I realize we have no one else to start, but...

[Just Regular]

1 hour ago, eddie83 said:

LeBlanc is gone

Never to fear...he was DFA'd Thursday after a few okay AAA starts.

I wouldn't mind seeing Jannis for funsies next week - they might need him even if Akin does okay.   I'm sure we'll continue to be very kind to Matt Harvey (we want his 5-star review for Syndergaard!), but who knows what constitutes kindness by now?

Be a shame if Harvey had shoulder inflammation or something, and he needed IL stint so Kremer could come back to pitch Wednesday before his 10 days are up.   That could get the team to that sweet sweet hometown off day.

[Morgan423]

Let's bring up Jannis.  AAA hitters haven't been able to touch him this year, and it's always entertaining watching a knuckleball pitcher.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

3 minutes ago, Morgan423 said:

Let's bring up Jannis.  AAA hitters haven't been able to touch him this year, and it's always entertaining watching a knuckleball pitcher.

Will be even more entertaining with Severino and Sisco catching him. 

[GuidoSarducci]

4 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I love it because I want the O's to go with a pitching staff consisting of Means and guys in the Bullpen.

At this point I'm willing to be unconventional.   Means and a bullpen game most other days.    Really only need the backup catcher and utility guy like Wilkerson/Valaika, and the DH, so 11 position players.  Which leaves room for a 14-man pitching staff.

[wildcard]

10 hours ago, Brooks The Great said:

DFA Harvey, demote Wilkerson, bring up Lowther and Vavra.

I doubt if we see Vavra this season.  Next infielder up is probably McCoy.

[wildcard]

The O's will need at 6th starter  during the Twins series.      I think we may see Spenser Watkins  up and Mattt Harvey  DFA'd.

[Sports Guy]

Means, Akin, Kremer, Zimmerman, Lowther

Scott, Fry, Harvey, Harvey, Tate, Wells, Lopez, Valdez

This is what I would like to see within the next 2-3 weeks.  This assumes no turnaround from Armstrong and Valdez does show some signs of turning things around..otherwise, Valdez goes and either you stay with a 7 man pen or you go with Mattson or Vespi.

Max S may have to play into this as well but I don’t think he should be here.

You then re-evaluate things around the deadline...Where does Matt Harvey stand? Who has been traded?  

[wildcard]

35 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Means, Akin, Kremer, Zimmerman, Lowther

Scott, Fry, Harvey, Harvey, Tate, Wells, Lopez, Valdez

This is what I would like to see within the next 2-3 weeks.  This assumes no turnaround from Armstrong and Valdez does show some signs of turning things around..otherwise, Valdez goes and either you stay with a 7 man pen or you go with Mattson or Vespi.

Max S may have to play into this as well but I don’t think he should be here.

You then re-evaluate things around the deadline...Where does Matt Harvey stand? Who has been traded?  

Though I have hope for Lowther,  he does not seem close to even being able to get AAA hitters out.  He has an ERA of 7.00 and a WHIP of 2.   He is going to need some time at AAA to get straighten out IMO.   Lopez probably stays in the rotation for a while longer.

I hope Mac Sceroler stays down his full 30 day rehab period which ends about June 27th.

[Sports Guy]

40 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Though I have hope for Lowther,  he does not seem close to even being able to get AAA hitters out.  He has an ERA of 7.00 and a WHIP of 2.   He is going to need some time at AAA to get straighten out IMO.   Lopez probably stays in the rotation for a while longer.

I hope Mac Sceroler stays down his full 30 day rehab period which ends about June 27th.

I don’t really care if he’s ready or not.  It won’t hurt his development and he needs the experience.

[Gentile4]

4 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

I don’t really care if he’s ready or not.  It won’t hurt his development and he needs the experience.

Exactly. He's 25. 

[eddie83]

17 hours ago, GuidoSarducci said:

At this point I'm willing to be unconventional.   Means and a bullpen game most other days.    Really only need the backup catcher and utility guy like Wilkerson/Valaika, and the DH, so 11 position players.  Which leaves room for a 14-man pitching staff.

Keep in mind now 26 man rosters. Had extra arm yesterday. 3 man bench can still have 9 pen arms. 

[Sports Guy]

31 minutes ago, Gentile4 said:

Exactly. He's 25. 

And we suck, badly...so wtf?

[eddie83]

The key to managing the staff is the pen. Need arms to manage the middle innings. The starting pitching options are what they are. 

[orioles22]

13 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

I don’t really care if he’s ready or not.  It won’t hurt his development and he needs the experience.

I can't get my head around the idea that someone struggling at AAA should be promoted. We're going to make them get rocked at Baltimore instead of Norfolk because the guys we have now are bad.

 

[Sports Guy]

8 hours ago, orioles22 said:

I can't get my head around the idea that someone struggling at AAA should be promoted. We're going to make them get rocked at Baltimore instead of Norfolk because the guys we have now are bad.

 

He has appeared in 3 MiL games this year.  He was bad in one and ok in 2 others.  He hasn’t gotten into kind of a routine yet because of his brief stints up here and the taxi squad.

Lowther is part of this tier of pitchers, along with Kremer, Wells, Zimmerman and Akin where none of them are likely to be more than a 4th or 5th starter and even that may be a stretch.  However, let’s figure that out now.

As far away as this team looks right now, they really aren’t.  Of course, you need those top MiLers to be really good quickly but there’s a good chance that happens imo.

We need to see if these “other pieces” can play.  The team is terrible and elected to stand pat and not get better prior to this season.

Therefore, this season is completely about development of these guys and seeing who is part of the future and who is not.  All of these guys can still get another 15-20 starts this year.  Give them the starts.  
 

We know Harvey and Lopez are not long term members of the rotation.  Harvey is also no longer pitching well enough to net us anything in trade, so there is no reason to keep him in the rotation by mid June, if not before then.