Last time I checked, there were only five spots available in a major-league rotation. Cinco!
As the Tampa Bay Rays have learned, and will continue to for the foreseeable future, there may possibly be such a thing as TOO much pitching. Check out the Rays' system.
In the bigs, they have Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Andy Sonnanstine, Edwin Jackson, and Matt Garza. The oldest pitcher in that rotation is Shields, who is 27 and has firmly cemented himself in the rotation. In addition, the Rays have a future No. 1 or No. 2 guy in the bullpen in 23-year-old David Price.
Down at AAA, they have Jeff Neimann, 25, who had a great year that garnered a promotion to the Rays' starting five, but they had no room for him. So he sat at AAA again. Wade Davis also resides at Durham and is considered one of the top prospects in the Tampa Bay system, but alas, where does he fit in?
In all, the Rays have about 10-15 legitimate starting-pitcher prospects in their system. But, with the five they have in Tampa, where does everyone fit in?
I know the Baltimore Orioles are not the Tampa Bay Rays, both in terms of success and the talent they put on the field each night. But, they are soon to be facing a similar predicament. The O's have a wealth of pitching talent in the minors, which is about to bubble to the surface and pay dividends.
2008 first rounder Brian Matusz is a legitimate No. 2 guy, possibly a future staff ace. Pencil him in next to holdover Jeremy Guthrie. Righty Chris Tillman, acquired in the Erik Bedard trade, has the makings of a top-of-the-rotation stud as well. Throw in hard-throwing Jake Arrieta, even harder-throwing righty Brandon Erbe, and just as hard throwing Chorye Spoone, in addition to finesse lefty Garrett Olson, and fireballer Radhames Liz, and that gives the Orioles seven starting pitchers to choose from, who are, top to bottom, just about as talented as the Rays' batch of hurlers.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Waiting even further in the wings are another batch of O's pitchers, waiting to make their splash. 2008 pick Bobby Bundy has all the makings of a rotation regular and Bowie teammates David Hernandez and Jason Berken might turn out to be starting material at the big-league level, too. Not to mention the talent the O's might have in Zachary Britton.
This leads me back to my thesis: There are only five rotation spots. Come 2011, these five sports should be filled by Matusz, Tillman, Arreita, Spoone, and Erbe. So what to do with the rest. Trade it for hitting, silly!
Out in the free-agent market right now, the O's are reportedly pursuing Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett. That's great. Fantastic! But, who in their right mind thinks we'll land either whale? That's what I thought.
A trade, on the other hand, is a lot harder to turn down, especially when the O's have what all teams seek in a trade, young starting pitching. This brings me to my main man...Matt Holliday.
The Rockies are reportedly tossing the left fielder's name out into the market this offseason. That's right, I said LEFT FIELDER. You know, that position filled by Luke Scott/Luis Montanez/Jay Payton and eventually possibly Nolan Reimold?
Talk about a serious upgrade. Not to deride Reimold's potential, which might be vast, but Holliday is a proven quantity, a legitimate presence who can hit for average, power, and knows how to take a walk.
Imagine if the Orioles could land Holliday. With the Rockies' most talented prospect, Casey Weathers, going down with Tommy John surgery, the Rocks could use a near ready major-league prospect. No doubt, the Rockies would demand two, maybe three, and possibly FOUR prospects for Holliday, but come on. The O's are starting to draft better, and I say we pull the trigger on this one. Make them an offer they can't refuse.
Prospects Jake Arrieta and David Hernandez, as well as veteran reliever George Sherrill, and heck, even Nolan Reimold should get the job done. That gives them a inning-eating starter with serious stuff, a hard-throwing strikeout machine reliever, a veteran reliever, and a major-league ready outfielder with huge upside.
In return, the O's get Holliday, who, at 28, is eight years younger than Manny Ramirez and is a presence who can occupy left field for years to come.
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2 months ago
I really liked the article. You would really like Holliday. Everyone knocks his home/road stats, but if you talk to anyone who is a fan of a different team in the NL West, they will tell you that they fear Holliday at home or on the road. If you ever get a chance, watch Holliday take batting practice. I know it sounds dumb, but the man flat out mashes the ball. It is different than anyone I have ever watched.
That said, the Rox are desperate for frontline starter, and if they can get one, plus a couple of prospects, I think they would pull the trigger.
2 months ago
You're waaay off base here man. How long have you been watching Baseball?
2 months ago
Well I'm an Orioles fan, so it's been about....hmm....11 years since I've watched baseball
from 2 months ago
hahaha, now that's funny... but, I disagree with you on your theory, you can never ever ever ever have too much pitching talent below you, for three reasons... one, great pitching wins championships, yes you need hitting, but you can win with great pitching and average hitting... two, half of those young prospects you alluded to won't make it as a starter, but have a shot at becoming bullpen studs maybe, which is almost as important as your starting 5, almost, lol... and three, as you alluded to, they are the best stuff to make trades happen, but you can only pull the trigger when you have yourself set, and having watched the o's this year more closely than ever before, we aren't, our bullpen fell apart, our starters (except guthrie) fell apart... we aren't set, let's enjoy the rewards that macphail has won for us this year and make the big moves next year, just draft well, play the free agents, and make the trades you can't ignore... which brings me to where we agree, holliday is too big to ignore if you get the right offer, but don't mortgage your future for him... we're orioles fans, we've seen enough of that
2 months ago
Last I checked, we only have one reliable starter in our rotation. That's four spots we need to fill in the rotation. As Garrett Olson and Radhames Liz showed this season, projecting prospects is not an exact science.
But even if we did have surplus arms to deal....Matt Holliday? His career stat line away from home is .280/.348/.455 for a whopping OPS of .803. And that's in the NL. What happens when he come to the Big Boy League? Luke Scott posted an OPS better than that last year. We have other needs...like at first and thirs and short...and pitching!
2 months ago
Right now we have no need to trade away our young arms for Holliday. Theres no such thing as to much pitching and since none of these guys have peaked in the minors yet we probly can get more if we wait on them to devolp. Unless were getting a good shortstop theres no reason to trade away our young arms
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