The latest roster move made by the Orioles this afternoon occurred after they decided that Maikel Franco's day-to-day status was leaving them vulnerable.
Franco hasn't played in a week due to a sprained right ankle and today went on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Sunday. Kelvin Gutierrez replaces him on the active roster and is on the bench for tonight's game against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards.
"Without an extra infielder ... he wasn't available in Anaheim, wasn't available...
Maikel Franco took ground balls at third base earlier today, experienced the same discomfort that's hounded him since the final out in Houston and is headed to the 10-day injured list.
Franco was scratched from last night's lineup with recurring soreness. He's batting .221/.265/.376 with 18 doubles, nine home runs and 42 RBIs in 77 games.
The bat finally began to heat up, with Franco going 7-for-13 with two doubles and four RBIs in his last three games.
The injury occurred last Wednesday...
Retiring all three batters faced in his major league debut left Orioles right-hander Spenser Watkins ripe for a bunch of firsts tonight beyond how he was making his initial start.
Get the walk out of the way with a free pass to Blue Jays leadoff hitter Marcus Semien. Get ahead of Bo Bichette 0-2 and surrender the first hit, a groundball single into right field. Followed by the first run on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s line drive to deep left that went into the box score as a sacrifice fly.
Manager...
As Spenser Watkins jogged from the Orioles dugout to the mound last night to begin warming for his first major league start, each step sent vibrations all the way down to Triple-A Norfolk.
The Orioles needed a starter to fill out their rotation before the break, maybe a one-and-done but with the possibility of a longer stay. Anyone who can get into and through the middle innings has a shot to take the ball every fifth day. Maybe have a sandwich named after him.
The easy move would have been to...
Third baseman Maikel Franco has been scratched from the Orioles lineup and replaced by Domingo Leyba, a failed attempt to play for the first time since Wednesday night in Houston.
Franco sprained his right ankle while chasing the last out and slipping on the track in foul territory. He sat out the series in Anaheim.
Blue Jays starter Steven Matz catches a break. Franco is 7-for-13 with two home runs and six RBIs lifetime against him.
For the Orioles Cedric Mullins CF Austin Hays LF Trey Mancini...
Orioles pitcher Travis Lakins Sr. underwent successful surgery this morning to repair a "recurrent olecranon stress fracture" in his right elbow, per a team announcement.
Dr. Steve Shin performed the surgery in Los Angeles.
Lakins was transferred to the 60-day injured list on Saturday.
The olecranon is the part of the ulna that cups the lower end of the humerus, creating a hinge for elbow movement. It's the pointy area, if that makes more sense.
John Means threw a bullpen session this...
Spenser Watkins got his major league debut out of the way last week.
Now comes his first start.
Watkins will be handed the ball tonight against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards, the final homestand for the Orioles before the All-Star break. He retired all three batters he faced Friday night in Anaheim and needed only eight pitches to do it.
Manager Brandon Hyde needed a starter with Travis Lakins Sr. on the 60-day injured list. The team confirmed only that Lakins has right elbow pain and it's...
The questions are piling up again. They'd thin out a little if my original answers stuck, but you know how this works. You know why the sequels exist.
How many times must we go over this?
You ask, I answer, someone else asks the same thing, I tweak or completely change my response to see if anyone notices or cares. It's probably a desperate cry for attention. My therapist thinks so.
The only time there's crying in baseball.
Here's what I won't do, and you have my word: Edit for length,...
Chuck Ristano reached for his cell phone in an Atlanta airport, saw Trey Mancini's name on his screen and heard something that twisted his emotions into a jumble.
A cancer survivor and close friend probably needs to choose his words more carefully when starting a conversation.
"He called me and told me, 'Hey, this isn't public.' I had a moment of exhilaration, a moment of panic," said Ristano, who was on a recruiting trip after finishing his 11th season as Notre Dame's pitching...
Cedric Mullins will find out later if he's going to be in the American League's starting lineup for the July 13 All-Star Game at Coors Field in Denver.
Most important is the first piece of news.
He's on the team.
Mullins has been chosen as a reserve, with the announcement made this afternoon on ESPN. He's the lone Orioles representative, though first baseman Trey Mancini is participating in the Home Run Derby.
The inclusion of Mullins, 26, was a formality. There's no way he could be...
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde is hoping that César Valdez's extended stay on the injured list with a lower back strain did more than improve the reliever's health.
