What's sad, Schmuck, is that we've had to endure both Trachsel and Eaton in back to back seasons.

Who gets paid to evaluate these pitchers, seriously?

It's amazing to me that "baseball people" can't see that Eaton stands zippy chance of giving you any more than you would have gotten from Chris Waters, David Pauley, David Hernandez, Tillman, Berken... you name it, really.

The guy has absolutely nothing, except a World Series ring and veteranosity. Which, hopefully, they're learning doesn't mean jack when you're not talented.

This stuff shouldn't be this difficult.

Pete, you're wrong here. He did answer.
In the negative, but an answer just the same.
What is Pie all about? I watched his 3 at bats tonite. Clueless if it's not a fastball. I was all for the experiment, but he is just one big mess at the plate. And sitting on the bench is not going to help him out. At some point, he either plays or goes.

If anyone believes this Eaton guy should throw one more pitch for the O's, well, bring on the white coats. You're right Pete, although you fudged a tiny bit with an "if" factor, poor Adam is done. I thought he should have been released to clear the spot for Rich Hill.

And while I'm at it on the roster makeup, I'd rather see Weiters hit .200 than Zaun. Hopefully that change will come soon.

If it were not for Jones and Markakis, this team would truly not be worth watching.

Too bad. I had high hopes Eaton would pitch 125-plus innings and have an era around 5 or a little more. That would have been very useful on this staff. I hate to see anyone (well, with a few exceptions) try and try at something, and just fail to make any headway. Especially since whoever we plug in there is going to be the same thing Eaton was in April--a hope.

Pete,

On an unrelated comment, I unfortunately hadn't yet turned on my radio, I do that to listen to Fred and Joe and watch the game, but we had Gary Thorne on and I must say he's terrible. Its TV not radio we can see what is happening. So he says its a change up, and no its an 87 MPH slider or he says its outside and NO its 3 inches off the ground right down the middle. He flat out talks too much, I know he's a lawyer but either he does a lot of guessing or has terrible eyes and while he has a very soothing voice he says little of value! Thats what it has come to, the team sucks and I'm ragging on the announcers! How many times can you say release Eaton! Just a random thought!

The only consolation to another likely loss (other than the O's offense actually fought back and made this interesting) is that Eaton will hopefully never make another start as an Oriole.

The only thing sad about this is the Os not getting any pitching during the offseason and the fans having to see this mess.

Pete,

Do you know anything more about the mets interest in Huff?

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Pete's reply: I'm sure they will inquire about him, but I don't know how much they will give up.

So who would replace him? Chris Waters? I won't be unhappy to see him go but I'm just curious to see who takes his place.

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Pete's reply: Or David Pauley.

My only fear was that Eaton would be just borderline good enugh tonight to maybe hang on a bit longer. Sure didn't take long for that fear to disappear. It's a shame he couldn't pull it together here, but it's been pretty obvious for some time that he was done. I think I'd bring Waters up myself.

Every fifth day i write something like:

"Does Adam Eaton have compromising pictures of Dave Trembly?"

or

"He stinks like a 3 day old waterlogged chum-line"

or

"Adam Eaton gives off the aroma of a Back River fish-kill in August."

OK...its no longer funny. Players usually don't read these blogs, but you never know. I don't want to hurt the guys feelings anymore.

But heck, the guy has more money in the bank then I do! So one more for the road...

"When Eaton is pitching, what do the O's do with 50 fly balls? Catch 22."

The only good that comes out of the latest embarassing loss is that we've likely seen the end of Eaton.
In response to an earlier post re: worst O's staff ever, you raised the valid question about how to view Hill and Bergeson. I think both have some upside but Hill has some health issues and given our poor track record, he won't last the entire year. I hate to be the voice of doom but I predict he ends up missing more than a few starts.
Bergeson is still learning at the MLB level and as Boston showed the Jays' young starters, there's a big difference between AAA ball. I project Bergeson to flirt with a .500 record and have an ERA around .500.
So in a nutshell, we probably have the worst rotation in MLB, except for the Nats. Historically, even in our darkest days, we always seemed to have one or even 2 decent starters-Mussina, Erickson, a couple of good Sir Syd years. the ''09 edition may well have no starters with a winning record, or a 12 game winner or anyone with an ERA under .500. Those numbers don't lie and we can only pray that the phenoms are as good as advertised/and/or stay healthy; otherwise we are in for more lean years.

I am sick of seeing Pie and his pathetic batting avg. starting! When are the O's, Trembly going to give up on Macphills project! As of end of game, today May 21, Reimold is hitting .296 and avg rising fast; Montanez is only 204 but he won triple crown in AAA and his avg is rising..let Montanez play and see if he pans out and give up on Pie!!!!

