Rotation announced

[MurphDogg]

It seems clear to me that Lopez isn't good enough to be a long term starter in a MLB rotation. It remains to be seen whether he could be a useful bullpen piece. Hopefully Akin finds whatever he was missing at the alternate site and we can find out sooner rather than later.

[Sports Guy]

Just now, interloper said:

Would you rather have seen LeBlanc in the rotation? Because that was definitely a possibility. The line between Lopez and Akin in terms of caliber of pitcher is pretty damn small. We're not talking about aces here - they're two young guys who both profile as back-of-the-rotation arms at best. They're both going to pitch a ton of innings for the O's this year - Lopez is just going to pitch his first. There's literally no difference between Akin starting the season with the team vs him joining later. He'll pitch the same amount of innings either way. In fact, part of the reason for Lopez starting now is to limit Akin's innings a bit so he can pitch later in the season. 

There's so much more at play other "this guy better than this guy!!11!!" You are not a GM, none of us are. 

Akin should be here now..we have no idea how many innings he can or can not pitch this year.  
 

We already know Lopez isn’t that good.  His numbers in the majors bear that out.  Hell, his minor league numbers tell you that.  Akin is better in both areas (although his ML numbers really mean very little because of the sampling)

Akin is also 2 years younger.

As for innings later, we have a lot of young arms that can enter the picture as time goes on.

Also and I know this is a weird concept, the Os could have flat out done a better job of adding a real starter to the rotation this offseason.

Lopez shouldn’t have even had an opportunity to make the rotation.  We should have enough arms to where even if a guy like Akin struggles and you want to send him down that Lopez still isn’t even a consideration.

[HowAboutThat]

15 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yep and that’s part of my problem with the roster construction this year.  We should not be looking at several starting spots with AAAA type players on it.

The Franco signing helped that somewhat.

I don’t think Franco is any kind of answer, and I think I’ve read here a few times that his defense is not even as good as Ruiz’

I agree that we should be giving the guys a chance, and that’s why I’d like to see Bannon here. Even if he’s terrible, I would like to find out.

We’ve discussed Plutko And I guess we disagree on him.

regarding Lopez, Yes he had a good spring. He’s marginal, but he’s not hopeless, and given the roster churn we’re going to experience this season, I have no problem with having him over Leblanc or Akin this time.

[interloper]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

Akin should be here now..we have no idea how many innings he can or can not pitch this year.  
 

We already know Lopez isn’t that good.  His numbers in the majors bear that out.  Hell, his minor league numbers tell you that.  Akin is better in both areas (although his ML numbers really mean very little because of the sampling)

Akin is also 2 years younger.

As for innings later, we have a lot of young arms that can enter the picture as time goes on.

Also and I know this is a weird concept, the Os could have flat out done a better job of adding a real starter to the rotation this offseason.

Lopez shouldn’t have even had an opportunity to make the rotation.  We should have enough arms to where even if a guy like Akin struggles and you want to send him down that Lopez still isn’t even a consideration.

Just flat out disagree here, so it is what it is. No point in discussing further, but I will of course be hoping Jorge Lopez suddenly turns into a stud, because it's weird to root for someone on the team to fail. Akin will get his chance to, again, be a back-end starter, which is his ceiling. 

[Just Regular]

If we're going by Age, regular plug that Baumann is older than Kremer too.

Both Fenway and the Yankees lineup daunting for LHP, but I guess I get spotting Zimmermann in first while he is running great, and against the weaker team.

For 2B waiver wire wheel, saw Rangers manager recently gave non-committal quote about Rougned making the team.

[Frobby]

50 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Lopez in the rotation is a joke.  Hopefully he quickly shows that he doesn’t belong there.

I’d rather have him show that he does belong there.   Why would I hope he would fail?

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, OrioleDog said:

If we're going by Age, regular plug that Baumann is older than Kremer too.

Both Fenway and the Yankees lineup daunting for LHP, but I guess I get spotting Zimmermann in first while he is running great, and against the weaker team.

For 2B waiver wire wheel, saw Rangers manager recently gave non-committal quote about Rougned making the team.

If they cut Odor, we should be all over that.

[Sports Guy]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’d rather have him show that he does belong there.   Why would I hope he would fail?

I don’t know why you would.

[Aristotelian]

Really excited for Zimmerman. To go from on the bubble to make the team to Number 3 starter is quite an achievement. Can't wait to see what he can do.

[interloper]

Meanwhile, Zimm is out here doing his best left-handed David Hess impression. 3 outs and 2 homers so far. 

[wildcard]

6 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

If they cut Odor, we should be all over that.

That is not happening.  He has 3/38m left of his contract.

 

[interloper]

5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I don’t know why you would.

Love to watch sports and hope the guys on my team fail!!! Normal behavior. 

[MurphDogg]

5 minutes ago, wildcard said:

That is not happening.  He has 3/38m left of his contract.

 

2/27M (including the $3M buyout on his $13.5M 2023 option).

I imagine Texas will try to eat a decent amount of salary and trade him rather than releasing him outright and being on the hook for the whole thing without any compensation.

[wildcard]

1 minute ago, MurphDogg said:

2/27M (including the $3M buyout on his $13.5M 2023 option).

I imagine Texas will try to eat a decent amount of salary and trade him rather than releasing him outright and being on the hook for the whole thing without any compensation.

I don't see Elias getting him for 1M so he is out of the O's price range.

[MurphDogg]

2 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I don't see Elias getting him for 1M so he is out of the O's price range.

Yep, although I can't say for sure that the other 28 teams would want him for much more either.