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Staff ace role too much for Guthrie
Orioles pitcher not an ideal No. 1 starter
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It wasn't that long ago that Orioles fans - and the media - viewed right-hander Jeremy Guthrie as the steal of the century, which wasn't hard to do since the century was only a few years old anyway.
The Orioles claimed him off waivers in 2007 from the Cleveland Indians, who drafted him in the first round 4 1/2 years earlier, signed him to a major league contract and simply ran out of room for him on their roster.
Guthrie quickly established himself in the starting rotation and made the Orioles' front office look good, for a change, and - faster than you could say, "Let's not get carried away" - he was anointed the club's No. 1 starter by default.
Too fast.
Too soon.
Two Opening Day starts later, Guthrie is wearing the mantle of staff ace uncomfortably. He has struggled with both his command and his confidence on the way to a 4-7 record and a 5.42 ERA through 14 starts. Maybe he'll turn his season around against the Philadelphia Phillies today, but it seems fairly obvious that he would be better off without the added responsibility of leading the Orioles' young pitching staff.
Not that he's complaining. He doesn't even want to talk about it anymore. He just wants to pitch and let his season shake out, but it's pretty obvious what's going on with him.
He is - at this point in his career - more like a No. 3 starter forced to masquerade as a No. 1, which is what he'll be doing when he faces Phillies ace Cole Hamels in the finale of the three-game interleague series at Citizens Bank Park.
It's a little easier to be like Saturday starter Brad Bergesen, who has been pitching very well without the weight of any undue expectation. Guthrie did that during his first year or so with the Orioles, but when you make your second straight Opening Day start, your mind has to start telling you that you're supposed to be the man.
That's why it would be a pretty good idea for Andy MacPhail and owner Peter Angelos to consider spending real money on a quality free-agent starter during the offseason to take some of the pressure off Guthrie and provide additional leadership for the young starters who are getting ready to pop.
I realize that's counterintuitive on a couple of levels. MacPhail is understandably hesitant to spend major dollars on free-agent arms because they historically do not return the bang for the big bucks you have to lay out for them. And this is a team with a group of strong young pitching prospects lining up to join what promises to be a pretty good rotation of the future.
Factor in the thin free-agent crop of starting pitchers poised to come out this winter and it might be an even tougher sell, but an experienced front-line starter - someone like John Lackey or Rich Harden or even Erik Bedard - might just turn Guthrie into a strong No. 2 and help in the development of the young pitchers behind him.
The Orioles' front office used a semblance of that reasoning in the early 1990s, when the team signed veteran Rick Sutcliffe to make the inaugural Opening Day start at brand-new Oriole Park. Sutcliffe absorbed the pressure that comes with being a staff ace so that Ben McDonald and Mike Mussina would have time to develop without that kind of pressure. It worked out for Mussina, though McDonald was unable to remain healthy enough to reach his full potential.
Of course, there's still more than half the season left, and Guthrie could get on a roll at any time. If he could get back to where he was the past two seasons - from an ERA standpoint - the combination of that and an improved Orioles offensive lineup might be enough to justify his place at the top of the rotation.
Either way, there's always a case to be made for upgrading your pitching staff, even when it looks like you've finally got a ton of talent waiting in the wings. There is no greater truism in baseball than the axiom that you can never have too much good pitching.
Listen to Peter Schmuck weeknights at 6 on WBAL (1090 AM) and check out "The Schmuck Stops Here" at baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog.
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MixxI usually agree with you, Peter, but not on this one. Everyone knows Guthrie is not a true "No. 1" guy and he's forced to be in that role because of the situation. I don't think that's the reason his ERA is over 5.00 this year. I don't think it's because he can't handle a bit more of a spotlight (by the way, the whole No. 1 guy gets attention on Opening Day and in the playoffs...after that, it's pretty irrelevant). But it's pretty simple actually. He's not as lucky as he was last year and he's given up too many home runs (17, which leads the league). And last I checked he WAS the No. 1 starter last year, too...didn't bother him then. Secondly, buying a "top notch" starter this offseason should be the *last* thing they do with the kids coming up.But let's compare: HR/9 BB/9 K/92007: 1.2 2.4 6.32008: 1.1 2.7 5.72009: 1.8 2.6 5.7Pretty simple...he keeps the ball in the yard, his ERA will end up in the low to mid 4.00s. Perfectly fine for him.
achelton(06/22/2009)
Very perceptive column. It's no criticism of Jeremy Guthrie to say that that he doesn't have the take-charge personality of a #1 pitcher. Very few people do.He's obviously a very good man. Here's hoping that he can develop just enough fire in his belly to give full expression to his considerable talent and become a very good pitcher. His Sunday outing sure gives reason for optimism.
kjerry(06/22/2009)
Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun
Pete, it's a nice thought to want to add a quality veteran free agent pitcher to take the pressure off Guthrie, but who is that veteran and is that best allocation of resources? Harden and Bedard are great talents with terrible track records of consistent injury issues and Lackey has been hurt for lengthy periods each of the last two years. Couple Bedard's injury history with his attitude and past history in an O's uniform and can't imagine him coming back.Next year's free agent class is horrible. Unless there's a bargain - and you probably won't know that until at least late January - the O's would be better served shifting their potential free agent dollars into cultivating their foreign scouting/developmental interests.
Sweatpants00(06/22/2009)