Tillman/Britton or vet innings eater

[Sports Guy]

Pick your vet starter on a 1 year committment..Either a FA signing or another Millwood type trade or even Millwood himself.

Would you rather bring in one of those types of starters or would you rather give Tillman or Britton those starts for this coming season?

Notes:

1) This is obviously for that last rotation spot..Assumption being Matusz, Guthrie, BB and Arrieta are in rotation.

2) None of those 4 starters named in #1 are traded.

EDIT: Obviously the Orioles could go the route of a trade or signing a pitcher for a longer committment..This is simply a poll examining going with the youth or another Millwood type guy..If those were your 2 choices, which direction would you prefer them to go in?

[JTrea81]

Option 3: trade Tilllman and get an innings eater to replace him.

We shouldn't count on Britton to be ready in 2011 and if he is, then you can deal with that in ST as there will be pitchers that have injuries.

[clapdiddy]

If we are going to add a starting pitcher, it needs to be a #1/#2 starter type and under our control for a few years.

I don't want some guy who is going to be our #4/5 starter.

[Ooooooohhhh!!!!]

I'm leaning towards youth. With the success of the rotation at the end of the season I think Tillman can learn and gain confidence on the job. I'd like to see Britton get more time in the minors, but at some point this year he should be ready to fill in if needed.

[jerios55]

With the options you give I'd rather see the young guys. Let's fill some holes instead of constantly getting place holders. Spend the saved money from a young guy starting on a big hitter

[Sports Guy]

Option 3: trade Tilllman and get an innings eater to replace him.

We shouldn't count on Britton to be ready in 2011 and if he is, then you can deal with that in ST as there will be pitchers that have injuries.

Do you have a reading comprehension problem?

[El Gordo]

I'm all for getting a vet SP, because it gives us more flexibility in therms of trades, and gives us more depth. It could be a mid rotation guy like Padilla, or Hurang, or a #1-2 type like Shieldsor Marcum, or even Millwood if he accepts arbitration.

[VAB2110]

They'll probably need both an innings eater and Tillman and/or Britton before the year is over. Let's not kid ourselves about Matusz, Bergesen and Arrieta being established guys here. I only count one full major league season between the three of them. No truer words have ever been spoken than, 'you can never have enough pitching'.

[mweb]

I went with Tillman / Britton, but it depends on what trade options there are involving our pitching and what other moves the O's make.

[Moose Milligan]

Do you have a reading comprehension problem?

Yes, indeed.

[Moose Milligan]

I went with Tillman/Britton too. Only problem is if that backfires, they have to scramble to find a 5th starter...who'd they get to fill in? A Waters type?

IMO, 2011 is going to be about the youth again. Give that spot to someone with a ceiling.

[OsLuvrInKy]

The motto has been grow the arms, buy the bats. Our homegrown arms, IMO, are at or near fruition. Rather than see this team spend 5-10 Mil on an innings eater, spend it on a BIGGER AND BETTER BAT!!

I beleive SG posted recently about doing some AAAA signings of a couple SP's to add to our depth. IMO we are at the point to go with young-guns as see what happens. After looking at that end season run I would have not a single problem with FO if they had the following as our OD rotation

Guthrie

Matusz

Arrieta

Bergeson

Tillman/Berkin

In the off season I would have Luke and Nolan both working out at 1st base.

Put the money saved by not going after a SP and blow away Beltre (3rd base) and Dunn (DH) with the best offers. The young guns were pretty good at the end of the season. A little extra run support would just make them better.

But this is all JMO.

[jerios55]

Do you have a reading comprehension problem?

I'm sorry I don't understand the question

[e16bball]

For me, I think an ideal signing would be Javier Vazquez. None of the other pitchers have much upside, but Vazquez was a legitimate CY contender in 2009 who just collapsed (again) in NY. For reasons I mentioned in a different thread, I think there's an argument to be made that he simply can't handle the pressure of the NYY stage.

Not sure if he's a "Millwood type," but he's a veteran innings-eater who could probably come on a shorter deal. And the upside for performance (AND trade value) is higher than you generally see in such investments.

I think both Tillman and Britton have some things left to prove before they lock up a rotation spot, although admittedly Tillman probably doesn't have much that can be proven in AAA. However, Tillman has been given two shots to lock down a rotation spot on this team, and he's failed to do so (somewhat spectacularly). I don't think we should be in the business of handing roster/rotation spots to kids who simply haven't gotten the job done at the ML level to this point.

Given injuries (and/or ineffectiveness), I think both of those kids are going to get a shot this season, even with the addition of another SP. But I don't think we should simply hand them the job...if there's a good value buy on the market that would allow us to bring in a guy who has PROVEN he can get the job done, we should jump on it.

[Can_of_corn]

A team should get about 1,000 innings from its starting rotation.

Guthrie-200 (209 in 2010)

Matusz-190 (175 in 2010)

BB-190 (170 in 2010)

Which leaves about 140 innings each for Arrieta, Tillman and Britton.

Seems reasonable.