Watching the Orioles' 2017 starting rotation night after night and day after day has caused an emotional crisis for me. At 65 years old and now in my 34th consecutive season of Orioles fandom with no ring, I am wondering if I'll ever get to experience what I did back in the fall of 1983, when the Philadelphia Phillies' Garry Maddox lined a lazy, humpback liner into Cal Ripken Jr.'s glove and the O's were atop the baseball world.
Seriously, as much fun as the first five years of executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette regime have been, the 2017 season has revealed a missing link: the team's philosophy on developing or acquiring high-end starting pitching. That task is an absolute necessity if a team is going to seriously contend for a World Series championship.
At one time, the Orioles represented the gold standard for not just good starting pitching but great starting pitching. They're the organization that developed Milt Pappas, Steve Barber, Wally Bunker, Dave McNally, Jim Palmer, Dennis Martinez, Mike Flanagan and Mike Boddicker from the late 1950s through 1984. Since 1984, when Boddicker was the last O's starter to win 20 games, the club has developed only one great pitcher: Mike Mussina.
