The Orioles are off tonight after a three-game sweep of the Angels in Anaheim. They have one more game in the month of August -- tomorrow at home against the Red Sox -- but have already clinched, with a 16-11 record, their first winning August since 1997. And not to harp on this point, but the O's are also 16-10 since Buck Showalter took over as manager on August 3.
But this post isn't about Showalter. He's obviously had some kind of effect on the team, but there's no way of knowing just exactly how much he means to the team both on and off the field. So instead, let's focus on something tangible, like how much better the starting pitching has been this month. The latest sweep of the Angels, which allowed the O's to sweep the season series (six games) from them for the first time ever, only reinforces how strong the starting pitching has been lately. On Friday, the O's won 3-1 behind eight innings and one run allowed by Brad Bergesen. In the outing, Bergesen struck out four and walked none. On Saturday, the O's turned to Kevin Millwood, who responded with a fantastic performance of eight scoreless innings. He walked only one while striking out five. And yesterday, Jeremy Guthrie capped the series with 8.1 innings of shutout ball, striking out five and walking just one. So in one three-game series, three O's starters combined for 24.1 innings and just one earned run. Simply put, that is fantastic.
But, again, the starting pitching has been outstanding all month. Out of all major league teams in the month of August (with two days to go), the O's have the fourth-best ERA (3.21) among starters. Think about that -- yes, the Orioles -- with a rotation of Guthrie, Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta, Bergesen, and Millwood, have the league's fourth-best ERA in August right now. In those 27 starts, O's starters have thrown a combined 182.1 innings, the most out of all MLB teams. Oddly enough, they've only struck out 92 batters in those innings -- second-lowest among all teams -- but have kept their walks down at the same time: 44 walks, tied for sixth fewest.
I'm not going to say the entire starting staff has turned over a new leaf. They've actually been a little lucky: O's starters have a combined .261 BABIP in August. And by not striking out a ton of batters and keeping their walks down, O's starters have been relying on the team's defense, though the O's currently have the worst UZR among all MLB teams.
Still, even if it's been a little bit of a fluke, no one can take away what the O's pitching staff has done this month. Starters are pitching later in games and throwing more innings, which not only keeps the O's in the game, but saves the bullpen from being used too much.
It's likely that Showalter has affected the team's pitching in same way -- maybe they're all trying to impress the team's new manager and show him that they deserve a spot in the rotation next season. With the exception of Millwood, the team's other four starters -- Matusz, Guthrie, Arrieta, and Bergesen -- are all showing that they can be relied on to start next season in the rotation. But who knows for sure.
August has been rather fun. Let's see what happens in September, when the O's play 17 games against the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays. Not even Showalter's magic may be enough to get the team through that difficult stretch of games.
Showing posts with label starting pitching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label starting pitching. Show all posts
Monday, August 30, 2010
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Orioles should consider bringing Mussina back
Unquestionably, the Orioles will have plenty of pitching concerns heading into the offseason.
Now, there are two ways of looking at the team's pitching dilemma. One, the O's have plenty of pitchers on the mend who should be fine heading into the 2009 season. A list of Oriole pitchers who are rehabbing or are shut down for the season includes Jeremy Guthrie (right shoulder), Matt Albers (partially torn labrum), Danys Baez (right elbow surgery), Daniel Cabrera (right elbow), Jim Hoey (right shoulder surgery), Jim Johnson (right shoulder), Troy Patton (left labrum surgery), Chris Ray (right elbow surgery), and Dennis Sarfate (right distal clavicle fracture). Hayden Penn's name can also be thrown in that list because he's almost always injured. George Sherrill recently returned from the disabled list and seems to be fine. Without a doubt, that's an impressive list, and most of them hope to be ready for the start of next season.
The Orioles, though, are never that lucky, so the second view is that the Orioles need to sign a few free agent starting pitchers. The last time the O's made a major move for free agent pitchers was in 2006 when the team signed Scott Williamson, Jamie Walker, Chad Bradford, and Baez. Needless to say, the signings didn't (and haven't: Walker -- 5.97 ERA) exactly panned out.
A list of 2009 free agent starting pitchers can be seen here (scroll down a bit). In no particular order, the top names on the list of many teams will probably be: A.J. Burnett (if he opts out), Ryan Dempster, Jon Garland, Kyle Lohse, Mike Mussina, Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez, Andy Pettitte, CC Sabathia, and Ben Sheets. Some other intriguing but aging pitchers are: Paul Byrd, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, Jamie Moyer, Kenny Rogers, and John Smoltz.
I have only heard one of the names above, Burnett, mentioned as being a possibility for the O's, and that appears to be because his wife is from the Baltimore area. Now, Burnett is having a good season (18-10, 4.19 ERA, 214 Ks, 1.35 WHIP, 206.1 innings pitched), but he's been injury prone throughout his career and would also ask for lots of money and a long-term deal. The O's would surely like to add a pitcher as talented as Sabathia or Sheets, but both will command huge contracts after this season.
That seems to leave one solution: sign one or two veteran starters to one or two year deals. Arguably, the two smartest and most dependable free agent options for the Orioles are Lowe and Mussina. Lowe's numbers this season -- 14-11, 3.40 ERA, 138 Ks, 1.14 WHIP -- have gone under the radar a bit, especially with the Dodgers where everyone has gone crazy over the presence of Manny Ramirez in that lineup. Lowe, 35, has had a pretty solid career and would certainly fill a large hole in the O's starting rotation. He is making $10 million this season, so the O's may not want to pay that much. He also probably wouldn't have the same kind of success in the AL East that he is having in the NL West, but he's better than most of the options the O's have right now.
