597 replies to this topic

[Oriole85]

Great outing tonight, I'm kind of curious when they'll let him loose again and give him another shot in the majors.

[Mackus]

Great outing tonight, I'm kind of curious when they'll let him loose again and give him another shot in the majors.

It'll be long after he has more than just one solid start. He's been bordering on terrible all season at AAA. This is encouraging and re-affirms what we already knew he can do when he is on. The problem for Tillman is that when he isn't at his absolute best, he's been worse than mediocre. He needs to get way more consistent if he ever wants another shot at starting in the majors.

He's almost out of time before needing to be tried in the bullpen. Hopefully he knows that and last night's start is the first step towards re-establishing himself as someone who is worthy of remaining a starter and getting a shot at the MLB level.

[Adam Wolff]

This is obviously Tillman's best start of the year, but I'd say it's his 4th solid start in his last 6 games. 4 times he's gone at least 6 innings and given up 2 runs or less. Now, in 3 of them, it was exactly 6 innings and 2 runs, but that's still a big improvement over some of his earlier starts.

I think a couple more solid starts and he could be back on everyone's radar. Of course, a couple terrible starts and he could find himself in the pen. Seems like a bit of a crossroads for Tillman.

[SportsGuy]

Great outing tonight, I'm kind of curious when they'll let him loose again and give him another shot in the majors.

It'll be long after he has more than just one solid start. He's been bordering on terrible all season at AAA. This is encouraging and re-affirms what we already knew he can do when he is on. The problem for Tillman is that when he isn't at his absolute best, he's been worse than mediocre. He needs to get way more consistent if he ever wants another shot at starting in the majors.

He's almost out of time before needing to be tried in the bullpen. Hopefully he knows that and last night's start is the first step towards re-establishing himself as someone who is worthy of remaining a starter and getting a shot at the MLB level.

I disagree he has been terrible. The bb rate is the troubling thing. But the k and hr rates are excellent. He is getting more gbs as well.

[LanceRinker]

Tillman had a horrible April but he was pretty solid in May.

I wrote up something on Norfolk starters earlier today and here's what I had to say about Tillman:

Earlier in the minor league season Chris Tillman wasn’t looking like much of anything to write home about, but he’s been on a pretty good tear recently (1 hit over 8 shutout innings in his last start). He posted a 5.30 ERA in April but has rebounded nicely in May, posting a 3.64 ERA and striking out 38 batters in 42 innings of work. Now, all of a sudden Tillman is looking like someone who may be deserving of a mid to late-season call-up if he continues to post numbers like he did in May.

Here's the piece I wrote up in it's entirety if anyone is interested:http://burningdowntheyard.com/?p=2580

Tillman is starting to come around and if he has an equally strong June then I think we could see him up in July if another starter gets hurt or becomes dispensible through bad performance.

[SportsGuy]

Really would be nice to see Tillman for 10 or so ML starts this year.

[LanceRinker]

Really would be nice to see Tillman for 10 or so ML starts this year.

We just may get to see that if we go to a 6 man rotation to spread Chen's starts out some once July/August get here.

Or if someone goes down, he'll be on the short list if he has another strong month.

[Chris B]

I don't wanna jinx him, but...

Roch Kubatko ‏@masnRoch

Chris Tillman with 4 perfect innings so far with AAA Norfolk. In his last start, allowed 1 hit and fanned 9 in 8 scoreless innings #orioles

[Chris B]

Brittany Ghiroli ‏@Britt_Ghiroli

RT @NorfolkTides Final line on Tillman: 6.2-IP, 1-H, 2-R, 2-ER, 1-BB. 7-K. 107 pitches, 64 strikes.

[JeremyStrain]

Brittany Ghiroli ‏@Britt_Ghiroli

RT @NorfolkTides Final line on Tillman: 6.2-IP, 1-H, 2-R, 2-ER, 1-BB. 7-K. 107 pitches, 64 strikes.

Trade value??

[Chris B]

Brittany Ghiroli ‏@Britt_Ghiroli

RT @NorfolkTides Final line on Tillman: 6.2-IP, 1-H, 2-R, 2-ER, 1-BB. 7-K. 107 pitches, 64 strikes.

Trade value??

Honestly, if he has another good outing or 2, I wouldn't mind seeing him in the bigs again. Maybe Peterson's fixes helped him out.

[JeremyStrain]

I go back and forth on that too. On the one hand I'd love to see him figure it out and become a solid #3. On the other, if he comes up and gets rocked AGAIN, he'll cement himself as a 4A pitcher and he'll have NO value. With that question about what he might be I think he's got more trade value in a package deal.

[Can_of_corn]

Great progress but still not pleased with his pitch counts. In the majors that would have been a 6.0 inning start at best.

[SportsGuy]

I go back and forth on that too. On the one hand I'd love to see him figure it out and become a solid #3. On the other, if he comes up and gets rocked AGAIN, he'll cement himself as a 4A pitcher and he'll have NO value. With that question about what he might be I think he's got more trade value in a package deal.

I am fine with either. He certainly could be someone in a trade for a guy like Headley.

[SportsGuy]

The bullpen let in the second run.

[mweb08]

I go back and forth on that too. On the one hand I'd love to see him figure it out and become a solid #3. On the other, if he comes up and gets rocked AGAIN, he'll cement himself as a 4A pitcher and he'll have NO value. With that question about what he might be I think he's got more trade value in a package deal.

If he got rocked again in the rotation, wouldn't the bullpen be a legit last resort?

I'm guessing his trade value is low enough where I'd prefer to just ride it out with him and hope he can produce.

[bnickle]

I go back and forth on that too. On the one hand I'd love to see him figure it out and become a solid #3. On the other, if he comes up and gets rocked AGAIN, he'll cement himself as a 4A pitcher and he'll have NO value. With that question about what he might be I think he's got more trade value in a package deal.

If he got rocked again in the rotation, wouldn't the bullpen be a legit last resort?

I'm guessing his trade value is low enough where I'd prefer to just ride it out with him and hope he can produce.

I would have to think Tillman is still a legit 2nd piece in a deal for a player the caliber of Headley.

[mweb08]

If he got rocked again in the rotation, wouldn't the bullpen be a legit last resort?

I'm guessing his trade value is low enough where I'd prefer to just ride it out with him and hope he can produce.

I would have to think Tillman is still a legit 2nd piece in a deal for a player the caliber of Headley.

Well my quarrel with that would likely be more with giving up the first piece to get a guy like Headley because that guy would have to be quite a bit more valuable than Tillman imo.

[Remember The Alomar]

I go back and forth on that too. On the one hand I'd love to see him figure it out and become a solid #3. On the other, if he comes up and gets rocked AGAIN, he'll cement himself as a 4A pitcher and he'll have NO value. With that question about what he might be I think he's got more trade value in a package deal.

If he stays in the minors and continues to pitch like this, maybe, but I don't think anyone will be too impressed with a ERA of 4 in Harbor Park. I've always been a big Tillman fan, so there's a little bit of bias in this statement, but I'd much rather see him flame out in the bigs than trade him. As others have said, unless he's used as a piece in a Headley-esque trade (which as I said, I'm skeptical about,) I think it behooves the Orioles to ride or die with Tillman. There's enough upside there to intrigue me--even more so considering our SP woes.

[RichardZ]

If he got rocked again in the rotation, wouldn't the bullpen be a legit last resort?

I'm guessing his trade value is low enough where I'd prefer to just ride it out with him and hope he can produce.

Well said. Ditto.