Britton to continue rehab assignment (with quotes)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles don't need a fifth starter at the moment and Zach Britton's rehab assignment hasn't run its course, so the left-hander will make another start in the minors. Britton is expected to pitch Tuesday for Triple-A Norfolk. Double-A Bowie also is being considered, but the Orioles are leaning toward sending him to the International League. Dr. Brian Schofield will remove the wrap from Nick Markakis' surgically repaired right wrist on Monday. Markakis plans to stay with the Orioles through their series in St. Petersburg, but he won't accompany them to Boston. He'll return to Sarasota or head back to Baltimore. Nolan Reimold no longer is experiencing pain in his left shoulder and arm. He's still got some tingling in certain spots, but the latest development improves his chances of avoiding a third epidural. The Orioles are waiting for the tingling to subside and for Reimold to regain his strength. Taylor Teagarden is starting baseball-related activities for the first time. Tsuyoshi Wada will stop by Tropicana Field tomorrow. Manager Buck Showalter sounded encouraged by the results of Markakis' surgery to remove the broken part of his hamate bone. "We'd like for it to be nothing, couple days, but compared to what we thought it could be, it was good news," Showalter said. "Doctors say four (weeks), Nick says two. If I'm a betting man, somewhere in between. We'll see. It's just a matter of the wound healing. The challenge for us is keeping the bat out of his hands. It's good news, all things considered, I thought." As I wrote earlier, the Orioles transferred Brian Roberts to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Bill Hall on the 40-man roster. Roberts is starting at second base tonight for Bowie after playing the last two games at Single-A Delmarva. "I talked to Robby yesterday and gave him a heads-up about the 60," Showalter said. "That basically means Robby can't play before the 3rd of June, which wasn't going to happen anyway. He's going back to play for Bowie now, and hopefully if everything goes well there, he'll head to Rochester and finish up there and Buffalo. "He's doing good. It's just such an unknown. I don't know what each day's going to bring, so I check it and I continue to get consistent good reports. He's getting deeper and deeper and deeper in games. By the time he gets to the Norfolk club, he's probably going to be looking at nine innings." "I got some great reports from a guy on our Delmarva prospects," Showalter added with a grin. "Robby's a watcher. He's got a future. He's on top of everything." Showalter also talked about Britton's rehab assignment, which will continue Tuesday - most likely with Norfolk. "His 30 days go through the 24th of June, so we'll see what each start brings and where he is," said Showalter, who doesn't need a fifth starter until June 9. "Yesterday was better than the one before. Each one's gotten a little better, so I'm proud of him. I would probably think his next start, from what I heard, would be Norfolk. "He's feeling really good physically from all the stuff we did to hopefully get that behind him. Now it's a matter of whether he gets optioned to Norfolk at some point or he is something we're in need of here. "Keep in mind, if we option him to Norfolk, that's 10 days before you can get him, so there's no rush about that part of it. He's almost at the point now it's just pure baseball evaluation as opposed to a health thing." Steve Tolleson is making his first major league start in left field tonight. He played one inning in left with Oakland and one-third of an inning in right in the same game. However, he's played 62 games in left in three minor league seasons. "He's been working out there a lot," Showalter said. Showalter said reliever Matt Lindstrom is close to throwing off a mound.