The Orioles have announced that right-hander Grayson Rodriguez has been recalled and will start today’s game against the Rangers. It was reported last night that the prospect was joining the club and likely to jump into the rotation. Fellow righty Kyle Bradish was placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 4, with a right foot contusion.
Rodriguez, 23, will be making his major league debut today, which has been a long time coming. A first-round pick from 2018, he’s been considered one of the top pitching prospects in the sport for a while. Baseball America has ranked him on their top 100 list in each of the past four seasons, with Rodriguez in the top 10 both this year and last year. He seemed to be cruising towards a debut last year since he began the season in Triple-A, but a lat strain then put him on the shelf for about three months and prevented that from happening.
Throughout the winter, it was expected by many that Rodriguez would crack the club’s Opening Day rotation, with general manager Mike Elias stating that was his expectation as well. But the young hurler didn’t look great in spring, posting a 7.04 ERA in his five starts. He struck out 19 hitters in his 15 1/3 innings but also walked seven and allowed 17 hits, including three home runs. The club decided not to carry him in the Opening Day rotation after all and optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk at the end of camp.
The O’s were probably hoping for Rodriguez to spend a bit more time in the minors getting into a good groove, but circumstances necessitated a quick change. Bradish was struck on his foot by a comebacker on Monday and was removed after just 28 pitches and 1 2/3 innings. That’s led to the recall of Rodriguez after just a single start for Norfolk, which didn’t exactly go swimmingly. He threw 75 pitches over four innings, allowing three runs, two earned. He only struck out two opponents, walked four of them and surrendered four hits.
It will be interesting to see how he fares in his first taste of major league action. On the one hand, the recent results haven’t been amazing. On the other, he’s ranked high on prospect lists because of his quality arsenal and has had better results in the past. He posted a 2.20 ERA in his 14 Triple-A starts last year, striking out 35.8% of batters he faced along the way.
If Rodriguez is able to thrive and hold onto his roster spot the rest of the way, he’ll be able to earn a full year of service time. The major league baseball season is 187 days long but a player needs to only spend 172 days on the active roster, or injured list, in order to bank a full year. That will obviously have implications for him personally, as hitting that mark would put him on track to reach arbitration after 2025 and free agency after 2028. But further time in the minors could keep him shy of that line and potentially push those timelines back a year.
The team could also benefit if Rodriguez sticks around, on top of whatever contributions he makes on the field. If a player has less than 60 days of service time and is considered a top 100 prospect by two of Baseball America, MLB Pipeline or ESPN then earns a full service year, they become eligible for the prospect promotion incentive. If that player wins Rookie of the Year or cracks the top three in Cy Young or MVP voting during their pre-arbitration years, the team will net an extra draft pick. This began with the new collective bargaining agreement that was signed a year ago and has already happened once, with the Mariners getting an extra draft pick when Julio Rodríguez won Rookie of the Year last season. Baltimore’s young pitcher is on all three of the aforementioned prospect lists, putting all of this on the table.
Those will be concerns for the future. In the short term, the club will have to see which version of Rodriguez shows up, the one who looked dominant in Triple-A last year or the one who floundered in spring this year. He’ll slot into the rotation next to Kyle Gibson, Cole Irvin, Dean Kremer and Tyler Wells, with Bradish returning at some point down the line.
I love women big time but there are two ballplayers I would sleep with: Kevin Kiermaier and Tyler Glasnow.
Same
The loss of the pitcher Bradish is now is arguably a bigger loss than the addition of GRod after a few short days to iron out whatever issues he had in spring training.
I genuinely feel the Orioles are depriving themselves of the starting pitching quality they brought into camp. Baumann was converted to the bullpen far too early given the shaky results for multiple starters this spring. Voth is also in the pen. Watkins is in Norfolk despite having maybe the best spring of all rotation candidates (5IP, 1ER). Krehbiel is also in Norfolk.
The Orioles chose a quantity over quality approach and their roster management is forcing them to rush their one truly elite pitching prospect (Povich and Hall are outside the top 50), despite clearly looking off. Just not a sound strategy for a team trying to build a pitching staff from the ground up.
