Matusz might be coming soon.

[Austin]

Nick didn't hit FA.

True, we could certainly extend any one of these guys, but probably not all of them. I trust MacPhail, I just can't believe we've had such an influx of legitimately good rookies all in one season.

[Three RBI Homer]

I'm torn as well. Part on me wants to see what he has, but the other part of me wants him to shut it down for the year to keep his innings down.

[Goop]

This could be very interesting. I'm kinda torn as well.

[sector7g]

Hey, I hope my concerns are dead wrong, and Matusz proves that he does belongs. But what happens if he comes up and gets rocked? And instead of having a confident pitcher heading into AAA ball or the ML at the start of next year, we end up with Hayden Penn or Garrett Olsen instead? Just saying....is it worth the risk just to satisfy a disgruntled fan base?

A great pitcher doesn't become Garrett Olsen if he gets hit around in his major league debut. You become Garrett Olsen if you have the stuff to succeed in the minors but it's too fringy to play in the majors. In fact, I remember us smacking Cole Hamels and Felix Hernandez around in their first year up. It didn't change them into Sidney Ponson last time I checked.

And...Hayden Penn was mainly derailed by injuries and health concerns, not an early promotion.

[JTrea81]

Six years down the road. We probably shop a couple of the lesser ones a year or two out.

We cant really let a hypothetical money crunch deter our moves today.

Bingo and the farm system should be able to produce pitchers and hitters that will replace what we currently have...

[murrayfan420]

Quite honestly I'm shocked to see how many people don't want to bring him up. People were saying when he was drafted he would be our 2nd best pitcher in the majors THEN. All he's done is reinforce that with her performance in the minors.

He has command of all 4 of his pitches, doesn't walk people, and gets deep in games. What's left for him to prove?

[Arthur_Bryant]

I'm torn as well. Part on me wants to see what he has, but the other part of me wants him to shut it down for the year to keep his innings down.

He has thrown 112 innings so far, too early to shut him down.

They will probably let him go another 30 innings; the question is where.

[scOtt]

Yeah, all that is true, but what about it being a good move for the player? I mean Matusz is the central character here. I just don't think that most fans grasp the huge disparity in the caliber of play, and the abilities of the players, between AA and the ML. While some have been able to make the leap, minor league and independent league baseball fields all over the country are littered with players who couldn't.

If the Oriole's do decide to call up Matusz, I hope it doesn't prove to be a mistake. IMHO, it's not worth the risk in a meaningless season.

I don't completely agree with this. Usually a teams most promising prospects are at AA, whille AAA is more older players. The "bench" for your ML team. Backup guys who you can call up in case of injury.

Certainly we (and others) have young STUDS at AAA, but I don't think it is such a jump from AA to the majors, at least for the best prospects (like Matusz.)

That being said, I hope it's NOT Matusz. Stick with the Wieters plan. AA this year, maybe a promotion to AAA. Then again, start next year at AAA. I don't want to see Brian called up this year only to get sent back down due to a roster crunch (I absolutely think he could pitch and thrive in the bigs but the numbers are just against him.)

[bej6789]

I'm all for calling him up, but I want him to be in a position where he can stick. I understand that he'll probably have to go down regardless, but I don't want this to be one of those Jeff Fiorentino callups where he's back down in a week and never tastes the bigs again. Matusz is clearly head and shoulders above everyone he's faced so far, so it wouldn't be bad to get him acclimated to professional hitters now and then send him to AAA to work on his stuff a bit more. Regardless, it's nice to see a pitcher force the Orioles hand here. I don't think there's any question Andy MacPhail would've loved to not have this conversation now -- which is kudos to Matusz. He pitched his tail off this year and he's forced MacPhail's hand. This isn't a numbers game to me, it's pitchers doing whatever they can to make it. It's about time.

[Enjoy Terror]

Bergesen has started 2 games at AAA in his career. He is in the MLB doing very very well, dare I say dominating. Hernandez has started 11 games in AAA in his career. He's doing very well. Who knows how well Tillman would do, but he's started 18 games at AAA and certainly wasn't spectacular in the MLB in his first go round. The other two looked a lot better.

So does Matusz need AAA? There's no correlation between MLB success and time spent in AAA, otherwise Hernandez would be better than Berken would be better than Bergy. This is not he case at all.

Matusz could sink or swim in the majors, sure... but he has the polished pitches and can throw enough strikes and not walk people to project as a MLB starter right now. Riley, Penn and Olson can't blame being brought up too fast on their troubles in the majors. Porcello is holding his own up here and barely got out of A+ ball.

[GoldGlove21]

no...no...no...no...

stick with the plan. Let Matusz see AAA.

If he comes up and proves me wrong, then I will eat crow. I just think it's essential for the pitchers to progress to every stage of the minors.

I KNOW it's apples to oranges, but I have bad memories of Penn and Cabrera.

Pitching in AAA is over rated. I could probably find as many star pitchers that hadn't pitched above AA as there are that made it to AAA. Matusz has gotten stronger and the jump from A to AA is greater than the jump from AA to AAA. Matusz is polished and it is showing. When he was drafted people like Keith Law were saying that Matusz was good enough to start in the majors now. He is 11-2 on the season with ridiculous stats. 30 less hits than IP, a WHIP around 1.00, a strikeout to walk ratio of 4:1. He is striking out more than a batter an inning and he is pitching deep into games. He has already used up a major league option because he was on the 40 man roster this year. This guy is a stud and to be honest, he MIGHT be the most talented pitcher in the minor leagues right now.

He was also 26-8 in his three seasons at San Diego, his strikout rate was 4:1 (397K:98BB). That means that Matusz has gone 37-10 over the last 4 years with 517K:129BB!!! Sounds like this kid finds a way to win everytime. The defense in the majors are much better, I think this guy is the real deal. I think he may be, one of the top 15 pitchers in the game good (2 years from now).!

[olehippi]

Pitching in AAA is over rated. I could probably find as many star pitchers that hadn't pitched above AA as there are that made it to AAA.

Go ahead and do it. You can post your findings right here.

[fansince1988]

I saw him in frederick earlier this year, and this is great news.

[Enjoy Terror]

I think if Porcello can be successful in the MLB with only 24 starts in A+, then Matusz, a polished college pitcher who is two years older could do it too.

[Crazysilver03]

So if he does get the call, what happens when Bergy comes back? Do we send Matusz back down, or do we send Berken down? I would assume Berken would get sent down. I don't want to see any of the big 3 moving back and forth, unless absolutely neccesary.

I guess we'll found out sooner than later based on whether Matusz starts tonight or not for AA.

Matusz has 3-5 starts left before he will be shut down for the season. Berken could be optioned to Norfolk for a few starts and recalled in September to replace Matusz, who could be optioned back to stop his service clock.

It is true that we are starting the service clock at the same time for almost all of our young players, but I am confident that the FO will make sure the players are taken care of or will be traded away for prospects when need be.

If we are going to compete, we need all the pieces up here sooner than later.