Perhaps it also provided a much-needed refresh and restart.
Valdez lost the closer's job while posting an 11.57 ERA and 2.429 WHIP in seven innings in May and a 7.71 ERA and 1.857 WHIP in seven innings last month.
"Took some time off, threw a really nice side a couple days ago," Hyde said today on his media Zoom call. "He...
Reliever César Valdez has been reinstated today from the 10-day injured list, with reliever Isaac Mattson optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.
Valdez hasn't pitched since June 20 due to a lower back strain. A prolonged slump has raised his ERA to 5.74 and WHIP to 1.650 in 25 appearances and 26 2/3 innings. He allowed two earned runs in 12 2/3 innings in April and recorded six of his eight saves.
Mattson made his second major league appearance last night and tossed 1 1/3 scoreless and hitless...
The Orioles avoided a roster move with Maikel Franco, finishing their road trip today with the veteran third baseman still available to play. Having a four-man bench enabled the club to be a little more patient with him.
"We got lucky there," said manager Brandon Hyde via Zoom.
Franco could have been trampled in the stampede to the injured list.
Reliever Travis Lakins Sr. moved from the 10-day to 60-day injured list yesterday, joining first baseman Chris Davis and infielder Richie Martin....
The roster moves keep coming for the Orioles. They've barely taken a breath today.
Pitcher Shaun Anderson was claimed off waivers from the Rangers and optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Pitcher Konner Wade was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.
Also, Stevie Wilkerson cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Norfolk.
Anderson, 26, was a third-round draft pick of the Red Sox in 2016 out of the University of Florida. He pitched for the Giants in 2019-20 and the...
The Orioles made another roster move this morning, West Coast time, to create room on their 40-man roster and improve the infield depth at the upper level of the farm system.
Infielder Kelvin Gutierrez has been acquired from the Royals for cash considerations and optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.
To accommodate him on the 40-man, reliever Travis Lakins Sr. has been transferred to the 60-day injured list with right elbow pain.
The Orioles haven't offered a specific diagnosis for Lakins, but manager...
The Orioles are continuing their series against the Angels in Anaheim tonight with former teammate Alex Cobb providing the opposition. A face-to-faces reminder of the Feb. 2 trade that provided some salary relief, though the Orioles included $10 million in the deal, and shaved years of experience off the rotation.
Cobb had his season interrupted by a recurrence of the blister issues that dogged him with the Orioles. He's made 11 starts and posted a 5.09 ERA and 1.302 WHIP, averaging a...
The Orioles placed reliever Hunter Harvey on the 10-day injured list this afternoon with a strained right lat and recalled left-hander Zac Lowther from Triple-A Norfok. Manager Brandon Hyde said Harvey will miss a month of the season.
Harvey had to stop warming Wednesday night in Houston due to the discomfort and he underwent tests that revealed the injury. He began the season on the IL with a strained oblique.
In nine games, Harvey has posted a 4.15 ERA and 1.269 WHIP in 8 2/3 innings.
Lowther...
A torrid month of June for the Orioles' Ryan Mountcastle came with its own reward.
Mountcastle was chosen as the American League's Rookie of the Month, with the announcement made earlier today on MLB Network.
He seemed like an obvious choice, but so did Cedric Mullins for the All-Star Game's starting lineup.
Mountcastle wasn't snubbed. He batted .327/.382/.634 (33-for-101) with four doubles, nine home runs, 26 RBIs and 17 runs scored in 26 games.
The outfielder/first baseman led the league...
The two phases of fan voting for the July 13 All-Star Game are done and the starters revealed.
Where does this leave Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins?
On the outside for now, waiting to find out whether he's a reserve for the American League.
Mullins didn't finish in the top three voting among outfielders. The Angels' Mike Trout is first, followed by the Yankees' Aaron Judge and the Blue Jays' Teoscar Hernández.
The Twins' Byron Buxton was fourth and the Astros' Michael Brantley was...
The Orioles never tried to promote the idea that their roster would be set for the majority of the 2021 season. That the lineup, rotation and bullpen would largely be untouched. They knew that a return to a full schedule and the realities of life in a rebuild would cause a substantial amount of personnel commotion.
Reliever Spenser Watkins is waiting to become the 45th player used as the Orioles venture into the mathematical second half. That is, if he stays long enough to do it. The shuttle is...