Rotation Issues Already Forming in Baltimore

It has been a great start for the Birds, winning their first three series, considering the bullpen and rotation issues. However, the Orioles were hoping the "stopgap rotation" would hold a little longer than this, but the injury to Alfredo Simon has already forced the O's to dip into the Tides for some help. While Simon has not yet gone to the DL, recent moves make it seem that he'll be out a little while.

According to the Baltimore Sun and MASN, the Orioles have bringing up Matt Albers and Radhames Liz after Melvin Mora was sent to the DL and Simon will have his shoulder checked. It would not be surprising if Brad Bergeson was brought up as well from the Tides. Bergeson has done a great job in his first two contests in Norfolk, striking out nine and just allowing three earned in 11 innings, but these are his only two starts in triple-A play, and there is no telling if he'll be ready to come up to Baltimore.

We all expected the Orioles rotation to be an issue this season. Jeremy Guthrie and Koji Uehara were seen as the only reliable starters, so the rest of the rotation was up for grabs, which was won by Simon and Mark Hendrickson with Adam Eaton filling the last spot when needed. The Orioles, though feeling it would eventually happen, were hoping to avoid using Norfolk players to fill gaps already. The bullpen has been very scary to the O's, but they have at least been able to hold large leads. The starters have done a good job for now, especially Guthrie.

The overall key to all of this is to protect the potential stars of the rotation. Under no circumstances can the Orioles bring up Chris Tillman because they need to wait until he is ready, and since he is not on the 40-man roster this probably will not be an issue. Players like Bergeson, Liz, Chris Waters, and David Hernandez could be called up sometime this season as stopgaps. This is just the beginning of the season and the Orioles can't risk their big players just because of a nice start. First they need to ready their big pitchers and Matt Wieters. They'll compete as best they can, but don't get too excited about the start. The might of this rotation is about to be tested. But for now and for all the issues, the O's have won their first three series.

(Photo credit: AP)

Looking Back: 2008 Orioles Trades

The Orioles went absent from this year's trade deadline, which isn't entirely surprising. Earlier, George Sherrill seemed to peak some team's interest, but MacPhail's wanting a future shortstop halted most talks. Perhaps the struggle to sign 2008 5th round pick Gregory Miclat had something to do with that (he is finalizing a deal soon, Windsor I expect a Prospect Report on him before the year ends!). But, let's take a stroll down memory lane and take a look at the Orioles trades this year and see how they worked out.
(Note: all pictures show players from their former teams)

December 11th, 2007: Orioles trade shortstop Miguel Tejada (left) to the Houston Astros for outfielder Luke Scott (middle), pitcher Dennis Sarfate (right), pitcher Matt Albers, pitcher Troy Patton, and third baseman Mike Costanzo.

The reasons: All right, I'm cheating by a month, but it mainly affected 2008. Tejada supposedly wanted out of Baltimore and his value had gone way down since two years before. Two days before he'd be named in the Mitchell Report, Tejada was traded to the Houston Astros for five players. The Orioles big land was Troy Patton, a possible future star pitcher.

Results: Often trades don't work out for both teams, but this trade seemed to. Though Patton got hurt before serious work, the Birds found usefulness in three other players. Scott has been a fan favorite as the primary left fielder, Sarfate has been a solid reliever in the new bullpen, and Albers was a solid long reliever before his season-ending injury. Despite controversies with his age and steroids, Tejada became an All-Star shortstop for the Astros. Everybody wins on this deal.


January 2, 2008: Orioles give cash to Philadelphia Phillies for centerfielder Chris Roberson.

The reasons: Don't worry if you never heard about this, Roberson was on the Phillies Triple-A club. The Orioles were trying to rebuild their farm system before the season's start, and Roberson's decent play when up in the majors briefly must have enticed MacPhail. The Phillies got cash for Roberson.

Results: Baltimore getting Adam Jones the next month would nullify the need for a future centerfielder. Though he has had decent success with the Norfolk Tides, 28-year-old Roberson isn't expected to be a big part of the Orioles future.















February 8th, 2008: Orioles trade ace Erik Bedard (left) to Seattle Mariners for outfielder Adam Jones (center), and pitchers George Sherrill (right), Chris Tillman, Tony Butler, and Kam Mickolio.

