With both parties crying for help in pitching and for a home before Opening Day. The Baltimore Orioles and SP Alex Cobb reached an agreement yesterday to a 4-year deal worth up to $56-$60. Alex had a stellar 2017 campaign after fully recovering from Tommy John Surgery back in 2015. Cobb started in 29 games putting in 179.1 innings, going 12-10 posting a 3.66 ERA with 128 strikeouts. Cobb was one of the top pitchers in this free agent market but struggled to find a home and with Opening Day coming up Alex had to settle with the O's. The O's had the worst team era in the MLB posting a 5.70 and the had least amount of innings in the AL with 846 innings. What Baltimore hopes to see in Cobb is more wins, depth to the rotation, and less strain to their bullpen. Cobb is a durable pitcher that locates his pitches with good deception and holds great composure on the mound. His ability to go deep into games posting a league average to above league average era will be a huge bonus for the Orioles. Cobb might not be their Opening Day Starter but will definitely be a huge reliability to their rotation. With Chris Tillman being a disappointment that needs a new home, Gausman not proving his value of being the former 4th overall pick in 2012, Andrew Cashner getting overpaid after one average year with the Rangers, and with Dylan Bundy being the only bright part of the O's rotation says a lot for what Baltimore has and what Baltimore needs from Cobb. Hopefully Cobb won't be a bust like in previous years with the O's locking-up starters like Ubaldo Jimenez and Yovani Gallardo who were both huge disappointments. Cobb has a lot more upside compared to Ubaldo and Yovani which gives the O's hope. Alex Cobb will be turning 30 in 2018 who has pitched in the AL East his whole career. Cobb's young with a young healthy arm that will bring depth, experience, and quality starts to the team. We could see Cobb either taking a big step forward or backward to his game. Cobb now has a solid lineup that can provide enough run support for him to keep the O's in the win column. Also playing in Baltimore is a big difference to playing in Tampa. The Orioles have a great supportive fan base that can excite Cobb to perform to his potential compared to the Rays dead fan base. The problems with this move for the Orioles is that Camden Yards is a hard ballpark to pitch in and less money for future free agents. Camden Yards is known for the long ball and Cobb isn't a power pitcher so if he gives up more fly-outs than groundouts than we could see more of those fly-outs turn into homers. With Cobb joining the team this gives reassurance to the fans and players that the O's organization believes in this team, but now there's less money. With superstar SS Manny Machado and Oriole's fan favorite CF Adam Jones becoming free agents after 2018. There's a worry in Baltimore of if they can keep these players and with Cobb added to the payroll this doesn't help Baltimore's hope of keeping Machado and/or Jones. There's a lot of mix feelings to if the Orioles made the right decision on Cobb, but for now it's a bonus to what they do have in the rotation and to compete in the AL East with New York and Boston leading the division. With Cobb coming off one of his best seasons in the show and ready to win some games for the O's. We can see Cobb starting in 28-32 game going 175-200 innings posting a 3.25-3.75 era, with 12-17 wins, and 135-165 strikeouts. All in all the Orioles made a solid move with Cobb to the rotation. The only thing that matters now is with time will this contract come to haunt the O's or help them with 2018 being one of the O's last hope for a playoff run. Good luck to Alex Cobb and the Baltimore Orioles for this upcoming season.
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