There's been lots of talk about the expectation of the Baltimore Orioles. Most of the talk is concerning the free-agents and the young players, but there's one veteran the team is counting on to have a good season, if they want to turn things around in Birdland.

 

Jeremy Guthrie pitched in the World Baseball Classic prior to the 2009 season. If there has been any position that's suffered from the previous two WBC tournaments, it's been the pitchers involved. 2009 saw Guthrie get off to a slow start and never fully recovered until August. Guthrie gave up 35 long balls and 26 of those came in the first four-months of the season. The veteran right hander only gave up nine more the rest of the way.

 

Guthrie's a fly ball pitcher by nature, so his control is essential for him to be successful. If he's even slightly off, or not hitting his spots, he's vulnerable to long flies that usually land on the wrong side of the fense.

 

Guthrie does not have the WBC to blame this year. He doesn't have the pressure of being out of position as the number one starter either. Guthrie will probably be the number two man, but when it's all said and done, he'll be the third best pitcher in this rotation. If things go really well, he could be number four. That's where he should be. If Jeremy Guthrie is better than the number three man in any rotation, it isn't a very good rotation.

 

Rob Long