It wasn't that long ago that Orioles fans - and the media - viewed right-hander Jeremy Guthrie as the steal of the century, which wasn't hard to do since the century was only a few years old anyway.
The Orioles claimed him off waivers in 2007 from the Cleveland Indians, who drafted him in the first round 4 1/2 years earlier, signed him to a major league contract and simply ran out of room for him on their roster.
Guthrie quickly established himself in the starting rotation and made the Orioles' front office look good, for a change, and - faster than you could say, "Let's not get carried away" - he was anointed the club's No. 1 starter by default.
Too fast.
Too soon.
Two Opening Day starts later, Guthrie is wearing the mantle of staff ace uncomfortably. He has struggled with both his command and his confidence on the way to a 4-7 record and a 5.42 ERA through 14 starts. Maybe he'll turn his season around against the Philadelphia Phillies today, but it seems fairly obvious that he would be better off without the added responsibility of leading the Orioles' young pitching staff.
Not that he's complaining. He doesn't even want to talk about it anymore. He just wants to pitch and let his season shake out, but it's pretty obvious what's going on with him.
He is - at this point in his career - more like a No. 3 starter forced to masquerade as a No. 1, which is what he'll be doing when he faces Phillies ace Cole Hamels in the finale of the three-game interleague series at Citizens Bank Park.
It's a little easier to be like Saturday starter Brad Bergesen, who has been pitching very well without the weight of any undue expectation. Guthrie did that during his first year or so with the Orioles, but when you make your second straight Opening Day start, your mind has to start telling you that you're supposed to be the man.
That's why it would be a pretty good idea for Andy MacPhail and owner Peter Angelos to consider spending real money on a quality free-agent starter during the offseason to take some of the pressure off Guthrie and provide additional leadership for the young starters who are getting ready to pop.
I realize that's counterintuitive on a couple of levels. MacPhail is understandably hesitant to spend major dollars on free-agent arms because they historically do not return the bang for the big bucks you have to lay out for them. And this is a team with a group of strong young pitching prospects lining up to join what promises to be a pretty good rotation of the future.
