We keep on talking about Matusz, Tillman and Arrieta...

[ChaosLex]

... just out of curiosity, who's your dark horse pick to be a top of the rotation starter for this team in the near future?

Despite his horrible, horrible injury, I have to go with Spoone. As Tony has mentioned on many occasions, when healthy, Spoone has the best "stuff" of anyone in our system.

Who would you all pick? Do you go the safe route and choose Britton or Erbe, or is there another dark horse candidate that you're keeping your eye on?

[Mackus]

Spoone's career is over from any sort of planning or projection standpoint. Anything we get out of him is straight bonus. He's got as good of a chance of bouncing back from that injury as anybody else ever has had, he's got a great work ethic and I have no doubts that if he physically can do it he will, but it is a devastating injury.

My favorite secondary SP prospect is Erbe, although he is still pretty far away. In terms of closer guys, Berken is a guy that I think could really step forward this year and pass guys like Hernandez and Bergesen on the way to the majors.

[Ruzious]

We do have a pitcher who at 22 last season was 1-1, 2.08 ERA in Frederick and 15-6, 3.22 ERA in Bowie - with a 1.15 WHIP. But everyone focuses on his low SO numbers when Brad Bergesen's name comes up. I think young guys with limitations that produce are more likely to adapt their game to succeed later on - especially if all they really need to do is add another pitch to their repertoir - John Maine. Bergesen needs to add a pitch to get lefties out, and I won't bet against him.

[Frobby]

Even if Spoone had never been hurt, I'd be concerned about his BB rates (career 4.9 BB/9). I like Erbe's chances better even though he is more of a fly ball pitcher.

[Fairfax Bird]

I have no idea why but I think Albers will go into the season healthy and win 10-13 games.

[JTrea81]

... just out of curiosity, who's your dark horse pick to be a top of the rotation starter for this team in the near future?

Despite his horrible, horrible injury, I have to go with Spoone. As Tony has mentioned on many occasions, when healthy, Spoone has the best "stuff" of anyone in our system.

Who would you all pick? Do you go the safe route and choose Britton or Erbe, or is there another dark horse candidate that you're keeping your eye on?

Bobby Bundy is also worth watching...

[Fairfax Bird]

Bobby Bundy is also worth watching...

In the near future? He is many years away.

[DocJJ]

David Hernandez. He's got GREAT stuff. A touch more control and a bit more refinement on his third pitch and Voila! A bonafide starting pitcher!

I loved watching Spoone pitch, but that injury nearly always signals the end of the line....

[Elon Os Fan]

I would have to say Albers or Hernandez.

[LookinUp]

I say NOT Albers. I think he's way over rated. Good pen arm, but not much more, IMHO.

[TJ Wrangler]

Despite his horrible, horrible injury, I have to go with Spoone. As Tony has mentioned on many occasions, when healthy, Spoone has the best "stuff" of anyone in our system.

I think Spoone's mechanics are poor and the reason why he tore his labrum. If he can even come back from it, I'd like to see some changes before I expect anything more than a reliever out of him.

Spoone's career is over from any sort of planning or projection standpoint. Anything we get out of him is straight bonus. He's got as good of a chance of bouncing back from that injury as anybody else ever has had, he's got a great work ethic and I have no doubts that if he physically can do it he will, but it is a devastating injury.

I actually pitched with Spoone about 2 years ago. I'm not going to lie, he was cool as @#$% and really cared about pitching. He was pretty immature though. I'm not sure if he's changed since then, but he came off as very wild based off of what he told me. I wonder if his being wild could have resulted in a lack of conditioning.

Other than that, I agree that anything we get out of him is a bonus from this point on.

[TJ Wrangler]

I say NOT Albers. I think he's way over rated. Good pen arm, but not much more, IMHO.

Especially after his injury. I haven't really looked at him mechanically, but I could only imagine him pitching in relief would help out. He was a great reliever, so I'd like to see him stick there. Had he not been hurt, I would have been all for a look in the rotation, but ultimately, I prefer him in relief.

[LookinUp]

David Hernandez. He's got GREAT stuff. A touch more control and a bit more refinement on his third pitch and Voila! A bonafide starting pitcher!

I loved watching Spoone pitch, but that injury nearly always signals the end of the line....

David Hernandez...the forgotten prospect man.

It's funny how everyone talks about the big three, then Bergesen, Erbe and Britton.

[Moose Milligan]

David Hernandez...the forgotten prospect man.

It's funny how everyone talks about the big three, then Bergesen, Erbe and Britton.

I think if Hernandez was picked somewhere higher than the 16th round, he'd be more hyped.

We always love to talk about lower round draft steals, yet people continually put him down and just say he's bullpen fodder.

If he were a 1-5th round pick and put those numbers up at Bowie last year, people would be talking about our Big 4 instead of our Big 3.

[LookinUp]

Especially after his injury. I haven't really looked at him mechanically, but I could only imagine him pitching in relief would help out. He was a great reliever, so I'd like to see him stick there. Had he not been hurt, I would have been all for a look in the rotation, but ultimately, I prefer him in relief.

Even before his injury, I saw him as a 2-pitch pitcher who's fastball had a lot of movement, but was somewhat predictable and who's slider was just ok. I think he'd get exposed if he pitched too many innings.