37 replies to this topic

[Old Man]

I am going to stop posting on the way the Orioles are doing business, but did want to point out it is closer to 10 M the Orioles are paying to not have Cobb pitching.  I feel like we are at the ceiling on what the owners want to pay, so Elias is trying to find $$$.

If this proves to be the case, and then I am done. I want to see competitive baseball, and to me it looks like the rebuild is more of a stall, to have a cheap payroll, to maximize profits.

[BSLMikeLowe]

That was the connection I made too.

 

It also got me to thinking when was the last time a Cy Young award winner pitched for the Orioles?  I think it might have been Pat Hentgen, but too lazy to check 

 

I think you may be right. Good job....I would have gone with Doug Drabek.

[Mike B]

I think you may be right. Good job....I would have gone with Doug Drabek.

I checked today.  It was Hentgen.

Almost 20 years since a CY Young Award winner, threw a pitch for the Orioles.

[Nigel Tufnel]

There's also Arrieta, although he hadn't won the award yet when he was an Oriole.

[Mike B]

There's also Arrieta, although he of course pitched for the O's before winning the award.

Yea, I was talking about guys that were Cy Young winners prior to pitching for the Orioles.

[Old Man]

There's also Arrieta, although he hadn't won the award yet when he was an Oriole.

I like Jake, but Jake that pitched here, had one foot out of baseball. Lucky for him, he was correctable.

[Nigel Tufnel]

I like Jake, but Jake that pitched here, had one foot out of baseball.

 

I guess you could say the same about Hentgen.  And Drabek.  And Fernando. 

[Old Man]

I guess you could say the same about Hentgen.  And Drabek.  And Fernando. 

You could and add Zach as he was in similar boat here, and lucky he found his "out" pitch and stuck around here.

[Mike B]

I like Jake, but Jake that pitched here, had one foot out of baseball. Lucky for him, he was correctable.

Looking back, it is pretty clear, Jake had gone as far as he could go here.  I am not sure it was Jake, coaching or more likely both, but he went, pretty quickly from a guy heading to the minors to one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball.  Your right, he was correctable and it happened almost instantly.

BTW, he is a FA.

[Old Man]

Looking back, it is pretty clear, Jake had gone as far as he could go here.  I am not sure it was Jake, coaching or more likely both, but he went, pretty quickly from a guy heading to the minors to one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball.  Your right, he was correctable and it happened almost instantly.

BTW, he is a FA.

I heard it best explain, that the Orioles had poor pitching coaching, more worried about TTP and rubber location. At the same time, Jake was hard headed and not coachable.

 

So might be some truth to both sides, and being traded was a wake up call, and a good coach that fixed his issues.

 

There is such a fine line between excelling and sucking with these guys.

[Mashed Potatoes]

Yea, I was talking about guys that were Cy Young winners prior to pitching for the Orioles.

 

This made me think about how close Moose got during his Orioles tenure. 1999 he finished 2nd to Pedro Martinez in the AL Cy Young (though this was definitely not his best season).

[Mike B]

This made me think about how close Moose got during his Orioles tenure. 1999 he finished 2nd to Pedro Martinez in the AL Cy Young (though this was definitely not his best season).

The stars never seemed to align for Moose.  He certainly had some Cy Quality years but never quite had the “best years” in the Al or at least did not get credit for it.

Britton certainly had ones and also did not get the call.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Balt Sun: Orioles observations on Félix Hernandez’s slow fastball in his first spring start, Jorge Lopez’s bounce-back and more

[CantonJester]

I heard it best explain, that the Orioles had poor pitching coaching, more worried about TTP and rubber location. At the same time, Jake was hard headed and not coachable.

 

So might be some truth to both sides, and being traded was a wake up call, and a good coach that fixed his issues.

 

There is such a fine line between excelling and sucking with these guys.

 

 

The O's had three pitching coaches during Arrieta's four years in Baltimore, but it was their organization-wide edict against throwing the cut slider that really set Arrieta behind the 8 ball. 

 

“Why don’t you take a look at the chart with the average against cutters in the big leagues, batting average against and then come back and tell me that that’s a great pitch,” Duquette said. In an interview with Steve Melewski that is destined to provide content for weeks, Dan Duquette outlined the Orioles’ philosophy when it comes to the cut fastball. In essence, the pitch won’t be taught in their minor league organization. “We don’t like it as a pitch,” the Baltimore GM said.

 

The Time to the Plate nonsense that Buck Showalter conflated with success on the diamond also messed him up as well. 

 

You can call Arrieta stubborn. Most pitchers are. But they tried to reinvent Arrieta in the big leagues to fit their organizational policies, despite the successes he had in the minor leagues. 

 

The Cubs didn't exactly reinvent the wheel when the fixed Arrieta. They simply told him to throw the pitches he wants to throw, and yeah, change up his arm angles and positions on the rubber. 

[SBTarheel]

Ran out of time to make the opening day roster, and has opted out and elected free agency. 

 

Oh well, might have been fun to at least say we had him. 

[NickStevens]

It was fun for like a day. Nothing against him or the O's for taking a shot, but approaching 3,000 innings on that arm that's been going in the big leagues since he was 19 just wasn't going to work. 

[Mike B]

It is time for Felix to call it a career, but what a great one it was.

 

It would have been nice to see him pitch in an Oriole uniform, 10 years ago.

[BSLMikeLowe]

Time to start the countdown to Cooperstown for him.