The Orioles have been making a little bit of noise each year, usually in picking up players that they can flip, or a veteran or two to guide their clubhouse, they have now however got a pretty solid 5 man rotation, without a single member over 29 years old. The oldest pitcher on the Orioles staff is 29 yr old Jason Hammel who was received from Colorado along with Matt Lindstrom for Jeremy Guthrie. Getting that much value out of Guthrie, who should be looked at as nothing more than a reliable innings eater, and shows how clever the people that Baltimore has at the top of their organization really are. That isn’t to say that Hammel is an ace, but to say that he’s younger and slightly cheaper than Guthrie with the ability to produce similar results.
Looking at the Rotation, now 3 full turns through, Baltimore is going to experience some growing pains but they’re looking to be a much improved team from last year. Of the starters only Jake Arrieta and Brian Matusz are holdovers from last season’s club. Matusz put together a pretty good 2010 season, before only turning in 12 starts in 2011, but at 26 still has room to grow and improve as a pitcher. Arrieta has similarly produced slightly below league average results but looks to be growing into himself as a pitcher at the major league level and could prove to be a respectable 3 or 4 pitcher.
Tommy Hunter who was received along side Chris Davis from Texas for Koji Uehara has shown some great skill having put together a very good year in 2010 and a respectable 2009 looks to be struggling a bit with his walk rate up about 1 additional walk per 9 and having given up 6 home runs already, he will need to make adjustments to come close to the potential he showed in Texas.
Wei-Yin Chen rounds out the rotation as the international signing that rounds out the rotation. Chen has pitched lights out so far, despite often having men on base (1.385 WHIP slightly higher than CC Sabathia so far this season) he has been able to keep the ball on the ground, and keep his ERA to a sparkling 2.60 over 17.1 innings. Chen may well be the anchor that the Orioles need to keep this rotation moving throughout the season.
The team has been winning despite their less than stellar production from the rotation but if this rotation can put it together throughout the long season, the Orioles might well be able to pull a coup (by their standards) and avoid the bottom of the division this season. That said, Matt Wieters, Nolan Reimold, and Adam Jones aren’t likely to keep up this torrid pace, but if the team begins producing as a whole, the race in the AL East could look a good bit different than it has in recent years.
With Pineiro being cut by the Phillies and now being picked up by the Orioles, now seems as good a time as any to look at his career, and see what, if anything, the Os can expect from the 33 year old. Pineiro has a 4.41 career ERA, which is about as pedestrian as they come (this equates to a career ERA+ of 96), but Pineiro has only ever been close to that ERA for a season twice, his 2004 season with the Mariners where he had a 4.67 ERA (98 ERA+) and in 2007 where he split time between Boston and St. Louis finishing the season strong in St. Louis to lower his ERA for the season to 4.33 (though his ERA+ was a 105 for the year). Looking at Pineiro’s stat sheet he has been perhaps one of the cruelest jokes in baseball. He has either been fairly dominant (5 years with an ERA below 4.00 and 6 with an ERA+ over 100) or absolutely terrible (5 years with an ERA over 5, and an ERA+ of 83 or less). Pineiro has the ability to be a No. 2 starter on most staffs one year, and the next he could have the fans clamoring for his release as loudly as Yankees fans pushed to get rid of A.J. Burnett.
Pineiro’s opportunity for success lies largely on his ability to keep the ball down in the zone. In his best seasons since leaving the fly ball friendly Safeco Field, he has been able to keep his GB/FB ratio around 1.00 or better. Last season aside, his strikeout and walk ratios have been pretty steady, strikeouts hovering between 12 and 14.4% and walks not straying far from 6.5%, so if he can return to those numbers, he could find himself having one less thing to worry about this year.
The Orioles view Pineiro as a long reliever, likely with the first crack at the rotation if someone goes down with an injury, and that might work out for them as an affordable 1 year contract. There’s really nothing to lose for the Orioles who are penciled in to take last place in the AL East this year. There is however, a bunch to gain for Mr. Pineiro. I don’t know that I can see this improving Baltimore’s chances to get out of the basement in the AL East, but they may be looking at Pineiro as a clubhouse addition more than an on the field addition, and if he can produce even 0.5 WAR this season, they’ll be happy enough to have had him aboard.
Pineiro does need to return to form after last season, and as a product of Dave Duncan’s tutelage in St, Louis he can find success with his sinker, he can’t afford to give up too many fly balls with Baltimore, Camden Yards is not exactly a spacious park, and he’ll be seeing a very potent stream of AL East teams this year. For Pineiro to be effective this year though, his defense will have to come up in a big way, which so long as fate keeps the ball away from Mark Reynolds at 3rd base, could very well happen.
