Update: 2005 Supplemental draft pick Garrett Olson has been officially eliminated from the battle for the role of 5th starter, as Orioles manager Dave Trembley announced he was being optioned to AAA.
The View: Olson is powerful lefty with a lot of upside, but he might project better in the bullpen in the long run. He still has control issues to work out and there’s no need to rush him at this point. The Orioles’ have plenty of young pitchers competing for a 5th spot this spring and even with Olson out of the picture, it’s still murky. The odds-on favorite right now is newly-acquired Matt Albers, who came over in the Miguel Tejada trade from the Astros. Other possible candidates are in-house options Brian Burres and Jim Johnson, neither of which impressed in the majors last year.
Update: Equally disappointing news for baseball’s other Olson/Olsen twin was on display as AP sportswriter Steven Wine published this piece from the Marlins’ spring training site, which as many of us expected, states that Scott Olsen is still struggling to maintain control of his pitches (and his life). Olsen is one of four starters battling for the Opening Day nod and the role of ace, but if he’s still as erratic as he was last year as the article claims, he’s not likely to win.
The View: In 2006, Olsen emerged as a top-of-the-line quality young lefty, going 12-10 with a 4.04 ERA as a rookie. Then last season, he imploded under new managerment. It’s possible, he was overworked under Joe Girardi in 2006 or it’s possible he’s struggling with the mental aspects of the game, as he’s shown to lose his temper and control at times and has had some off-the-field issues. Whatever the reasons, when the load was placed upon his shoulder last year, he collapsed, going 10-15 with a 5.81 ERA and .315 BAA. He lost his control to a degree and saw his walk rate jump a bit, but the bigger problem was he was all too hittable. His strikeout total dropped by 33 and he gave up 66 more hits in four less innings from 2006 to 2007. Arm fatigue seems likely, but he never got it together in 2007 and it doesn’t sound like the kinks have been worked out yet in 2008. Right now, he should be avoided in all formats but the deepest NL-only leagues. It’s likely he’ll improve to some degree, but with minimal run support on a team likely to finish in dead-last and his draft value at an all-time low, you’ll be able to pluck him off the waiver wire rather than use a draft pick on him.
