Baltimore Sun/Schmuck: Too fast, too soon for Guthrie

It wasn’t that long ago that Orioles fans—and the media—viewed right-hander Jeremy Guthrie as the steal of the century, which wasn’t hard to do since the century was only a few years old anyway.

The Orioles claimed him off waivers in 2007 from the Cleveland Indians, who drafted him in the first round 4 1/2 years earlier, signed him to a major league contract and simply ran out of room for him on their roster.

Guthrie quickly established himself in the starting rotation and made the Orioles front office look good for a change and—faster than you could say “Let’s not get carried away”—he was anointed the club’s No. 1 starter by default.

Too fast.

Too soon.

Two Opening Day starts later, Guthrie is wearing the mantle of staff ace uncomfortably. He has struggled with both his command and his confidence on the way to a 4-7 record and a 5.42 ERA through 14 starts. Maybe he’ll turn his season around against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, but it seems fairly obvious that he would be better off without the added responsibility of leading the Orioles young pitching staff.