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The Orioles’ pitching investments this winter were one-year deals for a total of $28 million for Tomoyuki Sagano and Charlie Morton. Morton has the highest ERA of any starter, 10.89; Sugano actually has a 3.54 mark in five starts, but it’s a mirage. He’s struck out nine of 113 batters and comes with a 5.81 FIP. Just one starting pitcher in the last 18 seasons has managed to be worth even one bWAR with a sub-10% strikeout rate: Paul Blackburn in 2017. Set the line at 12%, and you can find some examples starting in 2017 -- Ty Blach in ’17, Martin Perez in ’16, some more in 2015. In 2025, though, it’s just not possible to survive this way.
