Courtesy of Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

In what I feel will probably be an ongoing motif this week, the 5th starter competition remained at the forefront of everyone’s mind, with Brian Matusz being the “next guy up” yesterday. Given the stakes (triple-A as opposed to the big leauges) yesterday was probably as much pressure as Matusz would ever have going to the mound after being spotted an eight-run lead. Matusz pitched four innings (plus work outs in the bullpen between innings) in yesterday’s game, and gave up five runs over nine hits. To his credit, Matusz refused to blame the long stretches of time that he spent in the dugout as the Orioles piled on the runs.

After coming out of the game Matusz noted that his pitches were mostly up, and that Pittsburgh responded in kind by hitting him hard. Pitching too high in the zone has been one of Matusz’s problems since he’s been in the big leagues. As I’ve stated in the past, I do feel that in fairness to Matusz (and a few other guys) he was probably rushed to the big leagues too quickly in 2009 as opposed to being given time to ripen just a bit more in the minor leagues. However that’s neither here nor there for the purposes of 2013′s starting rotation. While Matusz has looked far from horrible as we’ve gone through the spring, whether or not he’s been one of the five best pitchers is a different question. The idea is to bring the five best guys north for opening day (or just up the road to Tampa in this case). In fairness, no pitcher is going to be on his game 100% of the time, and none of the candidates for the #5 starter (including Matusz) have had a “bad spring” to this point.

In fairness to Matusz, going into yesterday’s game it appeared that Jake Arrieta was well in the lead for that rotation spot. So unless Matusz came out and just mowed them down left and right, it might not have even mattered much. Buck Showalter has been non-committal on the issue one way or the other, but we can read something into actions in this case. Prior to yesterday’s game Buck Showalter announced that he was scratching Arrieta from Tuesday’s scheduled start against Minnesota in Ft. Myers. Presumably Arrieta will throw at Twin Lakes Park to get his work in, however the #5 starter won’t debut until Saturday April 6th at Camden Yards…against Minnesota. So is Showalter tipping his hand by trying not to tip his hand in that he isn’t going to show Arrieta to Minnesota? Ultimately whomever is chosen for that slot is going to have some very worthy pitchers in Matusz, Zach Britton, and even Tommy Hunter nipping at his heels in triple-A. This is not to say that it’s one and done if he has a poor outing, however whomever gets the nod will do so knowing that he won’t be in Baltimore long if he isn’t effective.

Prior to yesterday’s game the Orioles announced that they had made a minor league trade, aquiring pitcher Julio Rodriguez from Philadelphia in exchange for outfielder Ronnie Welty. This comes across as a trade for more pitching depth, and I’d be pretty surprised if either player made an impact (or even saw the field) with either team this season. This week will be the last week of Grapefruit League play, and it begins with a game on national television (ESPN) this afternoon at 1 PM against the Boston Red Sox. Rule 5 pick T.J. McFarland will get the start, his first at this level. The Orioles have been pretty happy with McFarland, who might well be looking at this start as a final audition. Being a Rule 5 pick, the Orioles have to keep McFarland on their 25-man roster for the duration of the season or he has to be offered back to the Cleveland Indians (same as Ryan Flaherty last year) – if he clears waivers. Late yesterday afternoon the Orioles were rumored to be trying to shop reliever Luis Ayala on the trade market, which would allow them to keep McFarland in the ‘pen.

The O’s will travel to Ft. Myers for the aforementioned game with Minnesota, and that will be their last spring road trip of 2013. Wednesday evening they’ll return to Ed Smith Stadium for a 7 PM game against the New York Yankees (shown on MASN), Thursday evening they’ll host the Tampa Rays, and they’ll officially close Grapefruit League play on Saturday at noon with a game against the New York Mets. (On Friday afternoon they’ll play the State College of Florida Manatees at Ed Smith Stadium, a game that won’t count towards Grapefruit League standings or totals.) At some point after Saturday’s game the O’s will officially “break camp” and pack everything up at Ed Smith Stadium and head up the road to Tampa. In the past when they’ve opened in Tampa (on a Tuesday) they’ve had a workout at Tropicana Field on Monday, so my presumption is that they’ll continue that trend. At some point through all of that Showalter will announce his opening day starter, who I presume at this point is going to be Jason Hammel. Needless to say, things are moving along!

Courtesy of Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

One of the most interesting parts of this Spring Training for me thus far has been the success that the Orioles have seemed to have on the road. Many regular players get the courtesy of not having to play in too many road games, and one of the unwritten rules is that the road team is supposed to bring (and start) at least four regular players. That means that in many cases we see a bit of drop off in most teams from home games vs. road games. That hasn’t been the case with the Orioles for the most part. Last night they went into the 9th trailing by one run, however a six-run inning quickly put a stop to that.

What that, along with acts such as Ryan Flaherty‘s walk off three-run homer last week against Toronto in Sarasota, shows us is that this Orioles’ organization has a lot of depth. I’m not talking wins and losses as much as I’m talking competitiveness in games. And if you do want to talk wins and losses for just one moment, the fact is that the regular players as well as the reserves are coming through in the clutch and helping the team win games. That was another mark of the 2012 version of the O’s, and if a few weeks worth of exhibition games are any indication, there’s no reason to think that 2013 will be any different.