If you think Watkins should be in the rotation that’s nonsense. They picked the five best guys, no question. Watkins is quality depth but not an ideal starter, go check his stats. He also just pitched Sunday, not available for today. Baumann has never proven that he can be a major league starter and had some positive results out of the pen this spring. Injuries happen, this isn’t ideal but Grayson has the talent, time to prove it.
Agreed dankyyank. We have absolutely no depth when it comes to the rotation.
I understand that Means will come back, so when they are looking at rosters they see not enough space. But also, that timetable of return has not really been set, so there is a big question mark. I don’t think you can count on him being a key rotation piece for the first 80-100 games. And even then how will he pitch when he comes back is a question mark.
What I see is a lack of starters and a bullpen that I would rather have some more arms. I think limiting Bautista early on and not wearing down Perez. We’ll to do that we need to have some depth and get deep in to games.
The fact that Gibson is pitching on four days rest to start the year is not a good sign. Especially considering that one of those was a day off for the entire team.
What was the purpose of sending Rodriguez to the minors for one start? What did he not have a week ago that he now has today? So, we are forcing him up out of necessity, which is dumb with a top 10 prospect. He wasn’t sharp in minor league starting and only had 2 ks in 5 innings, which is really low for him. Luckily for the Orioles, I believe 95% of Orioles fans believe he’s ready, myself included. But even if he does live up to the hype, there still is a major lack of depth.
I agree that Watkins needs to be on the roster as spot start occasionally and long relief.
I think potentially trading one of our minor league shortstops for a younger starting pitcher or long reliever with experience that’s MLB ready or already in the MLB could be the route. Certainly not Holliday or Ortiz, but there are a few other options and we have a lot of depth at that position. And I would be a very pissed off fan if we do not lock Mateo up for a long time.
Gibson was on five days rest, off day allowed him to start. No one thought Bradish was going to take a ball off the leg in the second inning. You have to work with what you have. They clearly wanted Grayson in the majors, and an opportunity opened. If Watkins was on normal rest, it would probably be him. If you think he should take up a major league roster spot you’re not following that closely.
dankyank- I don’t think the Orioles are “depriving themselves” of any starting pitching quality. This goes back decades.
1. They can’t develop bona-fide top notch starting pitchers or even a #2 starter type.
2. They won’t pay to get those types of starting pitchers from other teams.
Because of my Matuszitis I can’t say today that they’ve broken the streak with Grayson Rodriguez no matter how highly touted. But it is also not fair to judge him now or judge him if he gets lit up today or even if he struggles for a couple months. You should see signs by the end of year 1 and definitely in year 2 if Rodriguez will convert to a MLB level #1 or at least #2 level starter..
The last time the Orioles developed a top end of the rotation quality starting pitcher FOR THEIR OWN TEAM is Mike Mussina, who debuted August 4, 1991.
In the interim they have others who they couldn’t develop but blossomed as soon as they left the Orioles (Arrieta being the #1 example), they have many who at least turned into very good relievers (Britton, for example) and many, many more who turned into nothing.
gs7382 – I agree. Watkins should be an emergency starter/injury replacement/AAA depth/long reliever if that’s a need.
There’s a lot of folks who need to widen perspective and look at it from “would there be more than a couple of teams who would consider Watkins a piece that would improve their rotations?” If you can’t name more than 3 or 4 other teams with bad starting rotations, the answer is no.
If we’re going to consider the Orioles a playoff contender, we have to shoot higher.
Respectfully, if you watched the O’s more closely you probably would not have typed out most of what you suggested. While I don’t think they took the smartest route to setting up this season’s starting rotation I can’t get with you on your talking points.
First, Baumann has never been able to get walks under control even when he might have appeared effective as a starter in the minors. It’s a big reason it’s taken him this long to reach the top and stick. At 27 and in his sixth year as a pro pitcher it was time to acknowledge starting in the Majors was not going to be his thing and move him to a role where his limited pitch repertoire might play up and make him more effective.
Second, Watkins and Voth are the 6th or 7th best starters in a 5-man rotation. Let’s not forget that neither one was able to start games last season and get beyond the 5th inning more than half the time they took the ball. No matter what they did on the mound you were all but guaranteed to require the bullpen to cover at least three innings, and in most cases upwards of 5+ innings whenever they started a game.
