Here are the facts...
-Mill turns 35 in a coupla weeks (check minus)
-The gave up a soon-to-be 28-year-old former closer and player to be named later to get him (check-minus)
-Last time I checked, Boston and New York still look good on paper the next few years (check minus)
-Last time I checked, the O's were "committed" to a youth movement
Ball's in your court, blogosphere...and "he's their 2010 Opening Day starter" doesn't cut it as a viable excuse.
4 comments:
He is a seasoned veteran and leader who can help mentor their young pitching.
Not a bad point, but that's one expensive mentor don't you think? Plus, don't they usually have pitching coaches to do that? Heck, bring in Greg Maddux as a consultant for half a mil.
OK...well maybe Millwood has a lot of out of town family and friends that will come and stay at the new Hilton. I believe that Angelos owns a piece of it. At least he can pad one bottom line.
How about.... there aren't enough "young" arms to cover the entire rotation.
Going into the off-season, Bergesen, Tillman, Guthrie and Matusz were set in the rotation. So they needed one more. Andit's clear that neither Berken nor Hernandez is a major league caliber starter. Arietta, Britton and Erbe will all start the year in the minors. So they had to get 5th starter.
For me, Millwood's a fine fill-in for that spot. They didn't commit a stupid amount of money long-term to a FA. And they brought in a veteran who can be a positive influence. There's not much downside here.
Someone will get hurt at some point, and there will be room for the best of those AAA pitchers to come up. This was a perfectly logical move.
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