Mussina will turn 40 in December, and he's had a solid season (18-9, 3.57 ERA, 141 Ks, 29 BB) for an underachieving Yankees team. Even if the O's signed Mussina for just one season, he'd provide a veteran presence for many of the younger pitchers and would eat a lot of innings since he avoids injuries. He also doesn't walk many hitters at all, while the O's lead both the AL and NL in walks allowed with 655 (so far). Signing Mussina would also bring him back to Baltimore where he was so dominant for 10 seasons. But two potential problems may arise if the O's are interested in Mussina: 1) He made $11 million this season, and the Orioles probably wouldn't pay that to Mussina for one or two seasons, and the Yankees or someone else might. 2) Mussina may not be interested in coming to a team coming off of a losing season; he still hasn't won a World Series yet.
In the end, the Orioles may decide to just go with their current roster and hope for the best. They will also have to figure out whether or not they want to bring back Daniel Cabrera; they probably won't if it costs more than $5 million.
But I know that I'm not the only one who doesn't want to see another makeshift rotation that includes any combination of Brian Burres, Garrett Olson, Radhames Liz, Chris Waters, and Cabrera with Guthrie.
Now, there are two ways of looking at the team's pitching dilemma. One, the O's have plenty of pitchers on the mend who should be fine heading into the 2009 season. A list of Oriole pitchers who are rehabbing or are shut down for the season includes Jeremy Guthrie (right shoulder), Matt Albers (partially torn labrum), Danys Baez (right elbow surgery), Daniel Cabrera (right elbow), Jim Hoey (right shoulder surgery), Jim Johnson (right shoulder), Troy Patton (left labrum surgery), Chris Ray (right elbow surgery), and Dennis Sarfate (right distal clavicle fracture). Hayden Penn's name can also be thrown in that list because he's almost always injured. George Sherrill recently returned from the disabled list and seems to be fine. Without a doubt, that's an impressive list, and most of them hope to be ready for the start of next season.
The Orioles, though, are never that lucky, so the second view is that the Orioles need to sign a few free agent starting pitchers. The last time the O's made a major move for free agent pitchers was in 2006 when the team signed Scott Williamson, Jamie Walker, Chad Bradford, and Baez. Needless to say, the signings didn't (and haven't: Walker -- 5.97 ERA) exactly panned out.
A list of 2009 free agent starting pitchers can be seen here (scroll down a bit). In no particular order, the top names on the list of many teams will probably be: A.J. Burnett (if he opts out), Ryan Dempster, Jon Garland, Kyle Lohse, Mike Mussina, Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez, Andy Pettitte, CC Sabathia, and Ben Sheets. Some other intriguing but aging pitchers are: Paul Byrd, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, Jamie Moyer, Kenny Rogers, and John Smoltz.
I have only heard one of the names above, Burnett, mentioned as being a possibility for the O's, and that appears to be because his wife is from the Baltimore area. Now, Burnett is having a good season (18-10, 4.19 ERA, 214 Ks, 1.35 WHIP, 206.1 innings pitched), but he's been injury prone throughout his career and would also ask for lots of money and a long-term deal. The O's would surely like to add a pitcher as talented as Sabathia or Sheets, but both will command huge contracts after this season.
That seems to leave one solution: sign one or two veteran starters to one or two year deals. Arguably, the two smartest and most dependable free agent options for the Orioles are Lowe and Mussina. Lowe's numbers this season -- 14-11, 3.40 ERA, 138 Ks, 1.14 WHIP -- have gone under the radar a bit, especially with the Dodgers where everyone has gone crazy over the presence of Manny Ramirez in that lineup. Lowe, 35, has had a pretty solid career and would certainly fill a large hole in the O's starting rotation. He is making $10 million this season, so the O's may not want to pay that much. He also probably wouldn't have the same kind of success in the AL East that he is having in the NL West, but he's better than most of the options the O's have right now.
Mussina will turn 40 in December, and he's had a solid season (18-9, 3.57 ERA, 141 Ks, 29 BB) for an underachieving Yankees team. Even if the O's signed Mussina for just one season, he'd provide a veteran presence for many of the younger pitchers and would eat a lot of innings since he avoids injuries. He also doesn't walk many hitters at all, while the O's lead both the AL and NL in walks allowed with 655 (so far). Signing Mussina would also bring him back to Baltimore where he was so dominant for 10 seasons. But two potential problems may arise if the O's are interested in Mussina: 1) He made $11 million this season, and the Orioles probably wouldn't pay that to Mussina for one or two seasons, and the Yankees or someone else might. 2) Mussina may not be interested in coming to a team coming off of a losing season; he still hasn't won a World Series yet.
In the end, the Orioles may decide to just go with their current roster and hope for the best. They will also have to figure out whether or not they want to bring back Daniel Cabrera; they probably won't if it costs more than $5 million.
But I know that I'm not the only one who doesn't want to see another makeshift rotation that includes any combination of Brian Burres, Garrett Olson, Radhames Liz, Chris Waters, and Cabrera with Guthrie.
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