This week on the Camden Highball, Pat and I wonder if Steve Pearce can be a super utility player and talk about Jimmy Paredes‘ hot bat. We also talk to Ryan Romano of Camden Depot and Beyond the Boxscore about the less than ideal starts of Bud Norris and Chris Tillman. This week’s episode also features music from Brad Engler.
Direct Link to Article –> The Camden Highball: “That’s Not Good”
The question of whether Chris Tillman is an ace is not a new subject. However, previous attempts at analyzing his “ace-hood” have focused on his FIP and WAR (Fangraphs version). Since those statistics rely on aspects of pitching that he doesn’t excel at (strikeouts, walks, and home runs), it’s not really surprising that he’s fallen short of ace status. While Tillman’s FIP has never been that impressive, he has done a good job at preventing runs. With that in mind, today I take a look at whether Tillman can be considered an ace based on his run prevention over at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot.
Direct Link to Article –> Chris Tillman: Good Pitcher, Not an Ace
Orioles closer Zach Britton was once part of the team’s “cavalry” of starting pitching prospects that included Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman, Jake Arrieta, and to a lesser extent Brandon Erbe and Brad Bergesen. #Blessed with an above average sinking fastball and slider (along with an average change-up), Britton was generally considered the 2nd or 3rd best prospect of the group, depending on who was asked, and he topped out as Keith Law’s #11 overall prospect in his 2011 rankings for ESPN (ESPN Insider required and recommended). Here’s a snippet of what Law had to say:
“There’s at least strong No. 2 starter potential here, but better command would give him more ceiling than that.”
After a long vacation that didn’t involve any baseball, I’m back with my first post since early June. Today at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot, I take a look at a very familiar topic that has seemed to pop up during the trade deadline and the offseason ever since I started writing about the team. Writing about upgrading Baltimore’s starting rotation is quickly becoming a bi-annual tradition, where the names change, but the statistics stay the same. Take a look at the article to see who I suggest they go after this time.
Direct Link to Article –> Orioles Starting Rotation (Still) Needs Improvement
Last week we looked at what the Zips projection system over at Fangraphs thought the Baltimore Orioles position players were capable of in the 2014 season. Comparing those projections to the wins (fWAR) the team received at each of the offensive positions in 2013 resulted in the 2014 Baltimore offense to be worth 4.7 wins worse than the previous year’s team. Today we’ll take a look at the pitching staff and see if we can bring that number back into the positive.
Starting Pitcher
2014 Zips Projection
In 2013, Baltimore starting pitchers as a whole were one of the weakest parts of the roster. The starters combined for only 7.4 fWAR, which placed them 24th among all major league starting rotations. Much of that production came from Wei-Yin Chen, Chris Tillman, and Miguel Gonzalez. Scott Feldman and Bud Norris also added about 1 win each in a little less than half a seasons worth of work for the Orioles. Other than that, 9 other pitchers produced anywhere in between 0.5 fWAR (Jason Hammel) and -0.8 fWAR (Freddy Garcia). I looked at how the starting rotation fared in depth at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot earlier in the offseason, so if you would like a more detailed analysis, you can find it here. Continue reading
As of Wednesday February 19, Ubaldo Jimenez officially became a member of the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles signed him to a 4-year, $50 million contract. While he’s expected to perform near the top of the rotation for the duration of the contract, he’s already completed his toughest task, which was passing Baltimore’s physical exam*. The details of the contract aren’t that important (they can be found here), but at an average annual value of $12.5 million, at first glance this looks like a decent deal for the Orioles, especially if you’re last memory of Jimenez is the unhittable version of him from the 2013 All-Star break to the end of the season.
*I know the whole “passing a Baltimore Orioles physical” has been overdone this offseason, but I felt that it was my duty to make sure I had at least one joke in here about it. Although any joke probably wouldn’t top this tweet from former Orioles’ pitcher Jeremy Guthrie.
Don’t discount the fact that I passed 5 Orioles physicals. #CareerAccomplishments
— Jeremy Guthrie (@TheRealJGuts) January 23, 2014
If you’ve been reading the different opinions about the Jimenez signing, you see a lot of the emphasis on how the signing affects the team’s playoff chances in 2014. This is important to talk about for a couple of reasons. One is that since Jimenez will be 30 years old during the 2014 season, there is a decent chance that the first year of his contract will be his best. Second, with all the recent talk of Baltimore’s current window of contention potentially closing in the next year or two (Hardy and Markakis are free agents after 2014, while Wieters and Davis will be free agents after 2015), it appears that productive seasons from Jimenez will be more valuable to the team’s success in his first 2 years than his last 2 years. There may be a bit of truth to both of these points, but I don’t necessarily want to focus only on 2014 in this post. Continue reading
Orioles Proving Ground 