Today, the Orioles traded relief pitcher Chris Ray and an infamous PTBNL to the Texas Rangers for veteran starting pitcher Kevin Millwood. For a lot of the last two days, the O’s and Rangers have been talking extensively about a potential trade, and the Rangers originally asked for young pitcher David Hernandez, who started well, but lost his last six starts. The Rangers eventually settled for reliever Chris Ray. He came into the season with lots of expectations, as he was expected to be a live arm out of the ‘pen in the mid-to-late innings. However, he was a huge disappointment. In 46 games, he was 0-4, had a 7.27 ERA, 23 walks, 39 strikeouts, and an dismal .352 opponent’s batting average.

Millwood isn’t a No. 1 starter by any stretch. He doesn’t compare to the likes of C.C. Sabathia, Jon Lester, or Roy Halladay, all guys he’ll have to face in ‘10, but he’s solid – and that’s all the O’s need. Team GM Andy MacPhail made the move, and expects Millwood to be the team’s No. 1 guy.
“For us, it’s likely that he’s going to be the first starter and we think it’s going to have a positive cascading effect on Jeremy Guthrie, Brian Matusz, Brad Bergesen, Chris Tillman, David Hernandez, and Jason Berken,” said MacPhail. Millwood might not even be the O’s best pitcher – I’m sure there are some fans who feel more comfortable throwing Brad Bergesen, Brian Matusz, or Chris Tillman on the mound. However, to say the least, it’d be questionable to start a guy in his first full season as a No. 1 – which all three of those pitchers will be.

Last year, for the Texas Rangers, Millwood was 13-10 with a 3.67 ERA. In his accomplished career, he is 155-121 with a 4.02 mark. Manager Dave Trembley, who is expected to take a much more hard-nosed approach this season, had good things to say about the newest Oriole. “He’s going to be the anchor of the staff and he allows the other guys to be slotted into the position that will allow them to be better. That’s really what Kevin is going to do. He’ll be a guy that comes here with a proven track record, a lot of experience, a guy that we’ll be able to count on every fifth day. Our younger guys will be able to learn from him, but I think our younger guys will now be in a position where they’ll be able to succeed more.

“Professional, competes, wants the ball. Andy called him and I talked to him after that. I think that another thing that’s kind of nice is he had a list of teams he could be traded to and one of them was the Orioles. He knows what we’re trying to do here and he’s very familiar with what we have on the club.” His addition suddenly makes the rotation quite good. In the last 12 seasons of losing and flat out ugliness, that’s been the weakness. From time to time, they’d have a rather potent offense, but the lack of pitching prowess always killed them. But not now. Now, the O’s have a rotation to be reckoned with – not a big three comparable to the likes of Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte – but one to be taken seriously, that’s for sure. Let’s take a look:

No. 1 – Kevin Millwood: As I said, Millwood takes over as the No. 1, and debate of whether he’s deserving of that role aside, he gets the role basically by default. Jeremy Guthrie didn’t pitch like the ace that he did in 2007 and 2008, and while Brad Bergesen, Brian Matusz, and Chris Tillman showcased brilliance at times, they aren’t ready. Millwood was certainly behind the surprise year the Texas Rangers had last season, as he was the proven veteran in a staff mostly young and inexperienced – he’ll play a similar role in 2010. In Atlanta, Millwood was brilliant, combining for a 57-38 record in five years. He later went to the Phillies, and was disappointing when you consider the standards, with a 23-18 record and 4.34 ERA in two seasons.

That means, that in his average year, he was 12-9. If he could do that with the O’s this year, this trade looks very smart. Dave Trembley also thinks the move helps the younger guys.  “What it does is it puts the other guys behind him in positions where I think they’re going to have greater opportunities to succeed. It helps the team, but it helps our individual guys developing down the road maybe a little bit quicker. I think also it helps (Jeremy) Guthrie get in a situation where I think you’re going to see [him] return to the way he pitched in 2008.”

The scouting report: Doesn’t have a Nolan Ryan fastball, but it has great movement and solid velocity. The changeup and curveball have both improved, not afraid to go after hitters. Lefties hit him well, easy to run on.

No. 2 – Brad Bergesen: It was disappointing to see the how Bergesen’s season ended in ‘09 – and it wasn’t even his fault. He started things off brilliantly as a rookie. He won his first start, and after a win over the Kansas City Royals, he was 7-5 with a 3.43 ERA. But the last pitch he threw – which resulted in a groundout – ended Brad’s season. With two on and runners on base, Royals slugger Billy Butler was up, and he hit a line drive up the middle. He tried to get out of the way, but it hit him in the shin. The ball rolled to catcher Matt Wieters, who threw to first for the out. However, Bergesen was hobbling. On one leg, he hopped into the dugout, and fell down in the tunnel. He was placed on the 15-day DL shortly after, and never returned.

