Manager Dave Trembley keeps saying there is plenty of time and there are enough candidates to assemble a representative rotation, but every day seems to challenge that theory. David Pauley, who was acquired from the Boston Red Sox after a strong year at Triple-A Pawtucket, struggled again Monday and appears to be pitching himself out of consideration. In four exhibition appearances, he has pitched 11 innings and allowed 26 base runners. Hayden Penn, who also is out of minor league options, has allowed 13 base runners in 7 2/3 innings. Radhames Liz also has been unimpressive, prompting Trembley and Kranitz to remove him from the competition this week and place him in the running for one of the long-relief roles.
Training camp opened with three spots in the rotation up for grabs, and that's still the case more than halfway to Opening Day. The only thing that has changed is the number of legitimate candidates, and not for the better. Of course, it's not as if the camp was chock-full of potential aces. The Orioles spent the latter part of the offseason packing the roster with major league projects and minor league free agents. Still, they had to figure with all those bodies and all that opportunity, at least a couple of these guys would step forward, but it has gotten to the point where Hendrickson gave up two runs on five hits over three innings Monday and that was enough to improve his chances of cracking the not-so-fab five.
