Olson

[JTrea81]

Everybody remember how Bedard was when he first came up? 2004 Bedard just about equals the 2008 Olson, with the nod to Bedard. Obviously Olson won't be as good as Bedard, but he's not this bad either...

[Mad Mark]

Next time the Orioles and Phillies are both at home, Olson and Kranitz should take a quick run to the City of Brotherly Love and have a powwow with Jamie Moyer. Could work wonders.

[TerpsBaseball26]

Ideally, Olson would have spent all year in Norfolk. However, the lack of pitching depth in the organization forced him to learn on the fly here in Baltimore. His changeup is devastating. If he could just get command of his fastball I really do envision him as a #3 starter. When he's going well, he's very effective. He just seems to run into trouble getting the 3rd out of innings which really killed him tonight. I have no doubt that he will end up being a very effective piece of this rotation for years to come, but the rest of the year is probably not going to be any better than tonight.

[Big Mac]

Ideally, Olson would have spent all year in Norfolk. However, the lack of pitching depth in the organization forced him to learn on the fly here in Baltimore. His changeup is devastating. If he could just get command of his fastball I really do envision him as a #3 starter. When he's going well, he's very effective. He just seems to run into trouble getting the 3rd out of innings which really killed him tonight. I have no doubt that he will end up being a very effective piece of this rotation for years to come, but the rest of the year is probably not going to be any better than tonight.

Not this season, last season maybe, but he had more than enough experience at Norfolk.

[Gofannon]

Maybe he is over thinking?

Just looking at your tag line, it appears the curse of John Maine haunts you. We got rid of him after 11 starts. In those 11 starts, he gave up 73 walks and hits in 43 2/3 innings (1.67 WHIP).

Olson is now 23 starts into his career and is pitching at a 1.78 WHIP (208 baserunners in 116 1/3 innings). There's no doubting that's bad.

There's also no doubting that the current rotation at Norfolk is Hayden Penn, Chris Waters, Craig Anderson, Jon Leicester and Andy Mitchell (none of them has an ERA below 4.62 or a WHIP below 1.43).

That means if you're going to replace Olsen, you're either replacing him with Cormier (no point for a rebuilding team), Johnson (thus weakening your bullpen at a point when we're hoping to trade one or two of our relievers), or calling someone up from Bowie to replace Olsen.

We've said time and again that we're not going to win this year and that the purpose of this year is to learn about the young guys we have on the roster. What's the point of clamoring for a young team if we're going to send a guy back down if he struggles for a month or two?

Give him the rest of the year to work with Kranitz and try to get it together. I think a lot of you have identified some of the issues (nibbling, struggling the third time through the order). If it doesn't work, pitchers will leapfrog over him just like he leapfrogged over Hayden Penn.

I am afraid, however, that Garrett Olsen pitching on a Sunday against the Angels may lead me to make my first-ever baseball wager.

[RShack]

I hereby predict that, by the end of the year, people will like Olson a lot better than they do now. I'm not saying he's gonna be Cy Young, but I am saying that you'll like him better by then. You can rub by nose in it if I'm wrong.

For all the talk about how this year supposedly doesn't matter, and how it's about developing the young guys, it sure seems like folks have a quick hook. There is nothing about Olson's history that says he can't do what he needs to do. There is stuff in his history that says it takes him a while to get his act together when he climbs up a rung. So, I don't see why we just don't trust that he can do it again. Everybody says they want the young P's to come along. Well, when you do that, this is what you get. If you don't like being frustrated, then watching young P's grow up and take their lumps might not be the thing for you.

As for the idea that we're supposed to jerk him around and give him a new role in the BP, I think that makes zero sense in today's world. I think he needs to know that his job is to get this SP stuff sorted out enough this year that it's not a train wreck when the 5th inning comes along. I think he does know that. I don't see anything to be gained by interrupting things.

As for Ramon, I don't think he's helping any. I wish they'd take Quiroz and try letting him be the dedicated C for one of the iffy young guys, whether it's Olson or one of the others, just to see how it goes. Ramon was doing this same crap with DCab, giving him targets that required more command than he had. The thing that puzzles me is not that Ramon does this (I'm about used to it by now), but rather that DT and RK don't tell him to do it differently. If RK is studying film like crazy, which everybody seems to say he is, then he sees what's happening. I figure he should be giving both Ramon and Olson batter-by-batter instructions between innings. TV doesn't show the dugout much, does anybody know if he does that?

[Pushmonkey]

I just think that maybe he is shell shocked a bit..and going to the pen and having Cormier replace him for 2-3 starts might get his head re focused on trusting his stuff. I agree that there is not much if anything at AAA...and to rush AA pitchers might not be in their best interest (see H.Pen).

[mikezpen]

It seems as if some people no longer think that Garrett Olson "has learned all he can learn from pitching at Norfolk" as many insisted he had. That distance from Norfolk to Baltimore is a whole lot further than the crow flies.

His control and location are not good, and Liz's are even worse. But what do you do for pitching, rush Penn or Hernandez up here? Tillman?

[Frobby]

I'm of two minds here. Part of me says stick with Olson no matter what - he doesn't need AAA seasoning and he needs to figure out what to do to adjust to being in the majors.

The other part of me says - Hayden Penn is out of options when this year is over, while Olson is not. So if this continues for another 3-4 starts, I might lean in favor of bringing up Penn, letting him show what he can do for 7-8 starts, and using Olson out of the pen the rest of the season.

[Mackus]

I'm of two minds here. Part of me says stick with Olson no matter what - he doesn't need AAA seasoning and he needs to figure out what to do to adjust to being in the majors.

The other part of me says - Hayden Penn is out of options when this year is over, while Olson is not. So if this continues for another 3-4 starts, I might lean in favor of bringing up Penn, letting him show what he can do for 7-8 starts, and using Olson out of the pen the rest of the season.

Burres goes to the pen WAY before Olson, Liz, or Penn, IMO.

We pretty much know what Burres can do. He's an ok 5th starter. We need to see which, if any, of the other guys we can count on for the rotation in 2009 and who needs to be in the bullpen.

[Pushmonkey]

With the pen getting over worked would it make more sense to move one of the three to the pen and try someone else out...at least then DT knows he has someone that can go 4 innings of relief.

[JTrea81]

With the pen getting over worked would it make more sense to move one of the three to the pen and try someone else out...at least then DT knows he has someone that can go 4 innings of relief.

Bingo, and this is why you bring up Bergesen who has shown the ability to consistantly go 6+ innings in AA. He couldn't be any worse, and he doesn't really get burned by the longball...

[JRoZe410]

i dont know if its me or what,but it seems to me that Olson pitches fine through 4 innings but once he reaches that 5 and 6th innings he gives up 5 or 6 runs and the lead.

[Mackus]

Bingo, and this is why you bring up Bergesen who has shown the ability to consistantly go 6+ innings in AA. He couldn't be any worse, and he doesn't really get burned by the longball...

He doesn't get burned by the long ball in the minors, but not being able to miss bats is a bad sign for a guy making a jump from AA to MLB.

No chance would I let Bergesen come up to the big squad without a pit stop at AAA unless it was an emergency. We're not there yet.

[JTrea81]

i dont know if its me or what,but it seems to me that Olson pitches fine through 4 innings but once he reaches that 5 and 6th innings he gives up 5 or 6 runs and the lead.

It's cause he's getting up there in pitches. Maybe it's his conditioning that's the problem. He does tend to nibble trying to strike guys out instead of pitching to contact. It's the same problem that plagued Erik Bedard before he trusted his stuff and just threw it over the plate.