Rotation Update

With the addition of Koji Uehara to the O's rotation, the team can take some innings away from near-replacement level players like Chris Waters. Some updated pitching staff projections (including a lower, more correct baseline for league average tRA and a more exact formula for pitcher WAR - that makes the O's pitchers less valuable overall; plus a new color scheme!).

Player	Pos.	2008 tRA	2008 tRA+	2008 tRA* regressed	2009 "Proj." tRA	2009 "Proj." IP	WAR	$WAR	Proj. Salary	Diff
Jeremy Guthrie	SP	4.84	101	4.80	4.75	180	2.5	$12.5	$2.0	$10.5
Koji Uehara	SP	N/A	N/A	N/A	5.00	160	1.8	$9.2	$8.0	$1.2
Garrett Olson	SP	5.26	92	5.26	5.25	150	1.3	$6.8	$0.4	$6.4
Radhames Liz	SP	6.86	59	6.00	6.00	100	0.2	$1.5	$0.4	$1.1
Chris Waters	SP	5.84	80	5.16	5.75	80	0.3	$2.1	$0.4	$1.7
Hayden Penn	SP	5.80 (AAA)	80 (AAA)	5.12 (AAA)	6.00	80	0.2	$1.3	$0.4	$0.9
Matt Albers	SP/RP (67-33)	3.08 / 4.59	137 / 97	4.84 / 4.67	4.75	90	1.0	$5.0	$0.4	$4.6
Mark Hendrickson	SP/RP (50-50)	5.53 / 4.22	84 / 105	5.15 / 4.58	5.00	80	0.5	$2.8	$1.5	$1.3
Brian Burres	SP/RP (50-50)	6.20 / 5.94	73 / 74	5.95 / 4.65	5.75	70	0.0	$0.2	$0.4	-$0.2
George Sherrill	RP	4.07	109	4.35	4.00	55	0.8	$4.1	$2.0	$2.1
Jim Johnson	RP	3.48	122	4.14	4.00	65	0.9	$4.6	$0.4	$4.2
Chris Ray	RP	4.30 (2007)	108 (2007)	4.24 (2007)	4.50	45	0.3	$1.7	$0.5	$1.2
Dennis Sarfate	RP	4.23	105	4.53	4.50	55	0.4	$2.2	$0.4	$1.8
Alberto Castillo	RP	4.47	100	4.40	4.50	35	0.2	$1.5	$0.4	$1.1
Jamie Walker	RP	6.83	47	5.19	5.00	35	0.0	$0.6	$4.5	-$3.9
Kam Mickolio	RP	3.91	113	4.49	4.50	35	0.2	$1.5	$0.4	$1.1
Randor Bierd	RP	5.23	83	5.13	5.00	30	0.1	$1.0	$0.4	$0.6
Danys Baez	RP	7.04 (2007)	50 (2007)	5.68 (2007)	5.00	30	0.1	$1.0	$5.5	-$4.5
Jim Miller	RP	3.26	127	4.45	4.50	25	0.2	$1.4	$0.4	$1.0
Total					5.03	1400	11.0	$60.9	$28.8	$32.1

A #1 starter, a #2 starter, and a relief ace, and I think the O's have a good pitching staff. Yep, that's all the need. It's going to have to come from the farm system or the team is going to need to spend $50 M in resources (a year) in either money on the free agent market or in value of players in trade. A lot of the Orioles' hopes are riding on the arms of their Big Three (Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, and Jake Arrietta).