Baltimore Orioles: Buck Showalter on the Pitching Strategy

With a dubious rotation of starting pitchers, the Baltimore Orioles are going to heavily depend upon relief pitching to shorten games and seal victories.

By any Baltimore standard, this has been a big offseason, particularly when totaling the dollars expended for four free agents — at a combined $214.8 million. And even though it is true that O’s owner Peter Angelos will be age 108 when the final deferred payment is sent to Chris Davis, this is a big number.

At the end of the 2015 season (and the beginning of this hopefully still snowless winter), here on The Baltimore Wire we wrote often of the apparent impossible prospect of improving this team. Simply retaining the players from the 81-81 squad was a financially prohibitive proposition. There were going to be holes. Some have been filled, but others remain.

The most glaringly precarious situation is that of the starting rotation. We now have an adequate offensive and defensive lineup, and the bullpen is a great team strength.

Repeatedly of late, including just two days ago, we have written about what is ostensibly the offseason strategy relative to the total pitching roster. Simply stated this theory would go something like this: The Orioles are unwilling to pay the price for top-tier free agent starting pitchers, and the trade resources are not available within the system to secure any help from that direction. Therefore, it is the strategy of the Orioles to maximize the bullpen strengths — shuttling players both in the majors and upper levels of the minors — to fill the gaps created by starters who do not get consistently deep into games.

Of course the management is not going to come right out and say this is the plan. It ain’t sexy. All we get are general statements like “we’re looking around at rotations pitchers and outfielders in an effort to improve our club.”  Well good!  That is what you are supposed to do. And honestly, I’m not being critical or as snarky as that might appear. In DD’s position, I wouldn’t be any more forthcoming.

But what is interesting to me is to read just today in Roch’s column of the quotes of Buck Showalter that essentially support the very notion that the Orioles are indeed employing the above-mentioned bullpen arm strategy of filling out the roster. Listen to this from Buck …

“Let’s face it, guys: Five-year contracts for starting pitchers have proven to be a pretty consistent graveyard. It just doesn’t work. You’re lucky to get three. And that’s what some of these clubs do. They pay five or six to get three, and that’s why the premium is on the June draft and the five or six picks that we’re going to get in the first round. And we’ve got to hit on some of those Friday night pitchers like Kevin Gausman.”

The Orioles are simply not going to spend money on the Price and Scherzer candidates of the world. For the O’s to have such players, they are going to have to come through the draft. And honestly, they should be there. Dylan Bundy should be a top-of-the-rotation starter right now, except for injuries along the way. Frankly, Brian Matusz should be that guy also, given his draft location.

But if such draftees don’t produce as hoped, the Orioles are not likely to buy them from some other place. Rather, the O’s are more likely to function from the back end of the game rather than the front end. It is difficult and wrought with peril, as Buck acknowledges …

“You try to shorten the game as much as possible, but to sit here and think you’re going to pitch four innings out of your bullpen every night … One of the keys is to have optionable pieces in your bullpen where you can move guys in and out and keep pieces that need to be pitching one inning pitching one inning and not get overworked. The other guys who have to pitch multiple innings are guys that are movable pieces, so you can keep everybody healthy. And that’s something we’ve been very proud of, the health of our bullpen.”

If my job was as the driver of what we metaphorically call “the Norfolk taxi,” I’d be feeling very good about my employment. There are a number of optionable pieces for when things go boom.

Next: Is the Orioles starting rotation sufficient?

Again, understand, I’m not being a critic here. Unless the starting pitchers are just totally God awful, I actually think this could work. But every time an Orioles starting pitcher gives the team six to seven quality innings, this strategy is greatly enhanced.

And the best part about it is that it gives writers like me plenty to think upon and write opinions.