The most baffling disappointment so far for me is...

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Philip said:

YOU have a kid five days ago and then come into a game with the bases loaded.

I bet the stitches from the C-section hadn't even healed yet.

[Sports Guy]

59 minutes ago, interloper said:

Might have missed it, but did anyone suggest that? I certainly like Armstrong more than Sulser, but at some point he needs to get results. Fry was able to get back on track a bit at least, now we need to see it from Sean. 

No one suggested it but those are the arms due up next and they aren’t BP arms right now.

If you are going to totally overreact to a SSS, I would think you (not you you but general you) have a plan as to how to replace him.

[Pushmonkey]

I would rather see Greene up

[HowAboutThat]

11 minutes ago, Pushmonkey said:

I would rather see Greene up

Forgot about him completely. Yes I agree.

[Frobby]

22 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I'm guessing that's some point after he's pitched three innings this year?

Sort of depends how high you were on Armstrong to begin with.  He has a 4.40 career ERA, 5.05 as an Oriole.   He was pretty bad for us in 2019, then quite good in an abbreviated 2020 season in which he missed about a month.   Sulser has a 3.94 career ERA, 5.11 as an Oriole, and pitched part of last year with a broken foot, following which his performance declined significantly.    He’s a year older than Armstrong.    Honestly I couldn’t tell you which of the two is likely to have the better career from here.    Either way you’re talking about a middle reliever with somewhat limited upside IMO.  

[Scalious]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I'm guessing that's some point after he's pitched three innings this year?

He has a bad ERA/xFIP if you A.) Control for his career B.) Control since becoming an Oriole C.) Control for since 2020.

Only reason he will get patience is because he's a lefty that flashed some skills.

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, Pushmonkey said:

I would rather see Greene up

Thank you.  That’s a good name.  Wouldn’t want him over Armstrong right now though.

Good with him over LeBlanc though.

[Sports Guy]

6 minutes ago, Scalious said:

He has a bad ERA/xFIP if you A.) Control for his career B.) Control since becoming an Oriole C.) Control for since 2020.

Only reason he will get patience is because he's a lefty that flashed some skills.

He’s a righty.

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

He’s a righty.

90% of lefties are.

[Scalious]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

90% of lefties are.

Correct

[Scalious]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

He’s a righty.

Dunno why my mind is mixing Paul Fry and Armstrong on the brain. Mea Cupla.

[Mr. Chewbacca Jr.]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

I would not have put Armstrong in that situation either, but I am not going to blame his subsequent outings on that one.   

If you look at Armstrong’s history, his bad outings tend to come in streaks.  We acquired him two years ago because he’d managed a 14.73 ERA in four outings before Seattle dropped him.   Hopefully he will right the ship.  
 

Came here to same thing, Armstrong generally has been streaky. Overall, he's been a below-average bullpen arm throughout his career. At age 30, I'm not expecting much more than that from him.

[Aristotelian]

I'm a little baffled that anyone had high expectations for Armstrong. He had good numbers in a small sample last year but for the most part he is a proven mediocre pitcher. 

[Sports Guy]

I get why people think Armstrong is just a dime a dozen guy.  He is "old", has very little ML track record and could potentially be easily replaced.  I disagree with that somewhat.

I have mentioned this before but Armstrong was a pretty stellar minor league pitcher.  He appeared in 302 games in the minors (1 start) and covered 350 IP.  His career ERA was 2.26 and its not like he didn't perform well at each level at the proper ages either.  In those 350 IP, he struck out 478 batters (12.2 K rate) and gave up only 13 homers.  He also only gave up 254 hits.  Hitters only batted 203 vs him in the minors.  His issue was his walk rate.  His BB rate was 4.42 in the minors.(more on this later)

In the majors, he only has 133 IP.   As Frobby mentioned, his ERA is 4.40, which is obviously nothing special.  What isn't mentioned there is how small of a sample size this is being based off of and how a few bad outings can really skew the stats.  Take, for example, 3 outings in 2019.  He pitched 3.2 innings and gave up 11 runs in 3 appearances.  Take those away and all of a sudden, his career ERA is 3.76.  Now I admit, that is cherry picking things but again, it speaks to his SSS.  2019 also saw him have a 348 BABIP, which is pretty unlucky.  Throughout his career, he misses bats at an above league average rate and he throws strikes at a league average rate.  His BB rate, which plagued him in the minors, is better but still not great.  It is 3.7, which wouldn't be bad if his K rate was more in the 10-11 range as opposed to 9.  

I think, based on the combo of a very good MiL career, his stuff and how he misses bats that Armstrong can be a good reliever.  I think just writing him off is completely foolish.  He may never be anything but to act like there is no reason to think he will is just wrong and quite frankly, a very lazy opinion.

There is a reason he has never been given a great opportunity, there is no denying that.  Sometimes its simply you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Sometimes its because of you.  Whatever the circumstances have been, despite his MiL accomplishments, he hasn't been able to stand out in the big leagues.  The Orioles should give him every chance to do that right now.  There is no one knocking on the door for his spot and while he isn't young, his arm is and he could pitch for a lot of years.  

[wildcard]

21 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I get why people think Armstrong is just a dime a dozen guy.  He is "old", has very little ML track record and could potentially be easily replaced.  I disagree with that somewhat.

I have mentioned this before but Armstrong was a pretty stellar minor league pitcher.  He appeared in 302 games in the minors (1 start) and covered 350 IP.  His career ERA was 2.26 and its not like he didn't perform well at each level at the proper ages either.  In those 350 IP, he struck out 478 batters (12.2 K rate) and gave up only 13 homers.  He also only gave up 254 hits.  Hitters only batted 203 vs him in the minors.  His issue was his walk rate.  His BB rate was 4.42 in the minors.(more on this later)

In the majors, he only has 133 IP.   As Frobby mentioned, his ERA is 4.40, which is obviously nothing special.  What isn't mentioned there is how small of a sample size this is being based off of and how a few bad outings can really skew the stats.  Take, for example, 3 outings in 2019.  He pitched 3.2 innings and gave up 11 runs in 3 appearances.  Take those away and all of a sudden, his career ERA is 3.76.  Now I admit, that is cherry picking things but again, it speaks to his SSS.  2019 also saw him have a 348 BABIP, which is pretty unlucky.  Throughout his career, he misses bats at an above league average rate and he throws strikes at a league average rate.  His BB rate, which plagued him in the minors, is better but still not great.  It is 3.7, which wouldn't be bad if his K rate was more in the 10-11 range as opposed to 9.  

I think, based on the combo of a very good MiL career, his stuff and how he misses bats that Armstrong can be a good reliever.  I think just writing him off is completely foolish.  He may never be anything but to act like there is no reason to think he will is just wrong and quite frankly, a very lazy opinion.

There is a reason he has never been given a great opportunity, there is no denying that.  Sometimes its simply you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Sometimes its because of you.  Whatever the circumstances have been, despite his MiL accomplishments, he hasn't been able to stand out in the big leagues.  The Orioles should give him every chance to do that right now.  There is no one knocking on the door for his spot and while he isn't young, his arm is and he could pitch for a lot of years.  

Somehow Armstrong got into your heart.  And you have stood up for him many times as you do now.   Its good to see.  

I don't know how this will turn out for him.  It could go either way.  But he has one fan leading the cheers.  That can not be a bad thing.