I was worried about our starting rotation

[Baltimorecuse]

The last two times through the rotation they've been a strength.  Stay healthy and I think we're OK.  

[yark14]

Collectively, they are good. Each one of them will have their duds every 3rd or 4th starts, balanced out by a lights out performance every 3rd or 4th start.  So far this season they seem to sync together their dud performances like the moon cycles of a group of women that live together. 

We really need to spread those dud performances out so that we stay consistent and keep momentum going.  

[Moose Milligan]

Still am. Two times through the rotation doesn’t fix everything. 

Kremer was good last night, still only struck out 4 batters in six innings.  He did only walk two, which is really good but the lack of strikeouts is worrisome.

 

[wildcard]

5 hours ago, Baltimorecuse said:

The last two times through the rotation they've been a strength.  Stay healthy and I think we're OK.  

Welcome aboard.   I have been saying the O's do not need to trade for starting pitching.

[Bahama O's Fan]

You do need to be worried. We start off games bad. We struggle to go past 5 innings. We have no single pitcher that you can trust to start a playoff series against another team's ace. There is no stopper on the club. At any night, it would not be shocking to see our starter give up 6 runs in 2 innings.

[glenn__davis]

You should still be worried, and the rotation still needs reinforcements.  But they certainly came up huge these past 6 games.

[Sports Guy]

It’s the most obvious and glaring weakness on the team. We knew it in the offseason and it’s apparent now.

They are all good enough to give you hope from time to time but they need to do this a lot more to erase those doubts.

[tntoriole]

Every team has flaws and most are worse  .. that’s why it is a team effort.  If starting pitching was the only factor then it must be worse for all those other teams who are behind us in wins.   Striving to get better players/performances is always important yes but this starting group is a part of the third best team in MLB to date. 

[Aristotelian]

I am still worried but hopeful. I believe in Wells and Gibson. They will generally keep us in the game even if they don't dominate. Grayson is starting to turn a corner. Need to see consistency from Bradish and Kremer. If they can't establish consistency we will want toake a move. And if there is an injury, the question is who steps up. 

[Just Regular]

Starters, relievers - just more better pitchers, please.    I am thrilled with Tyler Wells YTD performance but have little expectation he can sustain it all year, plus feel he could be the Baker/Baumann guy who isn't as hit or miss.     

I also just want to see the visual of him, Felix and Cano together!

From last night's roster, I'd hope we see Hall, Means, Givens and Tate in for Cionel, Baumann, Voth and Rom.    They are okay MLB relievers but if the Rays have taught us nothing, its that building your team's basket of pitches thrown, even okay MLB relievers are UP/DOWN guys if your staff is strong enough.

[DirtyBird]

3 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

From last night's roster, I'd hope we see Hall, Means, Givens and Tate in for Cionel, Baumann, Voth and Rom.    They are okay MLB relievers but if the Rays have taught us nothing, its that building your team's basket of pitches thrown, even okay MLB relievers are UP/DOWN guys if your staff is strong enough.

How confident are you that Givens and Tate will be better/more consistent than the guys we are putting out there now?

[emmett16]

I think they are fine to go through the season and make a WC.  I think they need to upgrade for the playoffs.  The staff overall will be much improved in second half when we have Tate, Givens, Hall, +trade in the mix.  I think we are in a good spot but need to continue to improve. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, emmett16 said:

I think they are fine to go through the season and make a WC.  I think they need to upgrade for the playoffs.  The staff overall will be much improved in second half when we have Tate, Givens, Hall, +trade in the mix.  I think we are in a good spot but need to continue to improve. 

I think it overly optimistic to not expect them to lose as many arms as they gain.

[Frobby]

They weren’t as bad as they performed in the first 31 games (5.65 ERA).   They aren’t as good as they’ve performed in the last 6 games (2.41 ERA).   To be clear, they haven’t been good for two consecutive turns through the rotation; they’ve been good for 6 games, including two starts from Kremer.  In the four games before that (the rest of the “two turns”), they allowed 19 earned runs in 21 innings.

Right now our starters have a 5.08 ERA on the year, 11th in the AL.  Last year they had a 4.35 ERA, 10th in the AL.  Some of the difference relates to the overall scoring environment; teams are scoring 0.44 runs/game more this year than last year.  Correcting for that, our starters have been about 0.29 runs/game worse than last year, relative to the rest of the AL.

So where do they go from here?   I do think they’re better than their performance to date has shown.  There’s still 77% of the season to play, so nothing is written in stone.   

Kremer (4.97 ERA) has looked good his last two starts and I expect him to be better.  

Rodriguez (5.08 ERA) is still learning but should improve as the year progresses.

Bradish (5.95 ERA) had his season disrupted by injury but has looked very good at times.   I expect him to improve.  

Wells (3.15 ERA) has had some endurance issues as the last two seasons have progressed and I think his ERA will go higher than it is now.  

Gibson (4.40 ERA) is just about where I’d expect him to be.  He has some history of pitching better in the first half than the second, but I think he can stick about where he is.  

Our Norfolk rotation includes decent options if any of the above get hurt or falter.  

I think a reasonable objective would be to finish the year at about a league average number.   Given where they are now, that would entail being a little better than league average over the remaining 77% of the season.  I don’t think it’s a given that they can reach that goal, but I think it’s reasonable to strive for it.  

[emmett16]

33 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I think it overly optimistic to not expect them to lose as many arms as they gain.

Yes, that’s true.  I’m assuming no significant injuries.  I think for a week or two here and there Irvin, Rom, Zimmerman can pick up some of the work load.  But a season ending injury to any of the SP would be significant.