One supposes that this was inevitable, but still it is sad to see someone with the talent that Matusz showed earlier in his career pretty much losing it so soon.

It is sad. Noone likes to see anyone fall apart in front of the world. This is not a physical issue anymore. Rick Ankiel?

I think this is the right move. I feel for the kid but he can't keep getting run out there every five days to get lit up like a pinball machine. I have a lot of very negative feelings about this whole franchise right now--IMO, this is the worst season I have witnessed in 45 years of watching this team--but I don't particularly blame Matusz for his struggles and I hope he can turn things around by next year.

This is the right move. A case study to consider: just a couple years ago, the Os were very high on Jim Johnson and pressed him into the closer role. He eventually failed at that. About that time his stock was waaay down. Since then he had some health issues slow him down, but now has clearly reclaimed his good performance. Today you could argue that he just wasn't ready back then to close, but might be able to do it now, were it not for the chance he's being offered to start. It's all happening because he is a good pitcher.

All of this and more can certainly happen for Matusz. He's at a low point, but he just needs to gird his loins, put the head down, and get to work. He was initially handed the starting job. Now he's got to earn it. Nothing would make us Os fans prouder to see him do it.

Rule 1. You never have enough pitching.
Rule 2. Never draft a pitcher when you have one of the top ten choices.

How could a Matusz look like he was ready to be a mainstay neat the top of pitching rotation and then lose his ability to get hitters out? His quotes tell you that he is powerless to correct things right now. Hopefully he will figure things out in the offseason. I still wonder if he is injured because otherwise it just does not make sense. At this point, Matusz needs to go to the minors and stay there until gets his command and fastball back. I would not bring him up again until he is ready to pitch effectively at the major league level.

Hopefully the O's will sign a couple of free agent starting pitching. Livan Hernandez currently with the Nationals is one I would consider - even if is just a Spring Training invitation. Not sure how his stuff would play out in the AL East but the guy knows how to pitch and would come pretty cheaply. He certainly would do not worst that Reyes, Simon, and Guthrie manning the 4th or 5th starters role, and he could teach our young pitchers what pitching is really about.

A ERA of 9+ runs a game cannot be explained by "mechanical issues".

I hate all the excuse making. Brian has no one to blame, but himself. He's an adult and a professional. This was his 3rd year. I don't know what his problem is, but whatever it is, he needs to be gone....pitchers just don't come back and have long successful careers after years like this.

Despite what Buck says, the Orioles should do no more than a quick look at him next year in Spring Training. Then bye-bye.

I like the move, but I'd still like to hear some straight talk on why he's gone through such a precipitous decline. Is it conditioning, a change in mechanics, other teams figuring him out? As a fan, the silence is disconcerting, and I'd take misinformation over no information, frankly. The alternative-that the O's brass doesn't know what's wrong with him-is unacceptable.

Very sad for Brian's fans here at the University of San Diego. We're still pulling for him.

Hate to say I told you so but Matusz should have been shut down in July, and sent home to work with a strength and conditioning coach. I'd still like to know how he spent last offseason after he got the money. In high school and college there are a lot of people to look out for these kids. Brian obviously couldn't handle it on his own. I still think he has a promising future but he needs to forget about baseball for awhile. I predict he will be back, better, bigger, stronger and wiser.

That being said, Buck blew this big time by continuing to send him out there.

it would seem to me that the problem with matusz is his head. the way he pitched last season and this season he can't get anyone out from watching films etc. i just cannot thin of any other reason is mental status. as for playing tonights game does it really mmatter if it ever gets played. the orioles are not capable to ply the part of a spoiler. just liet it go and start over next season.

I give Matusz credit for not trying to nail down what is wrong and instead focusing his energies on the right way to pitch.

It is way past time he embarked on this path. The club needs to forget about using him out of the bullpen because he needs to focus on becoming a pitcher first and foremost.

The organization has wasted a lot of time short circuiting hie redevelopment to insert him back into the rotation and I think he will be hard pressed to be ready in the Spring.

Relax people. Here's a quiz - whose stats are these:

8-7 3.92
4-7 10.64

Roy Halladay's 1st and 2nd season. Things like this happen. Brian was clearly not healthy in the spring, then, just as they did with Bergeon, they rushed him back before he was healthy and his velocity was way down. He got back, but in trying to muscle up he lost his delivery and now his confidence is shot.

If the O's get a pitching coach and Brian gets healthy, there is no reason he won't be back. His college and minor league years were not a fluke, nor was it a luke that he was one of the best pitchers in the league the second half of last year.

Matusz, like many on this ballclub, has been INFECTED with the virus of losing. His only hope for having a productive MLB career is to be moved elsewhere in the offseason when Buck will be looked upon to do his real managing.