Back with the Orioles, Ubaldo Jimenez waits for his next chance

Orioles right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez is back with the club after becoming a father for the first time. Now he's waiting to find out when and where he will pitch again.

Jimenez went on paternity leave on Saturday and that night his wife gave birth to a daughter named Jimevi. While Jimenez was going through that wonderful experience, his name was the subject of trade rumors.

He said the birth of his daughter took priority over tracking any baseball news.

"I didn't have a lot of time to follow that because we had our daughter and that was the number one thing at the time," he said this afternoon in the Orioles clubhouse. "Rumors are going to be rumors. If something happens, you never know. You have to be ready for anything, but I'm part of the team and looking forward to hopefully being there for them.

"It was a wonderful experience for me to be a dad. You only get your first daughter once. But it's good to be back."

With the three-day leave over, Jimenez will be activated by gametime tonight. Manager Buck Showalter said the club would wait until after batting practice to announce corresponding roster moves for Jimenez and outfielder Hyun Soo Kim, who comes off the disabled list tonight and is in the starting lineup. The Orioles could go with 13 pitchers and subtract a position player for Jimenez, Showalter said. Last night, Dariel Alvarez was optioned back to Triple-A Norfolk to open one roster spot for today's moves.

Meanwhile, Jimenez will have to knock off a few layers of rust whenever he gets back on the mound. His last game was before the All-Star break. He is 5-9 with a 7.38 ERA in 18 games, 17 starts. In his last two outings, both starts on July 3 and July 8, he gave up 11 runs over 5 2/3 innings against the Mariners and Angels. Showalter has said Jimenez is a candidate to start on Thursday night at Minnesota.

"The last few days I was throwing and playing catch whenever I could," Jimenez said. "Today I threw a little bit. If they give me the chance, of course I will be happy to hopefully be there for the team and give us a chance to win.

"It has to be tough, I've never been through it before, going two weeks without pitching. But it's part of the game and I've been staying in shape, throwing bullpens. So it's not going to be that bad. I have to find a way to get people out, it doesn't matter how."

Jimenez was asked if felt he made some progress in recent bullpen sessions.

"I do. The number one thing I'm doing is attacking the strike zone. Trying to be aggressive in the zone and command the fastball," he said.