From Jon Heyman: “But ultimately the Orioles, whose rotation ERA of 4.70 is better than only seven teams (and not one with a winning record), will be seeking a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher to join a long but mostly unproven collection of starting hopefuls — no easy task since they are telling teams that top Orioles pitching prospects Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy are absolutely and understandably untouchable.”
Will Buck Have The Staff To Make It To October?
I must be doing something right, since I just wrote about this yesterday. Dan Duquette is no idiot. He realizes that the pitching staff as it stands right now, is not winning a playoff series. Hell, even when everyone is healthy they may not win a game.
Heyman goes on to say: ”Among the most talented pitchers who are free-agents-to-be, the Orioles are said to have little if any interest in Matt Garza, who’s still working his way back from injury. There are several mid-rotation types (i.e. Ricky Nolasco, Edinson Volquez, Jason Vargas) who could possibly work for them, but before they’d rush into any second-tier choices, they might look at their in-house candidates.”
Ok, stop it right there. In-houe candidates? Who? He writes about Tsuyoshi Wada as an option….crickets. Guy has pitched one game in the states, at the AAA level and has been injured ever since. Oh yeah, and he’s 32 years old. Other than the young guys like Arrieta, Matusz and Britton, the Orioles are going to have to wait around for Miguel Gonzales and Wei Yin Chen to get healthy. Read that whole paragraph again. Those guys aren’t winning the pennant.
Could Cliff Lee Come To Baltimore?
The other issue is they don’t have any prospects to deal. Bundy and Gausman aren’t being dealt and their depth in the minor leagues fall way off after that. What they’ll have to do is eat a lot of salary or get creative and part with one of the MLB players. That’s why it’s imperative that teams like the Phillies, White Sox, Mariners, Cubs and Dodgers continue to lose. At some point they’ll be looking to sell veteran pieces for prospects. Here’s a list of guys that could work:
Cliff Lee
Jake Peavy
Joe Saunders (he’s been there before)
Matt Garza (I think they’re scared of his injury history)
Josh Beckett (ehhh) and others.
The Orioles need to act soon. This staff is not going to be able to hold it together in my opinion. Their defense is solid and they can score runs but they’ll need their bullpen in September and October and they are burning through it now. Whether or not they’ll be able to meet the trade demands of the other teams remains to be seen, but they’ll need to add some strenght to the staff if they want back to back playoff seasons.