After watching Jake Arrieta get hit around by the soft-hitting Phillies last night from section 9, I thought for sure the Orioles would announce that he would work on his mechanics down at Triple-A when they brought up Tommy Hunter for today’s start.
Arrieta allowed one run in the first and six in the second, putting the Birds in a 7-0 hole before they had even put a runner on base. Sadly, this has become the trend with Arrieta, who has lost his last four straight games and five of his last six.
Baltimore decided this afternoon that rather than send him down to work on these issues, they would instead option Miguel Gonzalez, a move that many in Baltimore have questioned. “Some people tell you it’s kind of the old fashion way, where guys work out their problems in the bullpen,” Buck Showalter told Roch Kubatko.
The Birds hope to stretch out Gonzalez in Norfolk’s rotation and will use Arrieta out of the bullpen as they will not need a full five man rotation for another week.
Confidence issues have reportedly become a concern for Arrieta and the hope is that these sessions and appearances will help him regain his form.
Back in the day, this is where Orioles pitches got their crap together. Flanagan, McGregor, both did stints in the bullpen to work things out. I like the move.
what makes him so special that he doesn’t get a demotion like tilly or hunter. somethings not right with this. you want cover-up like you guys have been hounding the ravens .. this sounds exactly like the same thing.
Sadler Likes this comment
You want conspiracy? When Hunter got sent down the first time, I told one of our contributors, Ol Bruz, that Hunter would make his next start in the majors and not miss a turn. He told me it was impossible, he had to stay down 10 days…unless, there’s an injury. Low md behold, an injury cropped up and Big Game made his next start in the bigs.
Come on guys, there’s always more to the story. Stop taking everything at face value.