Orioles 2015 Season Preview Part 2 - The Starters, The Bullpen, And Our Fearless Leader
This is part 2 of my Orioles preview. You can read Part 1 here, where I covered the infield and outfield. In part 2 I’ll be focusing on starting pitchers, the bullpen, and our commander.
Starters
Tilly is coming into his own as an ace. The Opening Day starter was great on the road last year (8-1) and should build on his great 2014 year. Look for over 200 innings again from Tillman. The rest of the rotation right now is Wei-Yin Chen, Miguel Gonzalez, Bud Norris for the home opener, and Ubaldo Jimenez. Chen and Norris set career highs in wins last season, and Miggy had a 2.19 ERA in the second half.
These starters (minus Ubaldo) were one of the reasons the Birds ran away with the division last year. Hopefully Ubaldo can find his game in 2015, if not, the guy has to go. Kevin Gausman is waiting in the bullpen to take his spot and should already have it if you’re asking me. Simply put he’s one of their five best pitchers and needs to be a starter, but Ubaldo has that huge contract so it looks like he will be given one last chance. The O’s have a very good group of starters. They aren’t the Nats, they aren’t throwing All-Stars out there every night, but they don’t need to. These guys know what they need to do to get the job done.
Bullpen
Pretty much the same guys this year in the pen. Andrew Miller was a rental and did great last year. You know who else did great? The rest of the pen. Brad Brach was fantastic in his duty, and it has been said that he has some of the best stuff on the staff. Very good weapon for the Birds. Gausman is a stud wherever he pitches. Tommy Hunter will continue to be great in his set up situations. Jason Garcia is a new guy who throws cheeeeese, him and lefty Wesley Wright should fit in nicely. Brian Matusz may not be on the team by the time this goes up. I hope he stays and keeps getting lefties out, but he shouldn’t be allowed to face righties. Darren O’Day struggled towards the end of the season, but is still one of the most consistent relievers for the O’s. He doesn’t get enough credit for how good he is. Zach Britton will continue his hard throwing ways. Nasty, heavy breaking ball to get ground balls to shut the door. Should be up around 40-45 saves this season. I LOVE this bullpen. Easy to win games when the games are done after 7 innings.
Manager
A.L. Manager of the year, Buck Showalter is the main reason this team will be repeat in the East. In my unbiased opinion, he’s the best in the game. Who else puts the winning run on base with one out in a playoff game to set up a double play, and it actually works? He’s a god damn miracle worker. Made the playoffs in 2012 with a team that had Lew Ford, Jim Thome, Randy Wolf, and Joe Saunders. He knows how to hit all the right buttons and gets the most out of his guys. Any one of his players will run through a brick wall for Buck. All of Baltimore will too. Lead us to victory Buck, we’re all behind you.
Even though the rest of the division improved, I still have the Orioles winning the East. Won’t be by 12 games, and they won’t win 96 games, but I still have them winning it. Toronto can’t stay healthy, Boston has to prove they have pitching, the Yankees are the oldest team in baseball, and Tampa has to prove they can win without Maddon. It’s the O’s division to lose.
92-70 and a 2015 A.L. East Title for the Orioles.
Follow me this season for everything Orioles.