Orioles legend Jim Palmer puts former Red Sox starter on his holiday wish list

Jim Palmer is a baseball lifer. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 1963, debuted in 1965 and eventually retired in 1984 spending parts of 21 seasons with the Orioles organization. In that time he won three Cy Young awards, six American League pennants, three World Series championships, four Gold Gloves, and two ERA titles. 

Before his playing career even ended, Palmer began a broadcasting career calling post season baseball games (when the Orioles weren’t playing in them). That broadcasting career continues over 40 years later. It’s safe to say that Palmer knows a thing or two about baseball and when he has an opinion, people should listen. 

Recently Palmer took to X to throw out one of his opinions on who the Orioles should target to help their starting rotation. He stated his first choice would be for the Birds to re-sign Corbin Burnes, but if they’re unable to, his “…under the radar Xmas choice would be Nick Pivetta.” 

Pivetta is a surprising choice given his career numbers. He’s 56-71 with a career 4.76 ERA and has never had a season with a sub 4.00 ERA. Palmer does add that Pivetta has a good batting average against on four of the five pitches he used in 2024. The numbers do confirm what Palmer said and a further look shows that the xBA numbers give similar results. Pivetta is a quality back end starter who also has some experience coming out of the bullpen but does he make sense for the Orioles?

Unfortunately in this case I have to respectfully disagree with Mr. Palmer in regards to Pivetta. The O’s already have Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, and Tomoyuki Sugano locked in as starters. Dean Kremer is essentially locked in as well, unless the Orioles add two more pitchers which seems unlikely. Pivetta and Kremer have had a comparable amount of success but Kremer is younger and has generally been better.

The Birds also have Cade Povich, Albert Suarez and Trevor Rogers fighting for a rotation spot. Suarez was great at times last season but a little inconsistent. Rogers has been making some changes to try and regain his past success and with the prospects the O’s gave up for him, they need to give him a chance. Povich dominated Triple-A last season and looked really good toward the end of the year. He deserves a real chance to stick in the majors in 2025.

Overall, Pivetta is a solid major league pitcher who can help a lot of teams. He just doesn’t move the needle enough for the Birds. He will get a contract to pitch in the major leagues in 2025, just not with the Orioles.