Finally, Krehbiel has never started a game above rookie ball so I don’t even know what he has to do with a discussion of why you don’t think the O”s have quality starters on hand to start the season.
Recently developed O’s pitchers include: John Means, Gausman (was pretty solid for O’s) and Bundy (although he didn’t live up to the overhype).
The o’s have had their fair share of misses, no doubt, but it’s not a complete O-fer.
More importantly, it’s an entirely new development team with Sig’s analytics.
Time to trade Mateo is when he is hot. He is a dime a dozen shortstop – like Iglesias and others still unsigned; good glove, shaky bat.
No none is trading a young, controllable, MLB starter for a minor league SS. You’re dreaming.
However, I agree with your premise that you can never have too much pitching. Frankly, I am grateful that the O’s brought in Irvin for exactly this reason. There were no aces available and interested in coming to Baltimore this off-season. The current staff is about as good as Elias could compose under the circumstances.
You may want to reread.
I stated the Orioles chose quantity. As per their 40 man, they brought 13 potential starters not named John Means to camp.
There were two reasons. One, the Orioles needed to sort the pile and identify quality. Two, they need a shield to develop their scarce pitching prospects behind. If GRod is still unhealthy, less than 100%, etc the Orioles are risking ruining him physically.
Like you said, the Orioles haven’t developed an ace since Mike Mussina. Why take a major risk with a rare talent?
They need to pick the best performers at the time since the only locks are Gibson, Irvin and Kremer – and they are hardly aces. Watkins had arguably the best results of any rotation candidate this spring
Talent can’t overcome poor player management. Throwing a less than healthy GRod into the rotation could destroy his psyche.
Gibson during his career has been significantly better on four days rest rather than five. Using your logic, if you play six days in a row, you would need six starters. Makes little sense.
Who were the multiple starters that had shaky results this spring?
Gibson was on 4 days rest. Pitched the 30th. 31st, 1st, 2nd and 3rd was on rest. Pitched on the 4th.
On Rodriguez: “I wasn’t expecting this, and we were hoping that he would show up as a better version of himself than I think we got here,” Elias said. “We just had five other guys that were more deserving at this point in time. But I know what he’s capable of. I think he’s going to show it again really quickly.”
This was not a case of not having space. They were expecting him to be ready and didn’t think he was.
Wells with his 5 ERA. Bradish had a brutal 9ER outing grips. GRod and his 7.04 ERA. Hall was questionable. Voth struggled, Baumann as well.
Pretty much every starter outside their front three struggled. You could argue about Wells and his K:BB ratio and say Bradish’ one disastrous outing was due to experimenting with grips and both are true; the results were still ugly. At the absolute minimum the 5 and possibly 4 slots were looking weak no matter who they chose.
May as well shield the truly elite talent as long as possible. You know, set him up for success instead of throwing him into the fray.
Keeping Krehbiel in the bullpen frees up other arms for the rotation. NOT a difficult concept to grasp.
You know that innings are down drastically, right. Teams need a number 6 to absorb innings, even assuming perfect health from the front five
Dankyyank is a dummy. Wells had two shaky outings but he did the same last year and was the best one in the rotation for the first half. His pickup after Bradish’s injury on Sunday proved that to be a wise choice. Bradish got shelled ONE F***ing time but was dominant in his other ST appearances, though his pitch count got up there in his final one the results were still there. Only an idiot would claim Baumann, who has not been the same since his elbow injury *checks calendar* THREE years ago should continue to be a viable rotation option. Watkins started against Durham on Sunday and gave up a grip of runs in five innings, and has no business on the roster right now.
The only logical option for today would have been Voth, who had a worse spring that GrayRod but is out of options, versatile, and showed an astounding improvement last year after being picked up on waivers.
Putting Bradish on the IL, having Voth start, and recalling Krehbiel to fill out the pen would have been my play, if it was me.
Oh, and to whomever thinks Mateo should be locked into a long term deal after just one season playing full time and hitting around .220, that’s absurd. Henderson, Holliday, and Westburg all bring the same positives as Mateo just with SLIGHTLY less agility.
Though to be fair, it’s also absolutely moronic to claim the Fielding Bible recipient at SS from last year is a dime-a-dozen SS. Lots of stupid comments in this thread.
