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Steve Davis: Starting Pitching Woes

The Orioles won again, despite a shorter than acceptable outing from a starting pitcher. This time it was Bud Norris, who only gave up 3 hits and 2 runs, which you would usually say that was an outstanding performance from your starter. The problem is, he couldn't even go 6 innings, which means it wasn't even a quality start.

This is the 6th time in 7 games a starter hasn't been able to get through at least 7 innings. That isn't going to work if only one guy a week goes 7.

So, what do you do? That answer isn't clear.

Number one, because there isn't an obvious choice right now to slide into the rotation. The Orioles hope that soon it is Gausman. But, he's not ready right now.

Number two, there isn't an obvious guy to remove from the rotation. Of the three guys that you could pull the plug on--Norris, Gonzales, and Chen--no one has been awful. It's not like any of them are getting shelled every time out. They just can't go more than 4 or 5 innings without running into a wall, throwing too many pitches, giving up a few runs. Norris seems to be slightly better than the others, but not by much. My gut tells me if one of them is pushed aside, it's Gonzales, but I don't have a strong feeling.

I do think that, at the current pace, the Orioles cannot keep these 5 in the rotation for the whole year, unless they are prepared to keep a 13 man staff and play musical chairs with a couple of pitchers.
 

 

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