When it comes to Orioles starting pitching, the words of the late Wendy’s pitchwoman Clara Peller ring in my ears: “Where’s the beef?”
I’ll admit to great disappointment in how Orioles GM Mike Elias has approached establishing a pitching program and plan that works. It was especially a bit of a bummer when the offseason failed to produce a starter to the top of the rotation.
And while I still am not 100 percent sure that Trevor Rogers is an ace, I have been beating the drum on extending him for the past several months, when I thought he could have been signed to a win-win deal for the player and club. He is quickly outpitching that possibility.
But to be fair to Elias, his rotation moves this past offseason were far more substantive than the moves one year ago. He cashed out on Grayson Rodriguez, traded for Shane Baz, re-signed Zach Eflin and added Chris Bassitt.
And the results out of spring training seemed to justify such optimism. Eflin, coming back from back surgery, was so good so quickly that he forced the solid but unspectacular Dean Kremer to Triple-A.
Then we witnessed two horrific starts by the 37-year-old Bassitt and the loss of Eflin after just 11 regular-season outs. Eflin underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery on April 8. This probably marks the end of his Orioles career since he won’t be ready to pitch again until mid-2027.
And now suddenly, the club is back to needing Dean Kremer to pitch at a solid level at some point soon. Additionally, in a matter of a few days, all of the other insurance policies have been up: first Albert Suárez, then Cade Povich and finally Brandon Young.
My first question to Craig Albernaz in Sarasota — actually Port Charlotte — was something to the effect of, “Hey, you have six healthy starters now, how happy are you with what is behind this group?”
His answer was a question. “How happy are you?” he asked.
“Reasonably,” I said.
Again, his response was a question. “Why reasonably?”
I said because it’s been a long time since the Orioles have developed a starting pitcher of note.
Albernaz didn’t even mention Young or Povich. He rattled off the names Levi Wells, Trey Gibson, Nestor German and Luis De Leon as the club’s depth.
So, while we are calmed a bit by the sweep of the White Sox, the long haul of the next 150 games begins tonight against San Francisco with a rotation that features some question marks.
Are Chris Bassitt’s issues through two starts just a small blip, or is he the 2026 version of Charlie Morton? Is Shane Baz as good as Elias thinks he is? He seems to be at the very least a more talented, more certain version of Grayson Rodriguez. Kyle Bradish looked a good bit better in his third start, albeit against a light-hitting White Sox club. But is he capable of truly raising his level to the 2023-2024 version of himself?
For now, Young is back with Norfolk after a very solid start in frigid conditions in Chicago. Povich is starting on April 12, with Kremer likely to join the rotation at some point soon.
Albernaz will really have to keep his fingers crossed that Bassitt and pitching coach Drew French can get things turned around enough to solidify Bassitt’s rotation spot.
But all the immediate depth is gone in a flicker. German, Gibson, Wells and De Leon aren’t ready to start games at the big league level yet.
There are signs that while Elias may not come out and publicly admit that his pitching plans have pretty much failed during his eight years in Birdland, he is changing. He added several interesting arms via trade at the deadline, including Boston Bateman, Anthony Nunez and Juaron Watts-Brown. He also took lefty Joseph Dzierwa out of Michigan State in the second round of the 2025 draft.
The cupboard was so bare when Elias arrived when it came to position players that he put almost all of his eggs in that basket, but any shot of truly becoming a solid winning franchise revolves around getting the pitching right.
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