No on is trading a young controllable starter… except Oakland
So you call me a dummy and then proceed to agree with the crux of my argument that Voth (or anyone available, really), should be starting over GRod and Krehbiel should be in the pen to free up potential starters?
Time to look in the mirror…
@thorton
Bradish is going on the 15 day, not out for the season. They need an emergency starter, like Watson. Calling a top prospect up before they are ready is a risk they shouldn’t be taking.
@dank
Simple solution. Let your starter go more than 5 innings. Innings being down is usually a choice.
The number of pitchers who pitched even 180 innings in 2022 was 27, less than one starter per team Plus, several starters would be significantly increasing their innings total two seasons in a row, which creates an increased risk of injury
I think the initial instinct to go with quantity was the correct choice. Keeping Krehbiel and Watkins in the minors is causing all sorts of depth problems that should never have been an issue.
Baumann has had plenty of opportunities.
And judging Watkins as the superior option to Grayson is a classic example of why you don’t operate on small sample sizes.
I like Spenser but he’s filler. Grod’s a good, hard-working kid with great composure and attitude. He’s not gonna figure anything out in AAA that he can’t in this call-up.
He’ll take his lumps for sure but I feel much, much better about this than I did D.L. Hall last season.
Super-excited for this kid.
@milkywhite that’s normal rest. Five man rotation, you get four games/days off in between. Keep up dog
@gs7382 you clearly don’t pay much attention to baseball. It is 4 days rest, that’s all I said. Usually a day off around 1 per week and occasionally none.
I didn’t say it’s not normal, but chances that you get to rest your starter for five days, you take it.
But you are still corrected because it is 4 days off. Not sure what you are arguing. It is certainly not ‘5 days rest’.
Your original statement was that “The fact that Gibson is pitching on four days rest to start the year is not a good sign.” lol, if you want to hang your hat on a pitcher pitching on normal rest to start the season isn’t a good sign, feel free, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. It happens often that teams shift around rotations when there’s an off day to get a guy on normal rest pitching. And their starter the night before took a shot off the leg, you gotta adjust. Adjusting to allow a pitcher on normal rest to start is a pretty minor adjustment in my eyes.
DankYank, You do realize that you can only keep 13 pitchers on your ML roster. Keeping Krehbeil and Watkins at the start of the season would have meant the O’s were carrying 15!!!
@gs7382 right, it is not a good sign as far as the depth of the pitching staff. Bumping up a pitcher and then calling up a pitcher they felt was not ready a week ago is a sign lacking depth. The depth is what I was referring to.
Personally I would send down McKenna or Stowers (as you do not need 5 outfielders that only play outfield) and I would bring up another pitcher. Yes it means 12 field players and I’d be okay with that. Easier to time bringing up a hitter than a pitcher if needed.
They put Bradish on IL so they brought up a pitcher. I’m not seeing the issue. Do you want them to carry an extra starter on the major league team just in case he needs to spot start? Or would you rather have that guy getting steady outings down in the minors and call him up when an opening comes?
Carrying Krehbiel would allow them to leave another starter in the minors for a call up, just like GRod is being called up for his start.
The Orioles rotation entered the camp in flux. Essentially they have to create a bridge to whatever current prospects and future pieces Elias will acquire in trades of young veterans.
They will have to roll with the hot hand until there are better options.
And again, Watkins wasn’t an option today, he just pitched Sunday. Grayson was the last cut for starters and on normal rest, so that makes sense, no? He’s the first line of minor league depth.
Again, they need the depth on the hand. This means fully stretched out starters, ready for a call up.
Krehbiel improved throughout camp so at an absolute mininum, he should be replacing Baumann in the pen. This would also preserve Voth’s arm for potential spot starts.
We have so many pitchers that have pitched in bullpen and started that the extra pitcher could be used as both. I don’t see us consistently getting quality starts, so we’d actually use an extra arm in the pen. Especially considering I’d rather not use Perez and Bautista in non winning situations and this would help that.
What are we gaining from Vavra, Stowers and McKenna being on the roster when we don’t use them? Vavra used as DH today.