One bit of lackluster news the Orioles received yesterday was that right fielder Nick Markakis is probably 2-3 weeks away from being 100%. I say lackluster news as opposed to bad because Markakis and the Orioles both feel that he’ll be ready for Opening Day. Last year Markakis only participated in about half of Spring Training after having abdominal surgery in January; he’s admittedly not the kind of guy that needs a lot of reps in the spring to get up to speed. However he could certainly be a candidate for start the year on the 15 day DL, or at extended Spring Training. This is where the above-mentioned depth comes into play. The Orioles appear very comfortable with Steve Pearce or Chris Dickerson in right field, so if push comes to shove they won’t have to scramble around finding someone to play there if Markakis can’t go.

This afternoon’s game in Sarasota against Tampa will be televised by MASN; this will be the third of six games that MASN will carry, the next one being this coming Sunday. In a bit of a surprise move, Buck Showalter named rookie Kevin Gausman the starter for today’s game. He’ll be followed to the mound by Dylan Bundy. I wouldn’t read anything into that in terms of Gausman (or Bundy) being serious candidates for the starting rotation. My personal opinion is that Showalter’s a pretty media savy guy, and that’s to be expected after working for ESPN. He’s well aware of the fact that today’s game is on TV, so why not give the home fans a look at the future? If you can sneak away from your desk at work for a few moments after 1 PM today, it’s definitely worth watching Gausman in his first unofficial big league start.

Courtesy of Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

I would remind fans that the Orioles had a similar log jam of pitchers going into last season. For the record, my personal belief is that spring training will be the main deciding factor in who’s in the rotation on Opening Day. However if I had to pick four other guys right now, it would be (in no particular order) Miguel Gonzalez, Chris Tillman, Jason Hammel, and Wei-Yin Chen (plus Jurrjens). I say that admittedly based off of results in the latter part of last season. If there’s such a thing as an “incumbent” in this race, it would be those guys.

But what if some or all of those guys struggle in spring training? I don’t want to throw that possibility into the equation, however I believe it’s something that should be asked in every major league camp. Luckily the Orioles are one of the few teams that seemingly plan for that potentiality. Last season more so than in the past we saw a willingness by Buck Showalter (and of course Dan Duquette) to “hold these guys accountable,” as we said so often. If someone appeared to be going down the road of perpetual ineffectiveness, he soon found himself in Norfolk. I remember being a bit surprised last season when the Orioles sent Tommy Hunter down to triple-A Norfolk early on. I suppose I felt that they would give a guy for whom they traded only the previous August every opportunity to  right himself…

…however that was the old mentality. Perhaps that was part of why things were so bad in Baltimore for so long. Admittedly, I suppose that the big leagues isn’t the place for letting guys “work out their issues,” or to “right themselves.” And for a long time I think that Orioles’ coaches might have allowed that kind of mentality. It’s one thing for a guy to have a few issues when he first comes up and begins facing major league pitching. But there should come a point where it starts to click, and after awhile it should be evident that isn’t necessarily happening. Obviously you can’t have too quick a trigger on someone given that you have to give guys the chance to succeed or fail, and I feel the Orioles did that overall with all of their pitchers down the stretch last season.

One name you might notice I omitted in my rotation is Brian Matusz. Buck Showalter said that he was going to go into spring training and give Matusz a chance to be a starter. I have no doubt that he’ll be given a fair shot, and furthermore I believe that Matusz will have a decent spring. However I see him as more of a match-up lefty out of the ‘pen, which is a role in which he was excellent at the end of the season and in the playoffs last year. I’m reminded of him entering the AL wild card game and striking out Josh Hamilton with the game on the line. At the time I argued that might have been the biggest strikeout of the season for the Orioles, and certainly the biggest one of Matusz’s career to that point. I still feel that way, and while I feel Matusz will have a decent spring I also think he’ll be more of an asset out of the bullpen.

The other name you’ll notice I omitted in my starting rotation is Dylan Bundy. I’ll be honest, I don’t even know what to think regarding him. I do believe that he’s going to be a star on the level with a Stephen Strasburg in this league, however I didn’t really think it was wise for the Orioles to bring him up when they did last September. For the record, he came up as an insurance policy of sorts because the Orioles had just gotten through playing an 18-inning marathon game in Seattle, and they wanted a fresh arm in the bullpen. I understood that at the time, however that also started Bundy’s big league clock. I didn’t think it was prudent to bring him up in 2012 unless he was going to be in the rotation in 2013. That’s entirely possible, and for the record I hope that he proves me wrong. However I think that asking someone so young and with so little experience to go out an win a spot in the rotation in spring training (against guys with a lot more experience than he) is a tall order. Then again what do I know…I felt they brought Machado up too early also, and we all know how that turned out.

As we saw last year, the O’s are sending a lot of pitchers out in spring training and will probably pick the five most consistent pitchers as their starters. Granted it’s late in the off season at this point, however I woudn’t rule out the Orioles dealing a pitcher or two if Dan Duquette finds a deal that would improve the club. And keep in mind that trades can also happen during spring training itself…pitchers and catchers report two weeks after the Super Bowl.