Benson Out For Season

Right handed starting pitcher Kris Benson announced yesterday that he has a partially torn rotator cuff and is most likely going to miss the entire 2007 season.

Great timing for this, 2 days before pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, although I don’t think it’ll be as bad as it looks. Benson pitched to a 11-12 record with a 4.82 ERA last season. Of course this isn’t what any Oriole fan wanted, Benson is an average pitcher who you pretty much know what you’re going to get from, but this could create an opportunity for Hayden Penn, Garrett Olson, or Jeremy Guthrie to step up and take the 5th starter’s spot. This would have been a great spot for Rodrigo Lopez if we would’ve held on to him, but maybe Penn or Olson show that they’re ready for the big time.