Showalter on today's roster move and the rotation

Mike Wright sat at his locker this afternoon while the media roamed the clubhouse, already told that he was headed back to Triple-A Norfolk but offering no clues.

The Orioles optioned Wright less than 24 hours after he exited last night's game with two outs in the third inning. His ERA shot up to 5.88 in 49 innings after he was charged with six runs.

Vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson spoke to Wright last night and manager Buck Showalter talked to him this morning. The right-hander arrived early to watch every pitch from his starts.

"He's in the process of becoming a good pitcher for us up here," Showalter said.

Any thoughts of using Wright more as a power arm for the bullpen remain on hold.

"Mike's a starter. Mike's going to be a good starter for the Baltimore Orioles," Showalter said. "That's what I feel. And today is part of the process. A lot of guys come up and get a little better each time, and hoping the next time Mike comes up we won't need this move to be made. He'll contribute to our club this year as a starter. I really believe that."

Showalter said it isn't a maturity issue with Wright, who puts his emotions on display on the mound.

"How people project things that people see on the mound, I'm about the production and games," Showalter said. "Mike's 26 years old. He's strong mentally and this guy, if you get to know him a little bit outside the lines, you'd have a little different perception of what you see sometimes.

"He knows. You don't do the things he's done at the level behind him, 9-0 with this and that. He can do this. We've got a lot of people down there right now that we're thinking about who have never done what he's done in Triple-A and Double-A. It's there and we've seen hit here. A couple little tweaks, some of them mental. It's not all pure mechanical."

Wright apparently took the news about as well as could be expected.

"This is an ongoing thing," Showalter said. "Mike knows how we feel about him. I think he knows that this isn't ... When he says that he's close, he's right. That's how close it is. There's a fine line up here. Some talented hitters and he's a talented pitcher.

"Mike was fine. He'd rather not. He'd rather work it out here, but he knows when it's good enough and when it's not. He also has a lot of self confidence that's attractive. It's good self confidence. It's not some false bravado."

The next question is who takes Wright's place in the rotation?

Left-hander T.J. McFarland, recalled yesterday from Norfolk, is a candidate to get a spot start or two. Vance Worley is another option, though Showalter really prefers to keep him in a long relief role.

It still doesn't appear that Wandy Rodriguez is a consideration, though these things can change quickly. He remains at extended spring training.

"We'll see," Showalter said. "We'll get to that when we get there. It's not Brian Duensing. I dropped that little nugget there."

Yovani Gallardo is making his first start today on his injury rehab assignment and it's been a struggle He threw 25 pitches in the first inning against Potomac while allowing two runs and four hits, with one walk. He tossed a scoreless second, but allowed a single and walked another batter.

"One of the biggest things besides our game against the Red Sox is what's going on in Frederick at 5 o'clock," Showalter said. "I really feel like he needs two (starts). It's really three counting the sim. Now, don't hold me to it. Something may come out of tonight. Ramon (Martinez) is going over there with him and feel completely different coming out of it. But it's not going to be done because of a need. This wasn't done with the idea that he was going to come back earlier."