Rotation Update
by Stacey on Mar 22, 2009 1:05 PM EDT
in News & Rumors
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PrintI don't care about March Madness. There, I said it. So let's talk baseball.
The O's starting rotation continues to look a hot mess and it's not getting any better.
The Orioles made a formal request for Jeremy Guthrie to return to the team from the WBC so he can prepare for the season, but so far he hasn't returned. Kranitz had tentatively penciled him in to start today's game, but according to Roch the starting pitcher today is Mark Hendrickson. Jeremy has looked just awful in his two WBC appearances and though I'm not yet panicking about him, it's a bit disconcerting that the only sure thing we've got is looking less and less sure.
Speaking of Mark Hendrickson, his chances to make the rotation just increased now that Rich Hill won't be ready to start the season. According to Jeff Zriebec, Dave Trembley wants at least one lefty in the rotation. Hendrickson is the only lefty still in the running, so it appears to be his job to lose. Ugh is all I have to say to that.
Koji Uehara is still on pace to be ready for the start of the season as he continues to rehab his strained hamstring. Kranitz and Trembley hope to get him at least two starts to prepare him, but they don't seem worried.
Despite his impressive spring, Brad Bergesen was optioned to AAA. Like many of you, I think it'd be a shame for Eaton or some other garbage pitcher to get the spot instead of him, but I don't think this is a huge deal because we will see Bergesen up here sooner rather than later. Here is what Trembley had to say about him:
"We had to send him out so he can be out for 10 days so if somebody gets hurt we can get him back,'' Trembley said. "He's going to pitch for us, but it's probably not going to happen on April 6.
"He had a good spring,'' Trembley said. "He's a guy we all feel would be at the top of the list of guys who are called up here. We needed to get him out so he could get his innings. We think a log ot him. He just didn't make the club out of spring training.
"I told him it's inconceivable to think the 12 or 13 guys we break camp with are going to be here all season."
We now sit two weeks and 1 day from Opening Day and the three spots are still open in the rotation. Hendrickson seems to have a leg up based simply on being left handed, which is just ridiculous in my opinion. What does it matter if you're left handed if you aren't any good? Still in the running are Penn, Pauley, the recently effective Alfredo Simon, and of course, Adam Eaton.
Bottom line is the rotation is going to suck no matter how you slice it. But Andy, Kranitz and Trembley are going to have to start making decisions soon to make sure their rotation is prepared for Opening Day.
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I don't care who the first 5 starters are
But Hendrickson making the rotation because he’s left-handed is the epitome of stupid.
i don't want to see hendrickson..
let’s go with guthrie, uehara, penn, simon, and forfeit the 5th game.
What up?
yeah i guess that would be better than hendrickson/forfeitting.
What up?
by snakethejake on Mar 22, 2009 5:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Buy some time
let the riff raff have their April shot….send all the youngsters down and lets see who earns the first shots…there will be plenty of opportunities for the young pitchers….
its also pretty obvious our greatest concerns are materializing re the bullpen usage…they are going to be worked like rented mules and this could really hurt one of the team’s stengths for the future if a guy like Kam, Liz, Ray, Sherill breakdown from over usage in the game and in the bullpen warming up multiple times this season.
With Guts, Uehara and Hill missing what looked bad now looks hideous. Really other then signing Odalis Perez or hoping for a cut from some other team….its not going to get better. Just keep repeating the magic words slowly with deep breaths….
Tillman….Matusz….Arrieta…Bergenson….Hernandez…Erbe..Britton…
Word. I don't give a shit about March Madness, either.
Our president is left-handed. I’m pretty sure I’d rather see him up there every 5th day instead of Hendrickson.
"Believe it or not, I read the paper." - Nick Markakis
undeniable proof
Women hate March Madness.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 22, 2009 11:27 PM EDT up reply actions
I just don't give a shit about anything involving basketball. Can't speak for all of womenkind.
College, Pro, don’t care. I think it’s boring and lame.
But if Stacey and I did speak for all of womenkind, I think the world would be a better place. But sadly, that is not the case. The Woo continue to exist.
"Believe it or not, I read the paper." - Nick Markakis
my roommate (a woman)
mocked me for watching one game on TV and one game on my laptop. She couldn’t fathom how this could be a good, let alone COMPLETELY AWESOME, idea. I tried to explain it and she just dismissed it as “something only guys do.” Sigh. And yet she can watch Project Runway with impunity.
my (female) friends and I
once had a Red Sox game on the big screen TV, the O’s game on my laptop, the Giants game on another and Mets on one more. All at once. Whoever’s game was most interesting at the moment had the sound.
It was MLB NORAD. And it was awesome.
"Believe it or not, I read the paper." - Nick Markakis
I'm telling you...
you have seen anyone watch a baseball game as intensely as 2632. I’ve seen it in person. It’s almost scary how hard she concentrates. Really.
Duck Around - a progressive blog about the Eastern Shore of Maryland. And getting off my lawn.
HAVEN'T
damn I need to learn how to type.
Duck Around - a progressive blog about the Eastern Shore of Maryland. And getting off my lawn.
You should see how hard she concentrates on Natty Boh.
I will not rest until America has universal health care and Derek Jeter is seen for the overrated starfucker he truly is! ~2632
Ugh
That triggered a nasty college flashback. It’s what we drank when the Mil’s Best ran out.
You can't fix stupid. Stupid is forever.
Oh, college
My cheap shit of choice was Coors Light. Most everyone else went with Natty, and I’d break down and drink it if there was nothing else and I was already in the tank.
"The United States is the New York Yankees of countries...powerful and respected until the year 2000." - Homer J. Simpson
I alternated between Natty Boh
and whatever was the cheapest, which alternated between Natty Light and Beast Light, depending on which liquor store was ahead in the College Park Liquor Store Price Wars.
