The Great Tillman Debate

[backwardsk]

Tillman speaks:

http://masnsports.com/2010/03/tillman-talks-about-his-demoti.html

[RVAbird]

Tillman speaks:

http://masnsports.com/2010/03/tillman-talks-about-his-demoti.html

Good for Tillman. He handled it with class. We've got a good group of guys battling for precious spots on the roster. That's a good thing to me.

[stef]

As a proud father it's been announced that David will be the 5th starter in this year rotation. He will do us all proud!!!

Congratulations!

[Sports Guy]

Well, your boy apparently worked hard on what they told him to do, and he arranged to get himself not just on the ML roster, but in the starting rotation when others were betting against him. I'm sure any father would be proud to see his kid in the bigs, but I bet it's especially gratifying to see it happen because you know your kid *made* it happen. Nobody handed it to him, the bets were against him, but he made it happen anyway. Good for him. That's the kind of attitude and ethic we want. I love it when young players prove people wrong. I hope he keeps on doing just that.

One of the things that I thought was very refreshing to hear was a player essentially admitting that he couldn't make it if he kept doing the things he did and then go out and maybe fix things...especially with the new pitch.

Now, will the command and everything be back and will that allow him to be a starter? Who knows at this point...But you have to appreciate that he recognized the issue and instead of being stubborn, went out and tried to fix it.

[Sports Guy]

Tillman speaks:

http://masnsports.com/2010/03/tillman-talks-about-his-demoti.html

Great to hear...I expected this to be his reaction but you never know with a young kid...Will he sulk? Will he allow it to bother him?

Tillman never gave me any impression that he would be that guy and I am glad to see this reaction from him.

[Tony-OH]

Great to hear...I expected this to be his reaction but you never know with a young kid...Will he sulk? Will he allow it to bother him?

Tillman never gave me any impression that he would be that guy and I am glad to see this reaction from him.

So, are you ready to admit that the Orioles may not have made a "terrible decision?"

I think this shows the Orioles are rewarding pitchers who work on their short comings and show up in camp and prove they've taken steps to shore those up.

Whether David can continue to do this remains to be seen, but it's nice to see a young man work hard and be given that opportunity.

At the same time, I think Tillman pitched his way off the team with the walks. Had Tillman pitched better, he'd still be on the team but the Orioles have drawn a line in the sand that with the demotions of Tillman and Mickolio, and that's "throw strikes or come back when you can."

[AgentOrange]

So, are you ready to admit that the Orioles may not have made a "terrible decision?"

I think this shows the Orioles are rewarding pitchers who work on their short comings and show up in camp and prove they've taken steps to shore those up.

Whether David can continue to do this remains to be seen, but it's nice to see a young man work hard and be given that opportunity.

At the same time, I think Tillman pitched his way off the team with the walks. Had Tillman pitched better, he'd still be on the team but the Orioles have drawn a line in the sand that with the demotions of Tillman and Mickolio, and that's "throw strikes or come back when you can."

This has to be the best thing I have read in a while. For a period of time, we could never throw strikes. Now we can send guys down who don't.

[jerios55]

So, are you ready to admit that the Orioles may not have made a "terrible decision?"

I think this shows the Orioles are rewarding pitchers who work on their short comings and show up in camp and prove they've taken steps to shore those up.

Whether David can continue to do this remains to be seen, but it's nice to see a young man work hard and be given that opportunity.

At the same time, I think Tillman pitched his way off the team with the walks. Had Tillman pitched better, he'd still be on the team but the Orioles have drawn a line in the sand that with the demotions of Tillman and Mickolio, and that's "throw strikes or come back when you can."

It does put a smile on my face that the guy that got sent down still pitched to the tune of 3.86 ERA. The walks did and will continue to hurt him, but hopefully that will get fixed in AAA.

[TyCobb]

So, are you ready to admit that the Orioles may not have made a "terrible decision?"

I think this shows the Orioles are rewarding pitchers who work on their short comings and show up in camp and prove they've taken steps to shore those up.

Whether David can continue to do this remains to be seen, but it's nice to see a young man work hard and be given that opportunity.

At the same time, I think Tillman pitched his way off the team with the walks. Had Tillman pitched better, he'd still be on the team but the Orioles have drawn a line in the sand that with the demotions of Tillman and Mickolio, and that's "throw strikes or come back when you can."

I wish they tell that to Guts. Walks weren't a problem to Tillman last year in his first call up, but I guess these 20 ip are more important than all of last year.

[Sports Guy]

So, are you ready to admit that the Orioles may not have made a "terrible decision?"

No, i still think they did. I am just glad Tillman is saying the right things and I am glad DH has stepped up and taken it. But I still think the idea of, IMO, not looking long term and the idea of putting way too much weight in ST performance make this a bad move.

[Stotle]

So, are you ready to admit that the Orioles may not have made a "terrible decision?"

I think this shows the Orioles are rewarding pitchers who work on their short comings and show up in camp and prove they've taken steps to shore those up.

Whether David can continue to do this remains to be seen, but it's nice to see a young man work hard and be given that opportunity.

At the same time, I think Tillman pitched his way off the team with the walks. Had Tillman pitched better, he'd still be on the team but the Orioles have drawn a line in the sand that with the demotions of Tillman and Mickolio, and that's "throw strikes or come back when you can."

First, to be clear, I don't feel strongly about this because I haven't seen Tillman throw this spring and am not sure what the walks/command issues are attributable to.

That said, I agree with the decision more because I think you need to give Hernandez a legit look if he's put himself in a place where it's possible he can be a piece of the rotation moving forward. There is a good chance that Tillman will simply never be a command guy, and if that's the case AAA time isn't necessarily going to be particularly beneficial to him. If there is something in his mechanics and approach (mental and otherwise) that can help him sort some of this out, that's great. But if he is someone whose natural mechanics/arm action are going to make good command an issue, he needs to learn how to pitch within his capabilities at the ML level, which is absolutely possible. Tim Lincecum and Edwin Jackson, to varying degrees of success, do just that.

[NewMarketSean]

No, i still think they did. I am just glad Tillman is saying the right things and I am glad DH has stepped up and taken it. But I still think the idea of, IMO, not looking long term and the idea of putting way too much weight in ST performance make this a bad move.

Well they looked at the long term with Guthrie, who has pitched his way off the team this spring. But when Tillman and Hernandez have done about the same at the MLB level, and then one out pitches the other in ST, it's not a "terrible move" to send the one with the better MiL track record back down to AAA. It may not work out...and it might work out.

We'll just have to wait and see.

[Babypowder]

So, are you ready to admit that the Orioles may not have made a "terrible decision?"

I think this shows the Orioles are rewarding pitchers who work on their short comings and show up in camp and prove they've taken steps to shore those up.

Whether David can continue to do this remains to be seen, but it's nice to see a young man work hard and be given that opportunity.

At the same time, I think Tillman pitched his way off the team with the walks. Had Tillman pitched better, he'd still be on the team but the Orioles have drawn a line in the sand that with the demotions of Tillman and Mickolio, and that's "throw strikes or come back when you can."

Unless your name is Jeremy Guthrie...

[El Gordo]

This has to be the best thing I have read in a while. For a period of time, we could never throw strikes. Now we can send guys down who don't.

I wish they would add to that,"get on base or come back when you can!":mwahaha:

[Mackus]

Unless your name is Jeremy Guthrie...

Guthrie's got a proven track record of good command. Tillman and Mickolio, even in the minors, do not.

Guthrie won't have a super long leash if he struggles, but there is no credible argument that can be made for him not starting the year in the rotation.