to someone who has 1 bad season. It's the same as a player with a career year and expecting a massive contract for one year. 

But it isn't just one bad season, it;s been since his shoulder started to hurt. Here's his stats since June 22nd of last year:

Starts: 35
Innings: 180.1
H: 213
HRA: 33
BB: 86
K: 121
ERA: 6.26
Batters Slash: .297/.377/.513/.890

His velocity is down and his command was not good last year and hasn't been good since early June 2016.

Now three million is chump change for baseball teams, but I would have preferred to see him in on a minor league deal. I really worry he will be given a spot over Cortes only to watch him crash and burn this April and May before the Orioles finally pull the plug. 

I just don't trust Buck when it comes to his guys. He's a loyalty guy and will give Tillman every opportunity to win a spot regardless of what the stuff looks like this spring.

I don't have an issue with him coming back on a low risk deal, but I'd rather it had been a minor league deal. 

Personally, unless the off season of rest healed him up, I think the guy's shoulder is toast.

I hope i'm wrong though. A healthy Tillman would be a solid addition to the staff.

 

[LookitsPuck]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

But it isn't just one bad season, it;s been since his shoulder started to hurt. Here's his stats since June 22nd of last year:

Starts: 35
Innings: 180.1
H: 213
HRA: 33
BB: 86
K: 121
ERA: 6.26
Batters Slash: .297/.377/.513/.890

His velocity is down and his command was not good last year and hasn't been good since early June 2016.

Now three million is chump change for baseball teams, but I would have preferred to see him in on a minor league deal. I really worry he will be given a spot over Cortes only to watch him crash and burn this April and May before the Orioles finally pull the plug. 

I just don't trust Buck when it comes to his guys. He's a loyalty guy and will give Tillman every opportunity to win a spot regardless of what the stuff looks like this spring.

I don't have an issue with him coming back on a low risk deal, but I'd rather it had been a minor league deal. 

Personally, unless the off season of rest healed him up, I think the guy's shoulder is toast.

I hope i'm wrong though. A healthy Tillman would be a solid addition to the staff.

 

Agree on all of this.

I desperately want to be wrong on this, too. 

[Il BuonO]

4 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I just don't trust Buck when it comes to his guys. He's a loyalty guy and will give Tillman every opportunity to win a spot regardless of what the stuff looks like this spring.

Yeah, this is my concern. To me, ML deal or not he has to win a spot. And of course, it would have been much easier to cut him on a MiL deal if he’s a mess.

[atomic]

24 minutes ago, joew said:

Way to many negative reactions. Folks, Tillman has been great for the O's in the AL East 5 out of 6 years. Just because someone has a bad year doesn't mean they will be awful for the rest of their careers. The same logic goes for Trumbo off a career year getting a nice contract doesn't assure he will lead the league in HRs. This is a real solid deal for $3 million+. Ideally, it would be great to get Lance Lynn but this is an independent decision to sign Tillman. You accumulate as many good players within budget and let's see where the chips fall.

He had a historically bad year.  I wouldn't have any issue with the deal except that we know that Angelos isn't going to let the team eat 3 million. Most likely he performs poorly again and we trade a competitive balance pick like we did with Matusz and Webb to someone like the Dodgers who have money to burn and then they release him. 

[JanJaap]

Quote

Tillman back. Are we happy?

Cancelled my MLB TV subscription 10 minutes after reading the Tillman signing. If Angelos is not interested in winning I am no longer interested in putting my money in his pocket. Does that answer your question? 

[Luke-OH]

At least the innings incentives are 7 million reasons to bench him if he's still broken.

[Il BuonO]

1 minute ago, JanJaap said:

Cancelled my MLB TV subscription 10 minutes after reading the Tillman signing. If Angelos is not interested in winning I am no longer interested in putting my money in his pocket. Does that answer your question? 

But you were willing to watch when they overpaid on Davis?