Sometimes I couldn’t stand to drink light anymore and went for the Boh. Other times I figured i’d save a couple bucks. Or other people were buying.
Yes, all perennial all star favourites for the broke college student
That is, until my 3rd year when I discovered the many fine varieties in the MD 20/20 family of fortified wines.
You can't fix stupid. Stupid is forever.
4 games at once?
Got me beat. I once watched a 1-0 game and a season finale of Doctor Who at the same time. Damn near had a heart attack.
You can't fix stupid. Stupid is forever.
see, intellectually I know there is hope
and I have male friends who don’t care about sports at all, so this isn’t really a gender issue. And you’ve definitely got me beat on number. I dunno if I’ve ever even done three different games at once.
Really it’s just that she was so shocked that I was watching two games at once when she has such TERRIBLE fucking taste in TV shows. I don’t get it. Like the best show she watches is House, and that show is the same every time.
The expectation is the starting pitching will reek, really bad. The O’s will throw any warm body out there while the young pitchers develop. Everyone knows this going into the season, but when reality hits, I wonder how long before it’s just too much to endure. We know it’s coming, how mentally prepared are you to watch yet another season of one of the worst staffs in baseball?
Whether you believe that three or more minor league arms will all more or less simultaneously develop into a strong pitching staff is another question mark, but it’s what he have to believe.
"one of the worst staffs in baseball?"
You’re quite the optimist. Who’s gonna be worse?
Duck Around - a progressive blog about the Eastern Shore of Maryland. And getting off my lawn.
I just don't want to give us the moniker...
worst team in baseball yet! I think we can win some games 7-5 or 9-7… Also, we have plenty to root for… I am tired already of the negativity…
GO O’s!
How could he be doing his job when he didn't throw me out of the game after the things I called him?
On arguing with ump Russ Goetz.
Mark Henry Belanger
by Birdland in NC on Mar 22, 2009 8:01 PM EDT up reply actions
Not the worst team...
we’ll just have the worst rotation. There is a difference. :)
Duck Around - a progressive blog about the Eastern Shore of Maryland. And getting off my lawn.
Nationals?
I will not rest until America has universal health care and Derek Jeter is seen for the overrated starfucker he truly is! ~2632
Other than Lannan, pretty much, yes.
"You have to discipline yourself so you don't come out with something just to say you made a trade. You have to make sure you come out better than you were before." - Andy MacPhail, 7/31/08
maybe...
but on balance, the nats rotation will be better. at least at the outset.
"If they pitch to you, make them pay."
--Diamond Dave to the Phenom
by j.q. higgins on Mar 23, 2009 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions
We can agree
that they will both be very bad.
by uneasy rider on Mar 23, 2009 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions
More quotes from Trembley
Afterward, manager Dave Trembley conceded that Rich Hill won’t be ready for Opening Day, but he’s not ready to name Mark Hendrickson as Hill’s replacement in the rotation.
“There’s a couple different ways we could go,” Trembley said. “Hill’s out of the mix. I’ll go back and talk to Kranny (pitching coach Rick Kranitz) and see where we’re at. We’ve still got time to get some guys ready.”
Hendrickson is the only left-hander under consideration.
“We don’t have to have a left-hander in the starting rotation,” Trembley said.
Reminded that he’d like to have one, Trembley replied, “I’d like to be 6-foot-3, too, and I’m not. You go with what you’ve got.”
I will not rest until America has universal health care and Derek Jeter is seen for the overrated starfucker he truly is! ~2632
Speaking of Mark Hendrickson, his chances to make the rotation just increased now that Rich Hill won’t be ready to start the season. According to Jeff Zriebec, Dave Trembley wants at least one lefty in the rotation. Hendrickson is the only lefty still in the running, so it appears to be his job to lose. Ugh is all I have to say to that.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
Omar DAAL!
UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!
In other news, I think it’s great that Stacey describes our pitching as a “hot mess”. That’s the exact term that I’ve been using when talking Orioles with my uncles.
"The United States is the New York Yankees of countries...powerful and respected until the year 2000." - Homer J. Simpson
It's the best term for the situation, yes?
I have, in the past, referred to myself as a hot mess. But I can say with certainty that I’ve never been as hot a mess as the Orioles rotation will be this year.
I will not rest until America has universal health care and Derek Jeter is seen for the overrated starfucker he truly is! ~2632
Amen
The thing I still can’t get over is Adam Eaton. For the past few years, Phillies fans have been decorating his name with the choicest of profanities, and now I have to deal with him being a shoo-in for our freaking rotation.
In the A.L. East.
It hurts my brain.
"The United States is the New York Yankees of countries...powerful and respected until the year 2000." - Homer J. Simpson
don't worry
He’ll get hurt by April 25
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 23, 2009 5:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah he will
If I have to hurt him myself.
I will not rest until America has universal health care and Derek Jeter is seen for the overrated starfucker he truly is! ~2632
Hendrickson
In addition to the comment by Trembley that a left-hander need not be in the rotation, it is also worth noting that Trembley is aware that Hendrickson is an extremely fast starter, but goes downhill quickly after April. If he is in the rotation, it will likely be only until Hill comes off the DL.
This is actually Weaver-esque, who talked in his book about using Pat Kelly a lot early in the season for the same reason, and then tapering off.
Eaton
I’ve been watching the Phillies the past few years, and Eaton is horrendous! There’s a reason the Phils decided to eat his huge salary (I believe it was in the range of 9 million) and give the man the boot. It will be a very long season if he’s not out of our rotation by the end of April.
It will be a very long season
even if Eaton IS out of the rotation by the end of April. It will just be a very long season. Another.
by fishoutawata on Mar 24, 2009 2:02 AM EDT up reply actions
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