I think Grayson Rodriguez should have been on the roster to begin with. So yes, I agree that it was the right move today and luckily the timing worked out so we could do that.
I still think we should look at holding 14 pitchers.
MilkyWhite . . . . I’ll say again, ML rules state that you can only carry 13 pitchers on your 26 man roster. Thirteen! No more! That means you will always have four guys on your bench when a game begins!
I was unaware of that rule. Thanks for clarifying.
The issue is what was known at the time, which is that Watkins flatly outperformed Baumann and Voth in spring training. Baumann has a minor league option left.
dankyank, Let’s go back to opening day(no injury to Bradish). As you suggest the O’s keep Joey Krehbiel on the roster. Which of the five starters would you leave in the minors? You do realize this leaves you with a 4-man rotation?
Their rotation was not in flux until the injury to Bradish.
You stated that Gibson, Irvin, and Kremer were the only locks for the rotation. Kyle Bradish was our best starter in his last eight starts in 2022. In four of those starts he faced Houston twice, Boston, and Cleveland. Three of the best hitting clubs in the majors last year.. Cleveland and Houston were 1st place teams. In those four starts Bradish pitched 30 and two-thirds innings, allowing eight hits and one run. Let me repeat that . . . . One run in 30 innings! Mike Elias and Brandon Hyde aren’t stupid. Those performances in the last 35 days of the season earned Bradish his spot in the rotation! They didn’t blink when he had the one bad outing in spring training. Case closed.
As for Tyler Wells. What’s not to like? Arguably, he was our best starter last year for the first half. Unfortunately, the injury changed his season. That said, he has now pitched 165 innings in the bigs with a 4.07 ERA and a 1.026 WHIP. This franchise went thru a four year stretch recently where those numbers would have been the best in our rotation.
I would suggest that Wells and Bradish, assuming he recovers from the ankle injury, could very well end up as our two best starting pitchers this season.
.
Again, Baumann has an option left and is the obvious choice. Akin struggled in the second half and is a third lefty when the team only planned on carrying two. IMO, I would have opted for an extra long reliever/ spot starter to absorb innings.
Voth and GRod both had rough springs. So the question is, who do you want to absorb the beating for that first start? Voth, who might have been a fluke, or the best pitching prospect in the game?
I don’t find either option desirable so the second best option is to take care of the health of your elite pitching prospect. There’s so much more at stake with GRod than just one start.
Moreover, guys like Cade Povich and Seth Johnson (injured) aren’t ready yet.
Baumann is no starter.
Voth should be stretched back out and be an option. This could be a 1 start cameo for G-Rod if he shows any issues.
Your hatred of the orioles makes you say STUPID things. Claiming the Orioles can’t now develop starting pitchers despite the ENTIRE coaching and development staff being replaced in the past five years is equally stupid as saying they are masters at developing starting pitchers because of their successes in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. You are so blinded by rage, you make a fool of yourself.
& G-Rod looked like the right call. Elias and Co. are much smarter than any of us.
Voth hasn’t had it this year. Hopefully he gets back on track bc he was very good the first time through last year. Thought he’d thrive as a middle-long man.
Yeah, thornton is a moron for disparaging the present regime for mistakes made by people no longer in the organization. You can’t blame the new people for Arrieta unless you are going to praise them for Palmer.
To be fair, Mateo is near the top of shortstops defensively.
And you may want to own up to your obvious mistakes like claiming Krehbiel is a starting pitcher or not being aware that Baumann has been proving for the past three years that he’ll never be a legit SP; the bullpen is his only chance to reach the majors.
There is no risk at starting GROD in an MLB game – none more thatn starting him in a AAA game. He has been fully healthy since September! This is a weird claim.
You clearly do not know the Orioles’ team well enough to comment and are out of your element. Bradish and Kremer both were far superior to Watkins last season. Not sure if you would understand this, but Spring Training stats mean squat.
They are not “keeping Krehbiel in the bullpen” to free up arms for the rotation, That is where he LIVES.
NOBODY is ever going to start Krehbiel in an MLB game unless it is as a 1-inning opener. Looks like you think Krebiel is some entirely different player. He NEVER WAS a starter. Last time he started a game was 2013 in A ball! LMFAO
“Krehbiel is also in Norfolk.”. Maybe you can parse that out and show me just where I claimed he’s a starting pitcher.