The reasons: The Orioles, still trying to rebuild the farm system with solid future prospects, were trying to deal Erik Bedard, a low paid lefty ace that wasn't happy in Baltimore. They found a suitor in the Mariners, who were looking for a top ace for a possible race in the AL West. Seattle traded their best prospect, Adam Jones, along with four other pitchers to the Orioles. Both sides seemed happy, Seattle got their ace and the Orioles got solid future players.

Results: Jones immediately began as the Orioles centerfielder, steadily improving during the year and is a big part of their future. Sherrill took the role as closer, making to the All-Star Game and as of today saving 30 games, not to mention a fan favorite with the duckbill cap. Mickolio and Tillman have shown decent progress in the minors. As for Bedard? The Orioles seemed to have a crystal ball on this one. Though Bedard is 6-4 in 15 starts, he's constantly been on the injured list and seems to be just as unfriendly in Seattle as he was in Baltimore. Big, big, big win for the Orioles. The Mariners might still get the ace in Bedard, but it looked like they blew it on this one.

July 19th, 2008: Orioles trade infielder Mike McCoy to Colorado Rockies for infielder Juan Castro.

The reasons: With the injury of Alex Cintron and the struggles of Freddie Bynum and Luis Hernandez, the Orioles were looking for a new shortstop. Knowing they weren't going to get a star in trades, MacPhail elected for the temporary fix, trading Mike McCoy for the veteran Juan Castro.

Results: Though not showing much with the bat, 36-year-old Castro is helping out with the glove, giving strong defensive help at short, which would send Bynum out of the majors. McCoy is doing well in the Rockies farm system in his short time with the Triple-A Sky Sox (I just wanted to say Sky Sox on this blog). Neither is expected to be a huge deal, but time will tell for 27-year-old McCoy.

Overall, McPhail has done a very good job so far on trades with the Orioles. These trades have landed key pieces to the Orioles system without giving up too much. But, as we always have mentioned around here, more work needs to be done before the Orioles can be back to glory days.

(Photo credits: Minorleaguebaseball.com (Jones), MLB (Bedard, Sherill, Scott, Sarfate, Castro), ESPN (Tejada), Sportsline.ca (Roberson)

Filling the Void

The loss of Matt Albers has left a void in the O's bullpen that's becoming more and more evident. With the young birds' rotation is still trying to find it's way, there needs to be an arm (or arms) capable of shutting down the sixth and/or seventh innings in order to get to JJ and The Sherriff at the back end. So with the recent shuffling of the bullpen, let's whittle down the candidates for his replacement. This is excluding the back end (JJ, Sherrill), pitchers in rehab or DL (Randor Bierd, Jamie Walker), and Ryan Bukvich (if he hasn't been DFA'd by the time this post is made).

-Dennis Sarfate - Next to Loewen and Jim Johnson, Sarfate has the best natural arm in this pen. Sarfate hits 95-98 mph with relative ease with his fastball and has an excellent hard slider. However, Sarfate has a history of wildness (34 walks in 37.2 ip) and thus can be susceptible to the big inning.
-Fernando Cabrera - We haven't seen much of Fernando, and there is most likely a reason. Certainly Trembley will look to give him more opportunities, as both of his appearances have been scoreless this season. However, his reputation of wildness preceeds him and its unlikely that he'll settle into the lockdown middle relief this team is seeking.
-Chad Bradford - Safest guy to lock down the seventh. Balls aren't going to leave the yard with Bradford, and he's not going to get psyched out like some of the younger pitchers. Bradford is a stabilizer, which is exactly what you want. However, he's too valuable situationally to have him etched in to a specific inning. Far better to save the submariner for when you need him -- be it in the sixth, seventh, or eighth.
-Adam Loewen - Certainly has all the tools, the competitiveness, and the ability to go multiple innings without tiring. However, Loewen has had a roller coaster season from injury to poor performance. He has the gifts and the competitiveness, but he's not eased in enough to be relied on here and now.
-Lance Cormier - Probably the most deserving pitcher to get the Albers role. Like Albers Cormier is a former starter who has found exponentially more success coming out of the pen. In his past nine appearances he has pitched 15.2 innings and only allowed 3 earned runs, two of which coming at Wrigley when he was thrust into replacing Albers in the first inning. Of those nine appearances, six were of at least two innings.

Right now smart money is on Lance Cormier, who's been one of the many pleasant suprises this year for the Orioles. And get well soon, Matt.