Jorge De La Rosa Tears UCL, Out For the Year

You gotta be effing kidding me.

Is when he comes back, I hope Aaron Cook is NAILS. Because that’s what we need from him.

I just hope this doesn’t necessitate moving ahead the Friedrich clock a year or two.

My #1 wish for this season was a healthy team. Bleh

Bring up Nicasio!

Erik Bedard… through trade speculation seems a bit premature

this sucks but i hope someone else steps up in his place

Good luck to Jorge! I hope he gets this injury repaired and can come back. He was showing so much promise the past three years. Man this really really sucks. Kind of at a loss for words right now.

Ugh…I have no words.

this team just does not catch a freaking break.

Everytime I go something bad happens….

Let’s get Francis back :)

It’s still early in the season, and there are plenty of opportunities for the team to get back to the top of the division. But, with the struggles with the position players/Ubaldo and the loss of JDLR (a potential 4-win guy), there are legitimate questions about this roster’s ability to not just make the playoffs but play .500 ball. This isn’t a pessimistic view, just a non-purple-tinted observation.

I think it would be wise for the FO to consider, but not expressly pursue, moving current talent for future talent. I think a run in 2012 seems more likely than in 2011. By that point, PuRPs Rosario, Friedrich, Nicasio, Blackmon and others may be ready to make an impact, Ubaldo and JDLR will have shots at full seasons of health and strength, and hopefully the O’s in general will have BABIP on their side.

I think bullpen stalwarts, like Betancourt, could field offers of solid talent. Smith, as much as I like him on this theam, could fetch a strong middle infielder or a third baseman.

Again, I’m not saying this because I think the team is hopeless. The FO is working to make a plan for the post-JDLR reality, and I trust that they won’t overreact to either extreme. I just don’t want to see them make a desperation move to bring in a Wright or a Reyes. If the team’s true-talent level is at .500 (essentially year-to-date), nobody on the trade market will bump that up to playoff caliber, now that JDLR is gone.

As of right now, I feel good about Ubaldo and Chacin in the rotation the rest of the way. Ubaldo seems to be coming around, and Chacin, while he’s going to have some uneven outings (like tonight) is definitely looking like a very decent #2.

And based on what we’ve seen so far, I can get comfortable with Hammel and Mortensen in the #3 and 4 spots. Just hope Hammel can stay consistent and that the book on Mortensen doesn’t get too good. The latter worries me a lot more than the former.

That leaves the #5 spot. Somebody from the Cook/Reynolds/Rogers group has got to step up and get the job done as the #5 starter. If they don’t, DO’D is going to need to go shopping at the trade deadline. Unless… 1) the team is out of it by the trade deadline (inconceivable!) or somebody in the minors gets ready to come up and take the spot (unlikely, imo).

Best of luck to Jorge. Hopefully he’ll be able to contribute at some point in 2012, but it might be more realistic to set sights on 2013 for that….

I’m really trying not to want to through in the towel…

With Cook set to come back next week possibly and Mortensen playing well, how important is a Lefty in the rotation? Christian Friedrich doesn’t seem 100% ready to fill that roll. I don’t want to have another Greg Reynolds situation on our hands. Eric Stults (is he even starting?) and Josh Muecke should NOT be considered options to come up from AAA. No other organizational lefty seems even remotely close to MLB, so I am curious to see how the front office approaches this issue. Seeing that this injury the rest of the season, if not some of 2012, the thinking has to be long-term.

Realistically, barring a miracle, the season has taken such a beating this month that it will probably not recover.

You don’t have three slumping superstars (honestly, Ubaldo, Cargo, and Tulo have to be the most disappointing trio in all of baseball this season), backup players and acquisitions that are not performing consistently, and a bullpen that has fallen to pieces after an awesome start and still make the playoffs.

I’m not going to argue to people about what stupid month it is, but facts are facts and the team is just not very good and it’s breaking my heart. I don’t even know who to blame. A lot of it is just bad luck and piling misfortune.