The Orioles Pitching Problem

  The Orioles where oh where do we begin?? They have been in a slump that is quickly erasing any chances or hopes they had of being contenders this season. Before the season started many baseball analyst predicted their starting pitching would be their achilles heel this season as it has been the past several seasons. After a hot start they looked to be proving the analyst wrong, well the analyst were right.
  The starting pitching has become abysmal, but truth be told the Orioles starting pitching has been abysmal for years they’ve somehow found ways to band-aid it and chug along to respectability.
  Therein lies a problem there is a deep rooted problem with the way the Orioles organization develops and handles their pitchers, it needs to be addressed on a global scale from single A to the major leagues. They haven't had a true Ace or successful pitcher that came up through the organization since Mike Mussina, he left nearly two decades ago.
  Since then we’ve had guys like Pat Hentgen, Sidney Ponson, Rodrigo Lopez, Erik Bedard, and Chris Tillman much as I like his talent and skill as our aces. None of them are on Mike Mussinas level but not necessarily their fault.
   We’ve had the next big thing that didn't pan out such as Adam Loewen, Daniel Cabrera, Brian Matusz, and Jake Arrieta who once he was removed from the O's system became the dominant star pitcher everyone knew he could be. The jury's still out on Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman but both have shown several cases of inconsistency.
   Let’s not forget the squandered first round picks that didn't make it to the majors either at all or with the O’s or where a blip once they made it. Matthew Hobgood, Pedro Beato, Garrett Olson, Wade Townsend, Beau Hale.
  Everything combined somewhere along the Orioles train a cog is broken. Either the scouts and evaluators don’t look at other intangibles such as mental capacity, the ability of prospects to learn or if their honestly potential major league caliber talent. Or they just don't know how to properly scout talent.
  Once their drafted and in the Orioles system are these prospects getting the proper attention? Are they getting the proper one on one training to work on their mechanics, their arsenal, their conditioning, their individual personalities and skill sets or does the Orioles have a cookie cutter one size fits all approach?
  One thing that is crystal clear is alot of issues these prospects have that become apparent once they reach the majors were always there. They didn’t materialize out thin air and the major league pitching staff can't fix every band aid.
  Quality, dominant starting pitching is a hefty premium in the major leagues. The Orioles have long been opposed to spending that premium and have looked to developing. That method isn't working so they need to try something else. They got burnt big time on the Ubaldo Jimenz deal so I can't blame them on being hesitant in another big money deal on a pitcher.
  They’ll eventually have to shell it out if their serious about contending and competing with the Yankees and Red Sox while staying within their means. They won't be able to go after the Stephen Strasburg's or Clayton Kershaw's of the world but if they go after a few true tier 2 pitchers who can eat innings and are dependable they may have a shot.
   Right now their talented offense as one dimensional as they may be, wont and cant have a shot when their down 6 or more between the 1st-3rd inning. While they try to turn this season around the Orioles organization needs to look in the mirror and start making that change of better developing pitchers.