The only “risk” would have been that he doesn’t command his pitches well. There is no health risk.
This is idiotic. Keeping Krehbiel in the bullpen allows Baumann to stretch out in the minors. There was never a single mention of Krehbiel starting, or even opening. Do you want quality innings or not?
I don’t think yank knows baseball.
Teams are NOT allowed 14 pitchers.
Great idea otherwise, smh
In your OP.: “I genuinely feel the Orioles are depriving themselves of the starting pitching quality,,, Krehbiel is also in Norfolk.
If the problem is that you are uncapable or writing a cohesive paragraph, the fault is on you, not the reader. You stated Krehbiel was a SP by your poor writing. Own it.
The “Baumann as a starter ship” has sailed. He relieved more games last year than he started – AT AAA! You’ve got to get it through your head that they are not going to “stretch him out” any more because if he has a future in MLB, it is in the pen, not the rotation.
Dude, just copy and paste my entire paragraph
“I genuinely feel the Orioles are depriving themselves of the starting pitching quality they brought into camp. Baumann was converted to the bullpen far too early given the shaky results for multiple starters this spring. Voth is also in the pen. Watkins is in Norfolk despite having maybe the best spring of all rotation candidates (5IP, 1ER). Krehbiel is also in Norfolk.”
Your reading comprehension skills are a mess.
It’s so nice to read comments about the Orioles from people who know about the Orioles rather than listening to rants from fans of other teams who know jacksquat about the team.
There was no way in Hell the Orioles would have called up Baumann to start today unless it had been as a 1-inning opener. You really have no idea what you are talking about when you comment on the Orioles and it makes you look foolish.
Advice: stick to a team you know when it comes to comments rather than embarrassing yourself making ignorant claims.
There is ZERO evidence that GROD is anything less than 100% healthy, so your claim that he may be “unhealthy” is spurious and reckless conjecture.
Are you able to find a direct quote claiming Krehbiel is a starter or not? Your bar is so miserably low and yet you insist on slithering under it repeatedly.
Baumann is pushing 28. The starter ship has sailed. His future is the pen. His movement was inevitable. He’ll be out of options soon—this had to happen.
We have Watkins and Zimmermann as depth in AAA too. I think we’re in fine shape as far as rotation depth goes. We don’t have the TOR starter that we need but the depth is fine.
Rob, I was talking about ace or at least a #2 guy pitching at that level for the Orioles. I think we are getting skewed by looking at godawful Orioles rotations so many times over the years. While I don’t remember 1971 I still remember the late 70s to about 1984 when they still had a top 5 rotation.
Gausman for the Orioles at his best was probably 2016. He had a 3.61 ERA and 174K in 179 innings and a 1.28 WHIP. If you have a good rotation, he’s probably a #3 guy with that season and otherwise bounced on either side of average for the Orioles.. Obviously since he left he put up great #’s for the Braves just after and great #’s for the Giants the past 2 years.
Means is probably the closest. Some of the #’s he had like WHIP 1.03 or 1..1 are very good. OK on strikeouts, But large gap between ERA and FIP which suggests some luck at play, never has pitched more than 155 innings in a season, and is a soft tosser. Those aren’t guys most teams put at the top of the rotation There are exceptions (Jamie Moyer for the Orioles) but very unusual.
Bundy was a power pitcher who was average at best for the Orioles, and could not for his life keep the ball in the yard. He’s a mid to low rotation guy. I’m actually surprised the Orioles didn’t turn him into a reliever too.
Wait and see for the effects of Sig for Grayson, et al coming up out of the minors.
Your lack of writing skill is child-like. Learn how to write a paragraph or expect your mistakes to be called out.
You arranged your paragraph in such a way that you claimed Krehbiel was a starter. You have only yourself and your grade-school writing to blame.
Why would you admit to wanting to sleep with men on here?
Maybe they are women. Or gay men.
Ok
I know. I found their comments goofy, too.
Kind of strange that media outlets determine service time. Never a good idea when the media votes for anything.
So now it begins. Will Grayson be a Mussina or a Matusz?
He’ll be far better than Matusz and I would settle for him being as good as Mussina.