It's a good thing Washington has a team after all. WIth the Orioles on pace to win 63 games, the Nats might be their only hope of not finishing with the worst record in baseball.

When are the O's also going to give Oscar Salazar of Norfolk Tides a true chance playing for the O's. Salazar is now hitting .396 for Norfok and has power (7 home runs). When he was brought up last Sept. for the O's he hit 2 home runs in one game..Why dont the O's give him a chance!!! Also this pathetic pitching has gotta be helped soon by someone on Norfolk! Bring some of the young arms up and let them throw for the O's!

In 53 years of rooting for the Orioles I have never been more ashamed of the team. I don't blame Eaton--everybody but Trembley and MacPhail knew his major league career was over three starts ago. But what really stinks is leaving him in to get his 95 pitches after giving up 6 runs in the first 2 innings. Granted, the team is not trying to win the AL East this year, but they should not concede games in the 2nd inning. Trembley will say he didn't want to use up his bullpen but why not? You'll be getting a fresh arm from the minors tomorrow when Eaton drops off the roster.

To repeat yesterday's request, which was accidentally sent without my name: PLEASE ask Trembley if he has considered putting a RH hitter between Markakis and Huff so they don't automatically face LH relievers in the late innings of close games.
Thanks!

sad you got it half right this was eatons last stop in journeymanville , sad yes that we still have to watch these scrapheap rejects pitch for this team SAD again for the fans i wrote you a couple of months ago when eaton was demoted to reading double a , and wieters hit a shot that is still heading to mars ,and we pick him up . enough lets see these young kids pitch , we have the hitters , this is eleven years allready , and take pie with him , with reimold jones and nick we have the best outfield in baseball not to mention montnez too. sad yes its sad that we are all brainwashed with this management , by the way i watched newhan play here in aaa allentown and he can still hit .

Pete,

I have to commend you, no not on your impecable taste in wardrobe, no not on your mastery of the english language and writing skills! I want to commend you for having to put up with another year of the worst team in the AL. Really, talk about the patience of Job? These guys can take the wind out of your sails in like 3 batters getting back to back to back doubles in the first! They seem to be playing listless and I guess with such shitty pitching your mental approach to day in and day out losing begins to mount when your playing the hottest team in baseball in baseballs best division! I really don't want to see Pauly or Waters who are probably AAAA long relievers at best. It's time to bring up our most mature best starting option along with Matt Wieters now. Go with Koji, Guthrie, Hill Bergesen and our most developed prospect! At least we have the future to look forward to in lieu of constant reminders of the last 12 years and how little the Warehouse did in the off-season to get us two more respectable starters!

Mr. Schmuck,

I really do feel bad for Eaton, its sad to see someone struggle so badly, and its not like he is serving up these gopher balls on purpose. He seems to be a decent guy, but he really has to go at this point before the bullpen is completely torn to shreds before the AS break backing up his starts.

At the same time though I've pretty lost patience with the way the team is being run. They have a lineup that can keep them in almost any game, as long as the pitching does somewhat decent. But they decide to roll out these clowns who do little more than throw the ball over the plate for the other team to bang around the park like a pinball machine. How many more games does Tillman have to win to get called up, or how many more Ks does Hernandez have to ring up before he finally gets a shot??

Lets see what these guys can do, Bergesen is holding his own right now for the most part. This developing stuff is a bunch of crap, thats something you have the luxury of doing when your two best starters AREN'T a combined 5-7 with sparkling ERAs of 4.34 and 5.37. And if these kids aren't tough enough to deal with a few bad outings then they aren't gonna make it anyway, but I know I for one am sick and tired of turning on the tv night after night to watch these pitchers slinging BP to the other team, when is help on the way?

I told my dad before the game started that we would be losing at least 5-0 before the second inning was over.I was under bya run.I hope Eaton is gone and takes Pie with him,and Andino as well,would have rather had Chris Gomez and never understood why we brought him here and never even gave him a chance at getting the utility job?Wiggint on starts to hit,and hesits him down for poor feilding,no hittin Pie,I don't get it.Zaun has started hitting and he sits him last night for no hittin,poor pitch calling ,no throwing Moeller.As far as I am concerned Mr.McPhail has saddled this team with 6 non-producers to start the season.Hendrickson,Freel,Andino,Pie,Eaton,Moeller,and I think Chris Ray should haved started in the minors til his mechanics and location were fine.The Yankees beat us with their bullpen for 81/3 inning,how sad is that.Goodbye Adam,I hope it's the last we see of you.Trembleys comments before the game just further convinced me that he's another yes man who has no say whatsoever in how this team is run.Just another yesman,like the previous three before him.DaveyJohnson expressed interest in coming back before Trembley was hired.Did the Orioles offer him a sniff at the job?absolutely not,they knew he wouldn't put up with this mess.It's disgusting and pathetic.We're rebuilding,but have no consistent players under 30 other than Markakis,Jones,and just maybe Reimhold.Sad to be an O's fan.

