The Orioles, reportedly, aren't concerned about Daniel Cabrera.

Right.

The club may not be "panicking," about the bewildering control problems the big right-hander has experienced thus far this season, nor should they be, but not concerned?  I don't believe that for a second.  These guys aren't that dumb and Cabrera's performance has been so extreme that not being concerned would be awfully dumb.

Let's review for a moment.  In two starts, covering just 6 1/3 innings thus far, Cabrera has walked 16 batters.  That's 22.7 BB/9IP.

The only pitchers I can think of that have sported a walk ratio like that over multiple starts are those that suffered from "Steve Blass Syndrome":  Blass himself, Kevin Saucier, Joe Cowley, Mark Wohlers, Rick Ankiel.  But despite the explosion of walks, Cabrera doesn't appear to be the latest Blass Syndrome casualty.  He's still striking out plenty of hitters (11 thus far this year; 15.6 SO/9IP--a prodigious mark in and of itself) and he's not hitting every third hitter he faces or tossing wild pitch after wild pitch.

But something is obviously wrong.  A pitcher doesn't walk nearly three batters an inning for more than an inning or two at a time without something being very wrong. 

So, if something is very wrong, why are Sam Perlozzo and Leo Mazzone saying everything's fine?

Presumably the Orioles have decided that the current approach being followed by the club (publicly expressing a lack of concern, dismissing the notion of pulling Cabrera from the rotation) is the best way to sustain Cabrera's confidence.  To his credit, Cabrera appears somehow to have retained his poise through the roller coaster that has been his 2006 season thus far.  The Orioles obviously believe, understandably, that resolving Cabrera's problem, whatever the source, will be effectively impossible if his confidence sags.  And so the club is now in the process of publicly bolstering that confidence.  What's going on behind the scenes, of course, I don't know.

But I do know that Mazzone, Perlozzo, et al, must be concerned.  For one thing, they can't have any assurance about what to expect each time Cabrera takes the hill.  So far this year he's been pulled in the second inning against Boston and grinded out five innings at Tampa Bay (throwing 117 pitches in the second game).  Obviously this can't continue, and the Orioles know it.  Cabrera can't continue piling up huge pitch counts in five inning (or less) stints for his own physical well-being and the Orioles' pitching staff as a group can't continuously be asked to pick up Cabrera's slack.  Too much strain is being placed on the bullpen to mop up Cabrera's starts and too much pressure is being placed on the rest of the rotation to go deep into games in an attempt to take additional pressure off the relief corps.

Mazzone and Perlozzo know all of this, of course.  

They know every bit as well as I do that there's a problem with Cabrera.  They know that there's a difference between a guy walking a man an inning and walking nearly three men per inning.  They know that a starting pitcher tossing an average of 28 pitches an inning can destroy himself and the rest of a pitching staff in short order.

I look at this situation and my gut tells me that the thing to do is to pull Cabrera from the rotation and work with him until such time that he at least has a pretty good idea where each pitch is going most of the time when he throws it.  It's obvious at this point that he has no better than a vague idea where the ball is going most of the time.  

But Perlozzo and Mazzone are clearly not going in this direction, at least for the time being.  They obviously believe that, under the circumstances, this particular cure would be worse than the disease.  And I don't hesitate to defer to their thinking on this decision.  They presumably have a much better understanding of what makes Cabrera tick, and a much more complete understanding of the team's personnel considerations, than I do.  (I do want to be clear that I've never suggested, nor am I suggesting now, that the Orioles should "give up" on Cabrera.  My thoughts on this matter deal with what to do with Cabrera in the near term and getting him squared away.)

And so, we await, with baited breath, Cabrera's next start--Monday against the Los Angeles Angels.  Marked improvement--fewer walks than innings pitched would be a positive indicator--will be expected.  Otherwise, the decibel level of the questions asked will surely be raised accordingly.

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