clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Week 7 Birds Up, O's Down (13 - 20 May)

Who's hot and who's not for the Baltimore Orioles

Hardy showed some signs of life this week.
Hardy showed some signs of life this week.
Greg Fiume
Rotation
Freddy Garcia Downnew_medium Remember when it seemed great that the O's had a bunch of guys that could easily plug into the 5th starter role and give a decent outing? Those days seem part of the distant pass as Garcia is manning the 3rd spot in the rotation and getting flat-out hammered. Wednesday proved to be his worst start of the season, as he was tagged for 4 runs in less than 4 innings. Tonight, he gets the nod against C.C Sabathia. Who will own it? I can take a guess.
Jason Hammel Downnew_medium 2012 is looking more and more like a fluke as 2013 progresses. Hammel just hasn't found the same touch he had last year, notching just 3 quality starts. He was absolutely torched by the Rays on Friday night, allowing 7 ER on 10 hits in his shortest start of the season.
Jair Jurrjens Downnew_medium After some decent success in the minors this year, one would hope he could replicate it at the majors, but that just didn't happen. After two scoreless innings, Jurrjens got rocked for a bunch of extra base hits and left the game after allowing 4 ER. Considering the current health of the rotation, he'll probably get another start. Hopefully he can get deeper into the game and limit the hits. One promising stat was the SO/BB ratio, which was solid at 5:1.
Chris Tillman Upnew_medium Considering the starts from his fellow members of the rotation, Tillman was absolutely brilliant. Even if you ignore the other guys, he was still very good. His first start of the week included 7 innings of 4-hit ball (just 1 ER). His second start was not as sharp, as the Rays got him for 3 ER over 6 innings, including 2 homers. Still, for a guy who loves to walk batters, 3 walks to 11 strikeouts in 13+ innings isn't shabby at all.
Bullpen
Jake Arrieta http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/217757/dash.png DNP
Alex Burnett Downnew_medium Not much went right for him on Friday, as he allowed 3 ER in just a third of an inning. The inning included 3 hits and 2 walks, which just isn't getting it done. He's been busy riding the Chris Tillman Memorial Yo-Yo, but with outings such as this, it seems likely he won't be the next call up.
Tommy Hunter http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/217757/dash.png Considering his recent success and past performance, it was likely Hunter was going to allow something at some point. He did that on Wednesday against San Diego (Tommy Goes Boom!), but rebounded nicely against Tampa on Saturday.
Jim Johnson Downnew_medium After a streak of 35 consecutive saves, Johnson has now blown two in a row. Seven earned runs, two walks, and no strikeouts in just 1.1 innings. When that sinker doesn't sink, somebody had better alert air traffic control.
Brian Matusz Upnew_medium Just 1.2 innings pitched, but that's what you get as the lefty specialist. He's performing that role very well and did not allow a base-runner this week. So disappointing to see a first round pick limited to such a specialized role, but somebody has to do it. With the bullpen taxed by scores of poor starts, will he get another opportunity to expand his role?
T.J. McFarland http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/217757/dash.png Maybe it's his arm slot, but I'm genuinely curious as to how he continues to get guys out. It's not by the strikeout (3 in 4.1 innings) or by overpowering stuff (FA velocity averaging 87.3 MPH), but somehow, he's doing it.
Darren O'Day Downnew_medium His control issues remain disconcerting, although he's still one of the least worrisome individuals on the staff right now. ERA still below 2.00, but his FIP is cruising up towards 4.00
Troy Patton Downnew_medium It's possible he's getting overworked, as he's become rather hittable over the past few weeks. With poor performance from the rotation, he's seeing some extended outings, which might be contributing to the fact more hitters are catching up to him.
Pedro Strop http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/217757/dash.png Although he did allow a run to score this week in 2.2 innings, he's slowly moving in the right direction. Progress.
Lineup
Alexi Casilla http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/217757/dash.png It really is funny how little this guy gets to play, considering the leash afforded to he of the .100 BA, Flaherty. Instead of giving more starts to Casilla, the team options Flaherty and immediately inserts Navarro in his place. Casilla got one start and went 0-4. I know he's not going to crush the ball or anything, but does it hurt to at least try him out? He can't be much worse than Flaherty was.
Chris Davis Upnew_medium At 6-19 (.316), Davis was among the top Oriole hitters this week. He slugged his team-leading 12th homer in a losing effort on Saturday. Four of his six hits went for extra bases.
Chris Dickerson http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/217757/dash.png Seems like he might see a little more playing time with the struggles of Pearce, Reimold, and McLouth. Got two starts this week and went 2-8, including his first homer of the year.
Ryan Flaherty Downnew_medium Finally optioned to the minors after a dismal start to the season. Long, long overdue.
J.J. Hardy Upnew_medium Like Davis, Hardy also went 6-19 for the week. His week also included 2 homers, a double, and walk. Nice to see back-to-back solid weeks from the old man in the O's infield.
Adam Jones Upnew_medium Jones was among the most consistent O's at the plate this week with 3 two-hit games. He reached base in 4 of the 5 games, but crossed the plate just twice, which is a marker of how bad the bottom of the lineup has been.
Manny Machado Upnew_medium Another quality week numbers-wise from Machado, which ended at 7-23 (.304), including 5 extra-base hits. Unfortunately, four of those hits (3 XBH) came in one game. He did, however, reach base in 4 of 5 games, so we'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Nick Markakis Upnew_medium Like Hardy, Markakis showed further signs of breaking out of the early slump. Power remains a serious question, but with McLouth struggling, Markakis could get more time in the lead-off spot, which suits his skill set better than the heart of the order.
Nate McLouth Downnew_medium Although he did have two multi-hit games, McLouth hit just 4 for 18 this week, further dragging down his BA and OBP. Friday's triple was his first of the year. On the bright side, his OBP is still at .365, which, all things considered, could be worse.
Yamaico Navarro http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/217757/dash.png 3-9 in his first series with the O's. Naturally, he gets called up and immediately takes over the starting role, which he'll most likely keep regardless if he hits 3-9 for every week.
Steve Pearce Downnew_medium 1-9
Chris Snyder http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/217757/dash.png 0-3
Danny Valencia http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/217757/dash.png With the regular DH candidates struggling, Valencia got the nod from AAA to provide some spark. We'll see.
Matt Wieters Downnew_medium Last week looked like something of slump-buster. This week? Right back into the black hole. Wieters went 2-14 with a homer and 3 walks.
Disabled List
Wilson Betemit Started his rehabilitation by jogging in a pool.
Wei-Yin Chen Likely to miss another month with a strained oblique. He won't touch a baseball for at least another week. Chen's injury was a crucial one to an already struggling rotation.
Miguel Gonzalez Expected to start Tuesday against the Yankees. That's good news.
Nolan Reimold His DL stint is retroactive to May 12th, so he's out at least another week. Then again, he wasn't hitting much before the injury....
Brian Roberts Gotta wonder why he didn't have the hamstring surgery sooner. Any bets on whether or not he plays again this year?
Taylor Teagarden Expected to resume baseball activities this week. He'll most likely regain his role as the backup catcher when he does return.
Tsuyoshi Wada Pitched a rehab start this week, which didn't go all that well (but not all that bad either). Still, velocity was low....even lower than T.J. McFarland.