Late Innings

I got emails from a few Phillies fans today, bragging about how they were able to dump Adam Eaton on my Orioles. My rebuttal was classic: the Phils are still on the hook for (at least) 8.6MM of his 2009 salary.

Eaton, plain and simple, sucks. (Philly.com photo)

The Orioles are taking a low-risk chance. If he pitches poorly in Spring Training, the team can release him. If they take him up North in April, they’ll only have to pay him the minimum 400K for the year. Still I wouldn’t advise on the later. Eaton granted a few years ago was a serviceable #5 starter, however he’d be more of a service for his team by simply not pitching. Granted many teams have had their shares of bad contracts from the past seasons, and I was scratching my heads when the Phillies inked Eaton to the bad three year, 24MM deal.

If the Orioles are looking to eat innings, they have many other options in camp. In other words, don’t simply assume that the Orioles are automatically going to insert Eaton as their fifth starter. I honestly feel that they’ll break camp with David Pauley (obtained from Boston) as the fifth man. He pitched well yesterday, however another option that they have available is Brad Bergesen, who won 15 games this year at Double-A and was their minor league pitcher of the year. Pauley is more likely however, since he is out of options. However Bergesen is a sleeper himself, especially if Rich Hill opens the year on the DL.

In either case, as many have stated before, Baltimore has a plethora of intriguing young arms. However they all have options, and there’s no reason for them to be rushed up to the majors just yet. Still I wouldn’t rule out Bergesen, who shut out the Red Sox today. It’s not automatic that they have to break camp with veterans in the rotation. Baltimore did that five years ago, when they let some young kid named Erik Bedard take the fifth spot in the rotation…