GROD will never be Matusz – he has a real fastball- up to 99; Matusz “fastball” topped out at 90ish.
I never understood Matusz even when he started well. I’d watch and wonder how batters weren’t hitting him and hard. Seemed like smoke and mirrors. Until batters did start hitting him and hard and he became a LOOGY.
Matusz and Hobgood were horrendous picks, even if Matusz was highly touted as “polished,” pre-draft.
Ra that’s the point that I make a lot, the hype that guys like Matusz got versus what happened when brought up. While watching loss after listless loss in 2008-09 (I probably watched 120 games each season) you kept hearing about the young guys who are coming. Matusz was at the top of the list. Other than that you had Arrieta who was nothing until after he left and was coached competently, Britton was yet another who turned into a reliever, Tillman gave a few decent seasons but came from Seattle’s system so you can’t say he was “home grown”. Garrett Olson was another briefly mentioned early on until he came up and got blown up.
Matusz was polished and technically sound, but not talented enough to stick in the majors. He couldn’t overpower, and hitters figured him out pretty quickly. Then he became a LOOGY.
Out of curiousity, what is ohtani considered of the active 13?
Solid debut for Grayson today, especially considering he hasn’t looked like the same pitcher since he returned from the IL last year.
Based on what? The last couple ST games where he looked great but struggled with command. Or the first few ST games where he looked great with solid command?
Curious: how many of his starts for Norfolk last year did you watch? Any???
The fact when he came back he got hit hard which seldom happened before that and then, yes, the fact he wasnt good in spring. Struggling w command means he wasn’t pitching well. Nasty stuff one pitch then bad command the next isn’t good pitching. I’ve been tracking him for a while, and watched many highlights and lowlights (never full games). He didn’t even have a good first milb start. So, based on criteria that anyone would use in evaluating a young pitcher.
So you have never actually watched GrOD pitch, I see. Too bad you didn’t watch his command yesterday. But that would get in the way of your opinion based on box scores.
You okay? Need help? Yes I’ve seen him pitch, tracked him for years. No, he hadn’t looked good since he came back from the injury. Yes several weeks later he’s starting to look like his old self, which he wasn’t back then. Get it? Can you follow?
He’s looked very good in his last three outings. You are just wrong. And probably have not watched the games, Otherwise you wouldn’t be spewing such drivel.
Guess I wasn’t wrong
You are still wrong. His lat strain is in the rear view and is no longer affecting him.
Not t what I said… I said he hasn’t looked the same since
Can’t just own that you were wrong on him looking great and that I might have known a lot about Grayson too?
Don’t be an azzhole and purposefully misquote me. I never used the word “great” and I was not wrong about anything I wrote.
To reiterate: “He’s looked very good in his last three outings.” – Ra 2 months ago
If you can’t honestly engage, then STFU.
My brother passed along the same as he watched…shaky 1st, settled down, got outs after that.
Still claiming GrOD doesn’t look like the same pitcher?
Wow Im glad you commented bc i just saw you wrote STFU. Real nice. Sure, I was way off for mischaracterizing “very good” as “great.” I’ll be literal.. You said he looked “very good in his last three outings” on May 2. And then proceeded to give up 26er in his next 21ip and got sent down.
They obviously worked w him and got him to a good place and he finished strong, which I’m happy about, I want him to do well. But he wasn’t looking good at the time and yes, he started to turn that around second half.
I hate being misquoted and think it is juvenile, thus my STFU. I rescind that.
Grayson did look very good through his first 5 starts, if you had actually watched him. Then he had 3 bad starts vs. 2 good ones in his next 5. It wasn’t his previous year’s lat strain that was causing this, it was his pitch selection and emotions. He was physically healthy in ST, through his first stint in MLB, through the subsequent 8 starts in AAA and his final 13 starts back in MLB, in addition to his playoff start (where his emotions got the better of him.)
Point is, his health was fine all of 2023. He needed to adjust to MLB like 99% of players. It was specious to claim his previous injury was not healed and was making him look like a different pitcher from his 2022 AAA starts.
PS: I just stumbled upon this comment thread accidentally and I have no idea how. Looking forward to watching GrOD Almighty establish himself as on of the top SPs in the league.