All I can say...I was fortunate enough to pitch on a Legion team with more poise, stuff & guts than this supposed "Major League" squad. Whomever convinces this organization to pick up this garbage should be fired immediately...can anyone say PUKE now!

I'm really against bringing up Waters or Pauley to replace Eaton. I think if that happens then we will be having this same discussion again in a month or two. These guys are not the future, and I don't know how many more stopgaps,or Garrett Olson Rhadamis Liz types I can stomach.
The time has come for drastic action. The time for Chris Tillman has come. Of course that won't happen until late August/September when he's a bit more tired, and the results and enthusiasm won't be as great. And they'll probably even have him start next year in triple A again.
The thing is (and I think I can safely speak for the vast majority of O's fans), that we need something. Anything to keep us interested. This season has been so depressing. I don't want to hear about the tempermental mental makeup of young pitchers anymore. I just want some sign that the Orioles will not suck for the rest of my life. This organization has got to take a step outside their comfort zone and take a chance. The time has come.
If Tillman hadn't begun his career in the Seattle organization, but had been drafted by the Orioles, there is no doubt in my mind that he would be pitching at Delmarva right now, or Fredrick at best. The men that run this organization are all cowards. Tell me one person who ever made something out of nothing that didn't have an adventurous spirit and a willingness to take risks.

Pauley or Waters would be a waste of innings.Neither one of these guys have a future with the O's. Berken has a one something ERA and has nothing left to prove in the minors.He's 25 years old, not a kid.Pie needs to be waived when Luke gets back next week. Total waste of a roster spot with the way Reimold is hitting.

Pete,

I would appreciate your scorecard on the O's offseason moves. it looks like a lot of failing grades to me -- Pie, Eaton, Hendrickson, Zaun,... Only Itzuris and Moeller get passing marks on my report card.

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Pete's reply: I'm willing to give Pie a little more time and I think Zaun was the right move under the circumstances. Nobody thought he was going to be Johnny Bench. But overall, the group has not been very good.

I bet they give him another shot. He will get 13 starts and Pie will get at least 25 more games, before action is taken. I am sure if you asked Eaton why he is still in the rotation he could not answer that question. He knows he has been struggling.

He did get a sweet deal from the Phillies.

When you keep giving a "batting practice" pitcher the ball, you continue to get "batting practice" results.

Unless at least 2 of the 3 (Reimold - Montanez - Pie) start scorching the ball I would not trade Huff.

Jones is a distinct possibility for first base (drafted as a SHORTSTOP). He's going to get thicker, and unfortunately, slower. He's going to be a "superstar" so it could be best to protect his wheels.

Eaton cannot pitch in the mlb. Time to cut bait and let him run!

Good Riddance! Don't let the door hit you in the rear on your way out! And don't forget to take a piece of "Pie" with you.

There is little pleasure in watching someone try and fail. Eaton has done that and it is painful to watch.

I am not sure that either of the choices to replace him will do much better but they certainly cannot be any worse.

i think for the orioles hitter's to gain more confidence they should let eaton pitch batting practice. what was philadelphia thinking paying him $9 million. my guess is eaton will be pitching for the nats next week.

Your speculation as a replacement for Eaton is either Waters, Paulley or Hernandez. What about Tillman? He's young but he's outpitched all three at Norfolk. Why not bring him up and let him get his feet wet?

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Pete's reply: That's the discussion we've been having for weeks. When is the right time? He's definitely the best prospect, but the O's are being very careful with him.

The O's aren't going anywhere this season, why not use Eaton's spot in the rotation as a trial under fire for our up and coming young pitchers. The Orioles could bring a young pitcher up for 3 or 4 weeks and he should get 3 or 4 starts during this time then rotate another pitcher up. Who knows, one of these youngsters may be further along than the the coaching staff believes. I don't see where this would be any worse than what's happening with the so called veterans we have been forced to endure the last few years. Who knows, with the way our coaches have been evaluating pitching the last decade, we may find a diamond in the ruff. It's amazing with pitchers these days, they pitch less frequently, pitch less innings, and have more arm problems. Could it be the weight lifting has pitchers these days with tighter muscles and this is what's causing all the arm problems? Just a thought I have.

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Pete's reply: Nobody knows the answer to that, but it's a fair question.

