Buck Showalter on pending roster move, Adam Jones and Jonathan Schoop

The Orioles won't announce the corresponding roster move for left-hander Wei-Yin Chen until they complete batting practice. We're in a holding pattern.

Executive vice president Dan Duquette has been working the phones today. He stood behind the batting cage this afternoon while the Orioles hit.

Manager Buck Showalter isn't lamenting the roster crunch.

"Hard roster moves mean you have good people," he said. "Sometimes, you reach a point where you can't keep them all and that's why the rules are in place, people being out of options to protect players from some teams hording guys who deserve to play in the big leagues. I look at it from a player's perspective. That's why all these things are in place. And these guys earned that right. Thank goodness we have that. Otherwise, it would be unfair labor.

"Are we glad we have this depth? Of course we are. Otherwise, we wouldn't still be engaged in the competition. That's what it's designed for. That's why you have Triple-A and Double-A clubs. And guys have outs in their contracts in Triple-A. Sometimes, you reach a point where you have to make some move. None of them will be ... when you're with guys as long as we are, it kind of hurts, but what gets me through it is I know it's best for the human being professionally. These guys deserve to be in the big leagues."

Adam Jones threw today for the first time since the club played in Toronto over the weekend.

"He felt good," Showalter said. "We'll see how he feels tomorrow. If he doesn't have the soreness he experienced last time, then he'll be ready to go very shortly. It's kind of a process we have to go through with him. Obviously, he's worth waiting on."

Jones hasn't played since June 20, so a DL move would be backdated to the following day. What's the cutoff point for the Orioles, who continue to play short-handed?

"Tomorrow," Showalter replied. "If he comes in and he's not as good as he was today or better, if he's sore from what he did today, then we'd probably DL him. But I liked where we were today with him. And he is different. You bide some time to get six days. You don't want to DL him and two days later he's ready to go. He means a lot to us. They all do.

"We probably won't know anything until tomorrow when he comes in and throws again. If he's able to do that without any setback or soreness like he had in Toronto, then... If he does have soreness, we could think about using his DL for potentially Jonathan (Schoop)."

Showalter watched Schoop run sprints and the bases earlier today while testing his right knee. Schoop returned to Double-A Bowie after the workout.

"Jon's close," Showalter said. "The plan is for him to play tonight and then be with us the next couple of days."

The rain stopped and the tarp is rolled up.