Its always easier in hindsight, but letting Kyle Gibson go, could end up being a glaring error.

[spiritof66]

2 hours ago, Spy Fox said:

I don’t think so. Gibson is valuable and a great innings eater. But our pitching staff is in very solid shape to get through the regular season, no matter what happens with Bradish. The question is whether they have enough elite arms to maximize their chances in the postseason, which Gibson wouldn’t really help with. 

I believe Kyle Gibson would have helped the Orioles win more games this season. For me, the key point is that he probably would not have contributed much of an upgrade, if any, to the Orioles' piching in the postseason. I thought the Orioles, without Gibson, could win 100+ games again this year, and I still think so. It didn't occur to me that at that pace they'd be trailling the NYYs (now on pace for 112 wins). 

All pitchers, including the good ones, get hurt and become unavailable during the season. You can't fully protect against those injuries by proactively stockpiling successful veterans who will maintain or come close to the quality of the injured guys (less true for the bullpen, but still true). The viable methods for replacing injured pitchers are to bring in reclamation projects and use them as needed, as the Orioles have done with Suarez, trading position-player talent for high-quality starters even though they will drive up  the payroll (which Elias is very reluctant to do), and promoting young guys who have had some success in the MiL.

When you're in a pennant race, you may develop a  need for pitching at times other than the off-season, spring training and shortly before the trade deadline. When that happens, t's hard to augment your pitching with real quality from outside sources., especially if you're maintaining a tight budget. That's a constraint that's implicit in a "Grow the bats/Buy the arms" approach: you may develop a need for a quality arm or two when many of the stores are closed or not interested in selling. Maybe not a big deal when you're trying to build a quality team -- you can wait  for a more advantageous time. But when you're trying to win a pennant, it can be a real problem. 

It certainly looks to me like the Orioles, relative to other seriously contending teams, haven't had a lot of quality, ML-ready or nearly MLB-ready pitchers in their system to draw from. If that's the case, it's likely due to, at least in part, the Orioles' decision to use thir early draft picks on position players and the fact that, so far, the spending on infrastructure and signings of international talent that followed the arrival of Elias have not brought a succession of young pitching talent to the Orioles. 

 

 

[Sports Guy]

No it wasnt and he wanted to go to St Louis anyway.

Edited Saturday at 17:53 by Sports Guy

[Philip]

2 hours ago, Spy Fox said:

I don’t think so. Gibson is valuable and a great innings eater. But our pitching staff is in very solid shape to get through the regular season, no matter what happens with Bradish. The question is whether they have enough elite arms to maximize their chances in the postseason, which Gibson wouldn’t really help with. 

I am not at all sure that is true. The domino effect is very much in play here.

All of a sudden, we have Grayson, who is fragile, Suarez, who has no track record and could turn into a pumpkin tomorrow, and Irvin who has been very good but also has a mediocre career line.

Povich is brand new and encouraging, but we got two splendid starts from Spenser Watkins and Mike Wright before they pumpkinized, so the jury has to be out on him, and he’s a flimsy foundation for now.

I have absolutely no problem with the logic of letting other teams take risks with pitching draftees, but the downside of that is a lack of meaningful depth.

So I think there is every cause to worry, but not to panic. Mike won’t panic.

The only question is whether he will acquire anybody good or resume digging through the chaff, looking for a bit of wheat.

[RZNJ]

Kyle Gibson, at age 36, currently has a 3.44 ERA.   The last time he finished a season with an ERA that low was ……………………….  NEVER.   He had a 5.05 ERA in 2022 and a 4.73 ERA in 2023.   In September when Gibson has a 4.50 ERA let’s bump this thread.

[Il BuonO]

I thought this thread was a joke, but now I get it.

[IPlayGM]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

Abuse?  He was quoted.

I'd expect them same treatment.

Oh I’m not being critical, I’m here for the entertainment.

[OnlyOneOriole]

I thought trying to resign Flaherty would have been a better choice, assuming he wanted to stay of course.  He had a better track record of being very very good compared to Gibson

Again though, I have no idea if he even would have resigned. 

[OnlyOneOriole]

I thought trying to resign Flaherty would have been a better choice, assuming he wanted to stay of course.  He had a better track record of being very very good compared to Gibson

Again though, I have no idea if he even would have resigned. 

[jabba72]

Gibson has a career 5.09 ERA in the 2nd half. And he turns 37 in October. He's due for some regression.

[frankwhite]

No need to worry about spilled milk. Roy. Unless you like being miserable. Enjoy the game, relax, go have a peppermint candy 

[Roy Firestone]

2 minutes ago, frankwhite said:

No need to worry about spilled milk. Roy. Unless you like being miserable. Enjoy the game, relax, go have a peppermint candy 

First, I'm NOT miserable. I love watching baseball. I was just wondering as a former player friend of mine wondered how it might be if we had some veteran depth for the rotation. And I know that Gibson was a popular player in the clubhouse...and he's pitching pretty well in STL.Plus, Im not a peppermint guy...Im a chocolate chip cookie guy...got any?

[OnlyOneOriole]

3 minutes ago, Roy Firestone said:

First, I'm NOT miserable. I love watching baseball. I was just wondering as a former player friend of mine wondered how it might be if we had some veteran depth for the rotation. And I know that Gibson was a popular player in the clubhouse...and he's pitching pretty well in STL.Plus, Im not a peppermint guy...Im a chocolate chip cookie guy...got any?

You know it is getting testy around here when even Roy is getting criticized haha. 

[frankwhite]

1 minute ago, Roy Firestone said:

First, I'm NOT miserable. I love watching baseball. I was just wondering as a former player friend of mine wondered how it might be if we had some veteran depth for the rotation. And I know that Gibson was a popular player in the clubhouse...and he's pitching pretty well in STL.Plus, Im not a peppermint guy...Im a chocolate chip cookie guy...got any?

Oh, this makes sense. I thought the Bradish injury and seeing Gibson had that good start prompted the thread. You should've tried talking him into staying since you thought so highly of him, as we saw from your previous posts 

[KojiSplit]

Gibson signed very early in the offseason and was never really a true option of being brought back by Elias and co.

If you want to go with someone they could have actually signed for depth then Michael Lorenzen would of made sense as a swingman as he had to wait forever to finally get a deal and it was a bargain for Texas at 4mill.

Even then, would he have been fine signing here as a non guaranteed starter; hard to say but don’t think there was any attempt on the O’s to do so.

[Roy Firestone]

On 6/15/2024 at 1:16 PM, frankwhite said:

Oh, this makes sense. I thought the Bradish injury and seeing Gibson had that good start prompted the thread. You should've tried talking him into staying since you thought so highly of him, as we saw from your previous posts 

I wasnt a fan then, but losing Bradish, Means, Wells, and having Kremer on the shelf made me consider things...AND BTW, Jim Palmer brought it up to me...not me to him...