Should the Orioles claim RHP Chris Ellis from TB? (Update: Claimed, Valdez DFA'd)

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, Philip said:

I don’t know why it took so long? I thought it was a potential pick up as soon as I saw the article on trade rumors. I am always happy to get a reject pitcher from Tampa Bay.

I think waiver claims are generally announced on Fridays.   Saw something like that when I was scrolling through the CBA the other day.   

[SteveA]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

Congrats on calling this one.  But I honestly don't know why Elias thinks Ellis can help the team.  He has failed as a starter and a reliever at AAA. He is 28.   He can be optioned but I am not sure he is better than what the O's have a AAA.  He looks like he would follow Hartman off the 40 man roster.

Obviously Elias sees something that I can't.  

By the way Hartman being DFA'd leaves a 40 man roster spot open.   I expect Elias will not leave that seat empty long. 

Didn't Ellis take Hartman's 40 man spot???

[Jammer7]

5 hours ago, SteveA said:

Didn't Ellis take Hartman's 40 man spot???

Zack Burdi took his spot. Ellis took the spot vacated by Cesar Valdez.

[Tony-OH]

15 hours ago, wildcard said:

Congrats on calling this one.  But I honestly don't know why Elias thinks Ellis can help the team.  He has failed as a starter and a reliever at AAA. He is 28.   He can be optioned but I am not sure he is better than what the O's have a AAA.  He looks like he would follow Hartman off the 40 man roster.

Obviously Elias sees something that I can't.  

By the way Hartman being DFA'd leaves a 40 man roster spot open.   I expect Elias will not leave that seat empty long. 

Well, he probably is thinking something similar to what I wrote. He has a better chance of being something than Valdez, so why not? He pitched poorly at AAA this year but did pitch fantastically in AAAA vs the Orioles.

[sportsfan8703]

Ellis is not some TB reliever in the true sense. He only signed with them this offseason. In 300+ AAA IP over 5 seasons, he has a 6.09 ERA. I think this is purely a fresh arm move. 
 

I’m still intrigued by Valdez, and I think he could have success if we have some of our power bullpen arms pan out. If Harvey, Bautista, and Burdi work out, to pair with Scott. Imagine sandwiching Valdez between 100mph throwers like Scott and Bautista. 

[Flash- bd]

Did a search and this is the only thread I can find for this guy. Does he not have his own thread?

Have we found something here, in this guy? 

[wildcard]

I am delighted he is doing so well.  But I don't know why his turnaround is happening.

[InsideCoroner]

It’s the second time he has held the Jays in check for us (he also pitched well against the Yankees). Whatever he is doing right, they still haven’t figured him out. 

[Moose Milligan]

7 hours ago, Flash- bd said:

Have we found something here, in this guy? 

Probably not.

I mean, maybe.  But the odds are we haven't.  That's not a slam on him, that's just how baseball works.

Yesterday was a decent start, IMO, not a great one.  He went 5 innings, threw 91 pitches.  He struck out 4 which is okay, not great, but he also walked 4, too.

He pitched out of two bases loaded jams.  IMO, that's not a recipe for success.  I said it in the game thread but I'll say it again here; it was a pretty cool highwire balancing act.  

Now I will say he probably didn't have his best stuff and he battled and figured out a way to get out of his jams. He battled, and that's great.  But we still need to see more of him to see if we have something or not.  The history of baseball is littered with guys who came up and had some initial success but couldn't sustain it.  For every John Means you get, there's dozens of Josh Towers.  

This isn't to say I don't want to see more of Ellis, I absolutely do.  But there are warning signs, he's struck out 11 in 17.2 innings and he's walked 8 in Baltimore.  That's not great and with those k/bb rates a 2.08 ERA isn't sustainable.  His FIP is 5.08.  

[Flash- bd]

Yeah, what I like is that he's got interesting stuff, there's at least something to work with there. The breaking ball seems to my lamens eyes pretty decent and better than I expected. 

[Aristotelian]

I have not watched him pitch yet, but it's hard to imagine he will outperform his minor league numbers in MLB. 

[Keygans]

Beats the hell out of Matt Harvey’s of the world going out there!  I’ll enjoy it while it lasts and hope it lasts for a long time!

[Frobby]

I assume he’s just having his Spenser Watkins Moment (trademark pending).

You know how the Orioles sometimes face some rookie pitcher who’s either making his debut or has pitched a couple of games and was mediocre in the minors, and we all grumble when the O’s get befuddled by the guy?    Guess what, sometimes it happens to other teams, too.   Hard to believe, I know.  

[jabba72]

He's shows good command of his FB and Slider, which is light years better than anyone else in our rotation can do, besides Means. Occasionally can throw a curve for strikes. He could easily hold onto 5th starters spot on this team. 

[HowAboutThat]

Meh. “Love the one you’re with.”