Unfortunately, he didn’t even have the time to undergo a rehabilitation assignment, as the injury took some time to recover from. In an interview with baysox.com (official web site of the Orioles Double A Affiliate, Bowie Baysox), Bergesen said he’s back to running. “You know, the leg is doing good. I am able to do everything I would normally be doing right now, except I am on a running progression program. I’m not full-bore running, but as far as the lifting, cardio and all the other conditioning stuff I’m doing full-bore right now. I don’t think it will affect my stamina at all because I am able to do all the cardio, like the swimming, jump rope, elliptical, biking and whatever. I’ve actually found that by doing so, and having that stamina and that cardio, after not running on the leg for three months, I thought it would be really tough on me. But since I started that running progression program, that part hasn’t affected me at all, as far as the stamina and the cardio.”

The scouting report: Extremely good command, great feel for pitching. If he doesn’t keep his pitches down, he can be victim to the long ball.

No. 3 – Brian Matusz: In 2008, the O’s took a polished left handed pitcher out of the University of San Diego with the fourth overall pick, Brian Matusz. He signed rather late, so didn’t get any minor league experience that year. He started out 2009 with the High A Frederick Keys, where 2007 first-round pick Matt Wieters began his amateur career. In 11 games, Matusz had a 4-2 record (probably should’ve been even better), but these numbers tell the real story: 2.16 ERA, 75 K and 21 BB in 66.2 IP, 1.16 WHIP. Eventually, he was called up to Double A Bowie, and was even better, if possible. In eight starts, he had seven wins, no losses, a .189 opponent’s average, 46 strikeouts, and just 11 walks. He had an almost unbelievable 0.91 WHIP.

Of course, that means little. If he can perform at Double A and not in the majors, Matusz will only be known as a bust. But that’s not the case. He was called up to face the Detroit Tigers, and he beat fellow lefty Jarrod Washburn. He walked three, but struck out five, and allowed just one run in five innings. In his last three starts of the year, he had three wins – two being gems (7 IP, 1 ER vs. CLE, 7 IP, 1 ER @ NYY). He even managed to beat a tough Texas lineup. On the year, he was 5-2, had a 4.63 ERA, 38 strikeouts, and 14 walks. When the season ended, he said he’d work out during the offseason at API (Athletic Performance Inc.), where fellow teammates Brian Roberts and Adam Jones also train, and it’s notorious for helping athletes.

The scouting report: Most polished of the staff, very mature pitcher, command of every pitch, has nasty stuff. He doesn’t have any noticeable weaknesses. Command is key for him.

No. 4 – Chris Tillman: Tillman, 21, is probably the least polished of the staff, but that’s a credit to the other pitchers. He has three very good pitches, and is able to use them well. Traded to the Orioles in a famous five-for-one trade involving then-Orioles lefty Erik Bedard, he was a huge part of the trade, along with center fielder Adam Jones. He went 11-4 at Double A in 2008, 8-6 with a 2.70 ERA in Triple A in ‘09, and did a good job in his stint in the majors. He had a good stretch of starts in August (11 ER in 29.2 IP, 3.34 ERA), but after that, you could tell he was done. He had already surpassed his career high in innings, so his last few starts were bad (20 ER in 22.2 IP, 7.61 ERA, mostly ruined by a 2 IP, 6 ER performance @ CLE).

It’s a great sign when he’s a No. 4, as he showed he’s a capable major league pitcher, and some expect him to be an ace in the future, though I am of the opinion that Brian Matusz is more deserving of that role than anybody. If Tillman trains during the offseason, which he says he will, I see no reason to believe he can’t come back even stronger next year. He obviously has some kind of work ethic. From 2008 to 2009, he improved drastically in the control category. He walked over 70 in 2008, but just 26 in 2009 (in Triple A, anyway).

The scouting report: Devastating stuff (mid-90’s fastball, 12-6 curve in the low-70’s, good change). His curve and change can make hitters look foolish, but he’s his own worst enemy. He does a good job of living of his breaking stuff when he can’t command the heater, but he can be elite if he has more consistent command, which improved over his brief time in the majors.

No. 5 – Jeremy Guthrie: In 2008, Guthrie was the O’s most consistent starter, but in 2009, he was the complete opposite. Two seasons ago, he was a very good starter victim to poor run support. Despite sporting a very good 3.63 ERA, he had a 10-12 record. In ‘09, he had much better support, but oddly enough, he wasn’t very good throughout the entire season. He got worse in nearly every category. He had more wins (11-10), but more losses (12-17), a much higher ERA (3.63-5.04), more HR’s (24-35), walks (58-60), hits (176-224), runs (77-112). Overall, 2009 was an extremely disappointing year for Jeremy. Throughout the year, it was hard to tell what was wrong with him, but it’s pretty obvious that one thing plagued him: fastball command.

He had decent secondary pitches, but when you leave fastballs over the middle, you can expect that guys like David Ortiz, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis, Evan Longoria, or Adam Lind will do something with it. Now that he’s likely to be more of a guy playing a supporting role, the pressure might be taken off, and hopefully, that means he can return to ‘08 form. He would pitch an occasional gem, but that’d be followed by three starts in which he gives up the gopher ball. It’ll be an intriguing story-line in the O’s 2010 season, to say the least.

The scouting report: He has the stuff to be very good, and he proved that. His fastball is in the low-90’s, but he shows the ability to command it. He has good secondary pitches, with a good changeup and slider. However, the gopher ball is his Achilles heel.