Why is it that, when a pro player in any sport is about to get released by a team, do writers and announcers whine about his future getting a job? Anyone who signs a contract for a million plus --- which is a big percentage of the released --- should not be in financial difficulty for several years in the future with a modicum of money management. After all, a "contract" is actually a gift of money, since a level of performance is not required. And most of them land on their feet in another city.
Add to this the fact that a big part of the contract money comes from every-day working folks who shell out obscene amounts of money for tickets to watch the poor babies. Those are the people who deserve words of concern.
Don't mistake me for a malcontent. I have been a sports fan since the 50s, but not until the last couple decades has the sturm and drang been so loud from the pundits.

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Pete's reply: Maybe we're just more empathetic than we used to be. I said it's always sad when guys lose their skills, but I also said that Eaton is a very rich man and doesn't need the job. I think both statements are true.

Word on the street is that the Os bullpen are all applying for positions with the Border Patrol since they would be able to let in anyone they want but it wouldn't cost us a game.

Hi Pete: Well we are almost a into June and the Orioles will not allow any suspense this year. At least last year, the first few months they appeared to play in an acceptable manner. This year they begin the season with no hope and it looks like a least 105 or more losses. I followed the Orioles since 1958 and this is team and the 1988 team are the two worst teams in my memory. The saving grace in 1988 was all the young players on the team and the next year they almost won the division. I do not see that happening with this team.

It is not just the pitching, when they get good pitching they forget how to hit and when they get bad pitching they score a few runs. The team can not hit competent pitching and look like boys against men when confronted with good pitching. They make bone head base running errors and in critical stages of a game can't field the ball.

To sum up can't pitch, can't hit and have a below average defense. Pete what hope is there for the next several years. I do not see it!! With the same core players, next year and the following year will be similar. I do not think the talent in the minors is good and certainly, when we see pitchers promoted from the minors,they get bombed. Contrast that with number that young pitchers from the minors have put on the this team. Other teams have reliable talent in the minors!

Andrew George, Harrisburg, PA

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Pete's reply: Maybe they are doing it in reverse this year, playing bad early and then beginning their rise to respectability at the end when the young guys come up. Wouldn't that be better than what has been happening the past few years?

Have you seen this website?

http://www.mattwietersfacts.com/

You're even mentioned on it. Enjoy.

You folks just don't get it. Not bringing up the young guns and Wieters is about one thing - it starts with "m" and rhymes with "honey." Bringing those folks up sooner means that the Orioles have to deal with arbitration and lose control over them earlier in their careers when they ultimately end up signing with the Yankees or Red Sox anyways. Let them stay down until they're ready for a September call-up. They can't help this team right now. Everybody knew the O's pitching would be abysmal - the only question was how bad? I think we know the answer to that question. We just need to be patient.

A few changes the Orioles should make. Release Eaton (bet I'm the first who thought of that!), send Ray to Norfolk to get back on track. Send Montanez to AAA to get his stroke back. Bring up Tillman and Miller. Platoon Wigginton and Scott at first and bring up Salazar when you trade Huff to the Mets. A question : If Pie were traded, could the receiving team send him down? Could he be included in a deal with the Mets and, as a minor leaguer, later be dealt back to the Orioles (based on a secret agreement)? See how easy this GM job is?

Good thing we let Penn go so he could join the rotation.

Pete, let's assume that the pitching fiasco was predictable. Let's assume that the front office is at least as smart as the average fan and knew that pitchers like Eaton would not suddenly get better in the twilight of their career. So the question is - why? Why do they sign such predictable junk? Is money a factor? For example, if management thinks the Os are not competitive, to they just throw in the towel and treat the season as a "development" season and filed the cheapest possible non-future players? Of is available ML pitching that scarce? It just seems like the guys calling the shots are either dumber than the average fan, or there are motivations that we're unaware of. What gives? How do we end up with the Eatons of the world?

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Pete's reply: To buy time for the young guys to develop. We often seem to know what's going to happen, but sometimes we don't and they catch lightning in a bottle. I scoffed when the picked up Rodrigo Lopez from the Mexican League and he was the club's winningest pitcher for three or four years.

Eaton must go (released). Pie must go (reassignment).

Any chance the O's could use Eaton out of the pen...as long relief in games that are already out of hand (instead of using a right fielder or the backup catcher)...LOL

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Pete's reply: Guess not. He's gone.

I am on the bandwagon for developing young players...but they should not be surprised at all with declining attendance (bad team/poor economy/high unemployment).

My proposed solution is to go out and pick up a couple of "big ticket" free agents this off-season. With Markakis, Roberts, Jones, and Weiters...there is a good core of position players to work with. If we were to add a stud pitcher and one more position player to the mix next year...I am optimistic the O's could be competitive. Also, it would prove to fans they are willing to compete....

Just my two cents....

yes,patience is necessary. so much so, that i have yet to go to the yard.
i'm waiting for the real players to show up. these impersonators of ballplayers, has gone on far to long!!