MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
There is a scene in the film “Patton,” the critically acclaimed 1970 biography of World War II hero General George S. Patton, in which Patton, played by George C. Scott, says, “I don’t know why, but the image of a bullet coming straight for my nose was more horrifying than anything else; to which General Omar Bradley, played by Karl Malden quips, “Well I can understand that, George. It’s such a handsome nose.”
Regardless of how the unfortunate situation plays out with former Baltimore Orioles and current Arizona Diamondbacks ace Corbin Burnes, the nose of Orioles general manager Mike Elias has not, nor will be capable of dodging the bullet he earned with his disappointing work over the offseason.
No one should be happy, or feel vindicated, that Burnes had to leave Sunday’s game with the Washington Nationals because of elbow soreness. Nor should anyone feel vindicated for Elias (talking to you X posters) that Burnes has been put on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation and, after “inconclusive” results from his initial MRI, is now seeking further testing and another opinion to decide on the next steps.
Making matters even more ominous, Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said of the MRI, “It was not inconclusive. I just think there are other opinions he wants to get and we totally respect that.”
Truthfully, it’s not fair to say Elias and the Orioles didn’t go all in on Burnes, because the Orioles offered him a larger sum of money per season than Arizona did, but not as many years, which is what Burnes valued over all else – that and returning home to Arizona, and more power to him for that.
One would believe it would have been at this point that Elias would dangle some of his young capital for an established top-of-the-rotation starter, but that’s not how it plays with this front office.
As former general manager Dan O’Dowd said a few weeks ago on the MLB Network, “Young players, in particular, they’ve gotta know that they’re loved and they’ve got to know that they’re going to get a long runway. I think the Orioles haven’t done that.
“They don’t trade them for a (Garrett) Crochet … they were matched up way better to go get Crochet than the Red Sox were. I do think as a GM, there is a difference between collecting prospects and then finishing your team off.”
In the midst of this suddenly-closing championship window, the Orioles’ starting pitching was unstable to begin with last season due to injuries, then right out of the box this spring became more unstable with more injuries. For Elias not to have done more to fortify the most important position on the field remains inexcusable, regardless of Burnes’ current circumstance with another team.
Now, in fairness, Elias did sign Tomoyuki Sugano, who is having a solid first year in MLB. In fact, he’s been the Orioles’ most dependable pitcher, but he’s 35 years old and is in Baltimore on just a one-year contract with no club option, which you would think would make him expendable should the Orioles decide to put bandaids on this horrible season as the trade deadline approaches.
After an 0-4 start, the Orioles have been playing better baseball since interim manager Tony Mansolino took over for the fired Brandon Hyde, and they’ve done so because their starting pitchers, including Elias’ other gem from the offseason, Charlie Morton, have pitched noticeably better. Plus, the team has begun to welcome a small portion of the legion of injured position players back to the lineup, though that situation remains a revolving door.
The injury to Burnes, and the potential severity of it, is a sad thing to see; and because it is Burnes, it’s a larger reminder of the endangered species that big-league pitchers have become in this age of analytics.
Burnes left in the fifth inning on Sunday when he felt tightness in his elbow, saying there was no one pitch that he felt pain on, but he noticed the tightness while getting the first two batters of the fifth out.
All of which came three weeks after Burnes missed a start due to right shoulder inflammation, which follows the same pattern in which Orioles No. 2 starter Grayson Rodriguez went among the missing in spring training – first the shoulder soreness, then the elbow inflammation, the MRI, the second opinion, and he hasn’t pitched since.
These are not happy days for Major League pitchers. Nor are they too cheery for certain general managers who open the season without enough of them.
Like going to the shooting range without any bullets.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT