Who Will Replace Bergesen in Rotation?

While Brad Bergesen was sent to the minors after his start last night, the Orioles do not need to replace his spot in the rotation until next Saturday, May 1st. The O's have off days coming up on Thursday as well as Monday. This will allow them to only use the remaining 4 starters on the roster for the time being.

Come May 1st though, who will be getting the ball for the O's? Here is a look at some of the possible candidates:

Jason Berken - Berken has been one of the Orioles most effective pitchers early in the season out of the bullpen. He has pitched 12 innings in 4 appearances with a 1.50 ERA. While it is a small sample size, one must be impressed with the turnaround we've seen from Berken from last year to this year. In my opinion this turnaround comes from Berken pitching out of the bullpen. He only has to face each hitter once or maybe twice per game rather than the two, three or four times he would face each batter last year. It is because of this that I think Berken may be better suited to stay in the bullpen.

Jake Arrieta - After struggling in Triple A last year, Arrieta has come back strong in 2010. In 3 starts Arrieta has given up 1 earned run in 18 innings pitched. His walks are a bit higher than one would like (9 in 18 innings), but he is not giving up many hits. While he may look like the best option, don't count on Arrieta being Bergesen's replacement. Arrieta is not on the 40 man roster so the O's would have to either take someone off the roster and risk losing them, or transfer someone like Felix Pie to the 60-day DL.

Chris Tillman - Tillman is an obvious candidate because he pitched in the majors last year and was expected to be the O's 5th starter coming into spring training before eventually losing out to Dave Hernandez. Tillman has gotten off to a rocky start in Norfolk. He is 0-3 and has given up 9 earned runs in only 9.2 innings. He has struck out 10 and walked only 4, but he has given up an alarming 17 hits.

I can't see the Orioles going with anyone outside of these three. I think Arrieta is a long shot, and Tillman hasn't helped himself with his bad start in Norfolk. Honestly, as much as I do not like the move, I think Berken will be moved into the rotation. Hopefully I am proven wrong, but I feel like he is better suited out of the bullpen. There is still alot of time before we have to worry about this though.

Randy Biggs
Baltimore Sports Blog