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FanPost Friday: Name your five-man rotation

Kevin Gausman is injured, Miguel Gonzalez is uninspiring. How would you round out the Orioles Opening Day rotation?

By Stacey
Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports

The Orioles entered spring training with their five-man starting rotation presumably set at: Chris Tillman, Kevin Gausman, Yovani Gallardo, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Miguel Gonzalez. On the fringes of competition were Vance Worley, Tyler Wilson, Mike Wright, and even Odrisamer Despaigne. But for the most part, we knew who it was going to be.

As is often the case, that has all gone to hell. Kevin Gausman is struggling with a shoulder injury, and while the word is that they could backdate his DL trip to March 25th, making him eligible to come off of the DL on April 10th and make a start in the first turn of the rotation, my money is on him needing at least a little longer than that. It's more important for him to heal properly than it is for him to pitch every start this season, even if it is a total bummer.

Add to that the absolutely dismal spring that Miguel Gonzalez has had, and who knows what might come about. I'm personally of the thought of mind that Gonzalez will be in the rotation even with a poor spring performance, although after he struggled again this week Buck Showalter stated that MiGo is "not where we need him to be." That doesn't mean he won't be ready to go in the rotation, but it's hardly a vote of confidence.

So that's where this week's FanPost Friday topic comes in. I want you to name your five-man rotation to start the season. Unless there is an injury, we know that Gallardo, Tillman, and Jimenez will be in the rotation. For the purposes of this exercise we are going to assume that Gausman will miss at least one start to start the season, so you can't choose him. That leaves two rotation spots to fill how you please. Will you choose Miguel Gonzalez or send him to the minors? Will you stick with what we have so far or look outside the organization? Camden Depot just did a write up of possible lefties the Orioles could consider, if that's something that interests you.

So who do you got for the final two and why? What makes them the best choice? Head on over to the FanPosts section and start writing your masterpiece. Even if you don't want to write, please go read and if you like the story, give it a rec.

And don't forget, FanPosts are for you to write about whatever Orioles/baseball topic you want! If this suggestion doesn't appeal to you, don't let that stop you from writing about something else.

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Last week's inaugural FanPost Friday was a success! If you missed it, the topic was, "Other than the Yankees and Red Sox, which teams do you hate to lose to most?"  Ten people responded with a varying number of teams, although the leaders were (naturally) the Blue Jays, Royals, and Nationals. My personal favorite was risuena's pick of the Twins. It was unexpected but so true when she said she doesn't hate the Twins, but she hates losing to them because the Orioles should never lose to the Twins (0-7 last year).

If you didn't get a chance to read them, I recommended checking them out.

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