{"id":50030,"date":"2025-04-22T07:30:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T07:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=50030"},"modified":"2025-04-22T07:30:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T07:30:45","slug":"breaking-news-three-potential-paths-to-fix-the-orioles-ghastly-pitching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=50030","title":{"rendered":"Breaking News: Three Potential Paths to Fix the Orioles\u2019 Ghastly Pitching"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Brian<\/p>\n

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The Orioles are a team of extremes. This was no more apparent than in this weekend\u2019s three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds, where one day after being stifled by a crafty lefty (Andrew Abbott), they put a beating on one of the top RHPs in baseball (Hunter Greene). Then, after that latter convincing 9-5 win\u2026well, we\u2019ll get to that in a moment.<\/p>\n

It should come as no surprise as the Orioles have had titanic success against RHP this year (pacing baseball with a 131 wRC+) while performing downright ghoulishly against southpaws (29th\u00a0with a 55 wRC+).<\/p>\n

That being said, I do see some natural regression towards the mean against lefties. Tyler O\u2019Neill\u2019s NEGATIVE 44 wRC+ against lefties won\u2019t hold.\u00a0Gunnar Henderson,\u00a0Adley Rutschman,\u00a0Ramon Laureano\u00a0and\u00a0Jordan Westburg\u00a0should all be closer to 110 wRC+ players against lefties than the below average performers they\u2019ve been thus far.<\/p>\n

This lineup currently sits 8th<\/sup>\u00a0overall in baseball in wRC+, and it should surprise no one if the Orioles are neck-in-neck with the Dodgers and Yankees all year for best offense in baseball.<\/p>\n

The bullpen is fine.<\/p>\n

The rotation\u2026is not. This was no more clear than yesterday, in an event that some Orioles faithful are dubbing \u201cRed Easter\u201d (ok, no one\u2019s calling it that) in which Cincinnati, led by a 6-for-7 performance by one-time Norfolk backup catcher\u00a0Austin Wynns, absolutely blazed\u00a0Charlie Morton\u00a0and a potpourri of Orioles waiver wire claims,\u00a0Cionel Perez, and bench position players for 24 runs.<\/p>\n

YIKES. Somehow, the Orioles came into that game with a positive run differential. Needless to say, that is no longer the case.<\/p>\n

If you squint, the Orioles rotation might have two credible back-end starters (Tomoyuki Sugano\u00a0and\u00a0Dean Kremer), and one #6-type (Brandon Young). Morton looks cooked.\u00a0Cade Povich\u00a0looks like AAA depth.\u00a0Zach Eflin\u00a0might be back in a turn or two. Who knows about Chace McDermott or\u00a0Trevor Rogers, who both have major questions even if they are healthy?<\/p>\n

So where do the Orioles turn to fill two rotation spots?<\/p>\n

I have a few ideas. Let\u2019s play GM.<\/p>\n

Idea 1: Prospect Challenge Trade<\/h3>\n

Anyone remember the Jazz Chisholm-for-Zac Gallen\u00a0trade that the Marlins and Diamondbacks swung a few years ago?<\/p>\n

I have a new version of that trade.<\/p>\n

Orioles trade\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Coby Mayo<\/p>\n

Twins trade<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zebby Matthews
\nThe Twins are a relatively pitching-rich organization.\u00a0David Festa\u00a0and Matthews, who started the year in the Twins AAA rotation, would have been a nice 1-2 punch for the Orioles.<\/p>\n

The Orioles love Mayo and have for a while. However, as long as\u00a0Ryan Mountcastle\u00a0is on this team, it\u2019s become clear that the Orioles don\u2019t have a spot for Coby on the big league roster, especially as the evidence mounts that Mayo is not an MLB-caliber 3B defender. With the Orioles seemingly uninterested in trying Mayo in the corner OF, his fate has become inextricably linked to Mountcastle.<\/p>\n

I would suggest a Mountcastle-for-pitching trade instead, but I suspect Mounty would more likely get us someone like\u00a0Chris Paddack\u00a0than a potential impact guy like Matthews. I\u2019d rather just roll with Povich over Paddack.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s think about this a little further.<\/p>\n

Pitching analyst extraordinaire Thomas Nestico absolutely adores Matthews. After a recent AAA start, Nestico published this graphic regarding Matthews on his page @TJstats:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Matthews is a control\/command artist (plus-plus) who has seen a recent jump in stuff in 2025.<\/p>\n

Matthews now sports a near-80 grade fastball that sits in the high-90s and multiple plus secondaries including a slider and change-up that he can command to both sides of the plate.<\/p>\n

Somehow, the 7-15 Twins (yup O\u2019s fans, it can get worse) have Matthews wasting pitches in AAA in favor of Morton-challenger-for-worst-pitcher in baseball Paddack.<\/p>\n

Some fans have pushed the Mayo-for-Sandy Alcantara\u00a0narrative, myself included. However, in Matthews the Orioles would net more years of control, a better health track record, and more promising current performance. Matthews is the epitome of stability, and the Orioles desperately need that in their rotation.<\/p>\n

Idea 2: Aggressive Pitching Promotions<\/h3>\n

In a way, this has already begun. I noted on X a few weeks ago that the Orioles are allowing their pitching prospects to throw more pitches, much earlier in the season, than they did in previous years.<\/p>\n