A few thoughts on Jimmy Paredes and Brian Matusz

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles will send another batch of reserves and minor leaguers on the road today with their 1:05 p.m. game against the Blue Jays in Dunedin.

Only the short straws board the bus.

Hyun Soo Kim will stay back for the first time, challenging manager Buck Showalter to come up with enough "starters" to satisfy the league office. Meanwhile, is it really the league office's business how a manager prepares his club for the regular season and chooses to evaluate the talent on his roster?

Of course not, but what else does it have to worry about?

More important to the Orioles today are the results of Jimmy Paredes' X-ray and Brian Matusz's MRI.

At the very least, Paredes sprained his left wrist yesterday while attempting a diving catch in right field. The Orioles are hoping he didn't break a bone.

Paredes already was challenged to make the club, being out of options and unable to find enough at-bats as the designated hitter if Mark Trumbo filled that role. A serious injury could force him onto the 60-day disabled list, which would keep him in the organization and open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Not that anyone is rooting for it. I'm just tossing out a scenario.

I'm not sure whether a more experienced outfielder might have avoided the injury. Anyone would jam their glove into the ground and bend back their wrist. It just happened to be Paredes yesterday.

The Orioles already have a pretty good idea what they're dealing with in regards to Matusz's injury. Showalter wanted to wait until a team physician studied the results of the MRI before going into further detail.

It's described as an issue with Matusz's lower back, but the discomfort is located more toward his right side. (I wrote left side yesterday, but I reserve the right to correct myself, so to speak.) It doesn't appear to be serious, but we're not talking day-to-day, either.

Hey, spring training is too long, anyway.

Matusz was the No. 2 starter in 2011 before going on the disabled list after opening day with a strained intercostal muscle suffered in the final week of spring training. President of baseball operations Andy MacPhail broke the news to reporters at Tropicana Field.

It's believed that adjustments to Matusz's delivery led to the injury. Tweaking was a terrible idea.

Zach Britton was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to make a Sunday start, with No. 4 starter Chris Tillman moving up to Saturday. Meanwhile, Justin Duchscherer remained on the disabled list with left hip soreness and Brad Bergesen was unavailable because of a bruised right forearm.

Remember those days?

Matusz left camp in 2011 and 2014 and flew to Philadelphia to have a wart removed from the same finger on his pitching hand. Left middle finger.

May as well get this stuff out of the way early.

Matusz presently is dealing with something that falls in between intercostal and wart on the serious meter. Much, much closer to wart. The intercostal cost him two months of the season. An inconvenience has a much shorter timetable.

In March 2014, Matusz spent a night in the emergency room at Sarasota Memorial following an allergic reaction to peanut oil and two asthma attacks. He also had an allergic reaction the previous spring, but this one was much worse.

Matusz should be allowed to just work out in Baltimore and wait for his teammates to join him. The spring training gods won't let up.