Looks like Tillman...

[Matt P]

97mph in the 9th inning ... clearly the only two ways he will ever help the Orioles is by being a reliever or traded.

[Matt P]

What he has done through the Fourth shows he can be an effective reliever. What he does in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh will determine if he can be an effective ML SP. If he can make quality starts in at least seven of his next ten starts I will be the first to admit I underestimated him.

Jason Hammel has 8 quality starts in 16 starts this season and you need 7 out of 10 from Tillman to admit you were wrong? Wow, you really are a riot.

[ofahn]

having this joke of a defense behind them puts a lot of pressure on the pitchers and forces them to make extra outs.

That's why I think we should focus our trade efforts on improving the defense at 3B (and 2B if the team does not think that Roberts will be back at an ML level). I still think our best trade chip is Hammel but the FO may want to hold on to him because he would be very hard to replace this season and they probably want to at least win 82 games.

Our second best trade chip is Jim Johnson and he's replaceable this year. There are a lot of teams that would give us two top prospects for him and you could flip one of those and a second piece (Bridwell, Hoes?) to San Diego for Headley. That would shore up 3B. When Nick comes back RF will take care of itself and IMO Flaherty will hit at least as well as Andino at 2B with a much better glove. Avery is a solid defender in LF which leaves Davis at 1B. BIG room for improvement there but that might have to wait until the Winter to resolve itself.

Sure, Losing JJ will cost us some wins but a solid defense might get those back and a few more.

[OriolesRedskins28]

having this joke of a defense behind them puts a lot of pressure on the pitchers and forces them to make extra outs.

That's why I think we should focus our trade efforts on improving the defense at 3B (and 2B if the team does not think that Roberts will be back at an ML level). I still think our best trade chip is Hammel but the FO may want to hold on to him because he would be very hard to replace this season and they probably want to at least win 82 games.

Our second best trade chip is Jim Johnson and he's replaceable this year. There are a lot of teams that would give us two top prospects for him and you could flip one of those and a second piece (Bridwell, Hoes?) to San Diego for Headley. That would shore up 3B. When Nick comes back RF will take care of itself and IMO Flaherty will hit at least as well as Andino at 2B with a much better glove. Avery is a solid defender in LF which leaves Davis at 1B. BIG room for improvement there but that might have to wait until the Winter to resolve itself.

Sure, Losing JJ will cost us some wins but a solid defense might get those back and a few more.

I would love that. To essentially exchange Jim Johnson and Bridwell for Headley would be fantastic. Improving third base would make the other holes (second and first) not seem nearly as bad. Third base isn't just bad right now it's atrocious so just about anything that would bring them a 2 way third base stud like Headley is OK in my books (outside of Machado, Bundy, Schoop, Delmonico, and a couple others). Headley would GREATLY improve the team's defense and completely solidify the lineup IMO.

They can't be too serious about winning if they continue to trot out Betemit and Reynolds at third (or Andino/Flaherty neither of whom can hit nearly well enough to play third), either that or they don't place nearly enough value on defense.

[Matt P]

Honestly, can you please explain how Tillman has to have 7 out of 10 quality starts to prove he is a major league starter when nobody else on the staff has a 70% quality start rate. Does that mean Hammel and Chen are not major league starters? By claiming he needs a 70% quality start rate you are saying he needs to be the best pitcher on the staff just to prove he is worthy of starting in the major leagues. That is a bit much don't you think?

[Matt P]

By the way he was optioned to AA so he can start on Monday and not be idle through the break.

http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roc ... -game.html

[TuckerBlair89]

By the way he was optioned to AA so he can start on Monday and not be idle through the break.

http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roc ... -game.html

I'm fine with this, as should everyone.
I'm also thinking about going.

[OriolesRedskins28]

By the way he was optioned to AA so he can start on Monday and not be idle through the break.

http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roc ... -game.html

I'm fine with this, as should everyone.
I'm also thinking about going.

I think it will serve as an opportunity for TIllman to work on some of the things he may have struggled with in his start yesterday like locating his offspeed stuff and it will also be a good opportunity for him to have a low pitch count game after throwing 125.