Tillman should have never been brought up

[Sports Guy]

And Penn was an excellent prospect.

Who became nothing.

That is the concern MM has for Tillman.

Their careers are eerily similar early on.

But I have higher hopes for Tillman because of his health and poise. But still, its not encouraging right now.

[SrMeowMeow]

Who became nothing.

That is the concern MM has for Tillman.

Their careers are eerily similar early on.

But I have higher hopes for Tillman because of his health and poise. But still, its not encouraging right now.

So, what, dominating AA and AAA at young ages is now a cause for concern? You are smart enough to not think this way.

[Sports Guy]

So, what, dominating AA and AAA at young ages is now a cause for concern? You are smart enough to not think this way.

Of course its a great thing...But what he dominated with in the minors isn't going to work in the majors.

So, he has to improve his entire game.

Look at Arrieta...Arrieta came up here and looked way better than Tillman has looked in any of his starts. His stuff is electric. That's the type of stuff that carries over to the majors.

[slappy12]

It makes alot of sense now putting Hernandez in the bullpen when he was dong better that all but Matuzs and Guthrie. Millwood and the rest just terrible!!! With the exception of Arrieta.

[Sports Guy]

It makes alot of sense now putting Hernandez in the bullpen when he was dong better that all but Matuzs and Guthrie. Millwood and the rest just terrible!!! With the exception of Arrieta.

It makes sense because DH is a BP pitcher long term.

[RShack]

It makes alot of sense now putting Hernandez in the bullpen when he was dong better that all but Matuzs and Guthrie. Millwood and the rest just terrible!!! With the exception of Arrieta.

They're putting together the pitching staff that we're gonna have... and that means DH in the BP, where he's doing fine by the way...

[carolinaoriole]

I know I've had my irrational moments on here, and this will probably come across as one of them...

...but I don't see it with Chris Tillman. I know, I know, I know...he's young, he's had 17 or 18 big league starts, he projects very well, whatever. I know, I've heard it.

But jeez, he can barely get his fastball above 90 mph and his stuff always seems up in the zone. His breaking stuff looks pretty good but if he can't command the fastball what good is it? It seems like he's always getting hit hard.

I'm not saying send him down, I'm not saying trade him, I'm not saying any of those things, so please don't get it twisted.

I'm just saying, I don't see it with him.

I agree with you.

He is just not ready to be a major league pitcher right now.

I think he does need to go down to Norfolk.

He needs to stop believing that he can throw that mediocre fastball of his up in the zone like he did tonight.

He is just throwing.

He needs to learn to pitch and he can not learn that in the Major leagues.

[sfosfan]

Um...ok...

:beerchug1:

Sure, send Tillman down. I can't wait to see the next guy. And then the next guy, and so on, and so on.

If you absolutely HAVE to do something, how about Tillman and Berken switch places? Sending Tillman down means somebody has to come up. How about Castillo? I bet he hasn't even unpacked yet.

Go O's!

sfosfan

[epic]

In four starts, two he has go 2 innings or less. If that does not scream demotion, what possibly could? Meanwhile, Berken and Albers come in and start putting up zeros. Ugh

So upon a 22 year old pitcher being brought up, if he doesn't immediately put up good stats he should be demoted? Right...

I really don't get Tillman's velocity though. The first start against the Jays it was pretty good. Even tonight I saw him throwing 91 a number of times and reaching 93 a few times too. He sometimes he dipped as low as 88 which is confusing. I'm not sure if it was a 2-seamer or if he was just trying to get one over. His main problem is the fastball location though moreso than the velocity.

The changeups not a bad pitch for him. It's a lot better than it was last year.

[sfosfan]

So upon a 22 year old pitcher being brought up, if he doesn't immediately put up good stats he should be demoted? Right...

I really don't get Tillman's velocity though. The first start against the Jays it was pretty good. Even tonight I saw him throwing 91 a number of times and reaching 93 a few times too. He sometimes he dipped as low as 88 which is confusing. I'm not sure if it was a 2-seamer or if he was just trying to get one over. His main problem is the fastball location though moreso than the velocity.

The changeups not a bad pitch for him. It's a lot better than it was last year.

I didn't watch much, and I only saw Chris throw one changeup. But it was a great pitch - hit 78 on the fast gun. If Chris always throws his changeup under 80, then why the heck doesn't he throw it more? Nobody is swinging at his curveball, so guess what that means? Sitting on the fastball! Anybody who says Tillman needs to develop his changeup is nuts - he's already got a good one. Chris just needs to learn how to trust it more. I hope he learns to do that soon.

Go O's!

sfosfan

[skanar]

A comparison to Phil Hughes may be called for here. Both were highly touted young right handers with good fastballs (Hughes' has a few extra MPH), good curves (Tillman's was better through the low minors, though Hughes' got a lot better), and average changeups. Both were reported to have good control.

At 20, Hughes was excellent in AA; at 21, excellent in limited time in AAA and decent in the majors; at 22, hampered by injuries, terrible in the majors and almost as bad in AAA; at 23, dominant in AAA and good in the majors; this year at 24, he's a very good young pitcher in the American League.

At 20, Tillman was excellent in AA; at 21, excellent in AAA and mediocre in the majors; this year at 22, good at AAA and terrible in the majors.

So Hughes and Tillman (and Hayden Penn for that matter, to give a comp going the other way) dominated AAA at 21, then took a step back. The lesson here is that it is WAY too soon to give up on or write off Chris Tillman. Perhaps he needs to spend this season at AAA. Perhaps he needs to spend time in the bullpen where he can work on getting major league hitters out with less pressure. Perhaps he needs to stay in the rotation so he can sink or swim. I don't really know.

Look, this season is a disaster, and when things are going badly people have a tendency to exaggerate the importance and meaning of mildly bad news. Tillman's had a couple of REALLY bad starts. He's gotten bad results and looked terrible. That's not good, of course, but it does not mean that he's a busted prospect. The Yankees (reportedly) had a chance to trade Phil Hughes and change for Johan Santana. Think they regret not making that trade?

[EL_Coyote]

Like it or not Tillman had time in AAA and did well for himself. It wasn't like he was promoted before he was ready. At some point you have to say, "This is your role, you make the best of it." Why send him back down again?

Are we going to promote Britton and risk exposing him? Why would you want that? He hasn't had any time at AAA. It just isn't fair to Britton. Are we going to install ((Shudder)) Patton or George in his place? Before you know it 2010 is a carbon copy of 2009 in every way just with an even worse schedule.

We've a right to be completely disappointed. All we've read, seen and been told is grow the arms and buy the bats. Well sadly some of the arms aren't panning out. Maybe Tillman never lives up to his potential as a #2 starter... Maybe it takes 6 or 7 years for that to happen. At some point a player has to learn.

Everyone in town was ready to deal Guthrie after last year's performance. Fortunately he's been much better. Maybe Chis Tillman needs to learn things the hard way and we as fans have to accept we've just another player with more blemishes than we would prefer.

[slappy12]

They're putting together the pitching staff that we're gonna have... and that means DH in the BP, where he's doing fine by the way...

What are they going to do in the mean time. They are always down a ton of runs. Right now they have him guarding the bullpen while someone is warming up then putting him in with the bases loaded and down a ton of runs. Meanwhile Tillman, Millwood struggle.

[Mr. Solo Dolo]

His straight as an arrow fastball is going to prevent him from doing any good things at this level.

Are scouts braindead? How did we not hear about this issue until we saw it in Baltimore?

[murrayfan420]

Jtrea might not have been as crazy as ppl thought, we should have traded him when his value was at its highest.