I'm thrilled overall with the work the front office is doing these days. If nothing else, it's great to even have a front office that doesn't originate from further up Charles Street than the Warehouse. That being said, I'm not going to agree with every move they make, and this is one of those times.

A PITCHER ???

ANOTHER FREAKING PITCHER?

Yes, I know Beckham and Alvarez were gone. And yes, Matusz might have been the 'best player available'...but there WERE options. How many pitchers does this club need to stockpile? And how few hitters do Andy and Joe think a ML team can get by with? Because as we all know, this club has one hitter coming. ONE. Everything else offensively is just wishful thinking.

When you throw in the second and third round 'toolsy without power' picks, one wonders yet again where the home runs are going to come from over the next five seasons. The club has been getting along this year because they have hit more home runs and have had better pitching than expected , but the first half of that equation is probably going to fall by the wayside, and the current lineup and the offensive players on the farm are certainly nothing to build a future on.

I keep hearing over and over that the Orioles can trade the 'excess pitching' for hitters, but is this truly likely? Wouldn't the pitching have to be somewhat 'established' to get a good return? And if you've 'established' said pitching, don't you have to do so by letting them pitch in the majors? So if you trade away pitchers that have had some ML success for prospects, then do you not have to roll the dice again with another group of pitchers that's don't have the experience, because there wasn't room for them previously on the roster?

And how about the roster issues?  How many pitchers can a team afford to keep on the forty-man roster? How many are going to be exposed to the Rule V every season? Isn't it difficult to balance this so that there isn't a perfect storm of maybe 4-5 good arms that you end up giving away in a year or two because the club can't keep this glut of pitching prospects in line? And other clubs are aware that the O's will be facing all of these issues, too - can't that potentially lessen the 'market value' of all these pitchers? ("Well, yeah, Baltimore has some nice pitchers, but there's too many of 'em. They know they are gonna lose of those kids, and they are STARVING for offense...let's offer Prospect B instead of Prospect A.")

No one has higher hopes for Matusz than do I. I hopes he's the #1 or #2 guy in the O's rotation for years to come. I just think that the club would have been better served in 2008 by choosing a hitter than another pitcher, 'best player available' be damned.