Orioles pitching coach Drew French offers analysis on Craig Kimbrel, Matt Bowman and Cade Povich

The Orioles can envision a pitching staff that returns Grayson Rodriguez to the rotation and Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb to the bullpen. Like “trade deadline 2.0,” as pitching coach Drew French called it yesterday. An apt description.

“Acquisitions by reinstatement from the IL,” he said, maintaining his roll.

But the club can’t simply count on additions to subtract the entirety of its arm issues.

Craig Kimbrel retired the first two batters faced in the ninth inning Saturday afternoon and surrendered another run on Jonny DeLuca’s triple into left-center field and a wild pitch. He’s been scored upon in nine of his last 17 appearances, with 15 earned runs (17 total), 14 walks and 18 hits over 16 1/3 innings.

Kimbrel won’t close again unless other options are drained, and the pool of candidates deepens with Coulombe and Webb returning. But French offered some encouraging words yesterday regarding Kimbrel’s progress, which isn’t necessarily evident on the stat sheet.

It’s the same sheet that had Kimbrel with a 2.80 ERA, 0.962 WHIP, 23 saves and opponents’ .150/.270/.250 slash line in the first half. He’s posted a 7.04 ERA and 1.891 WHIP since the break, with no saves and a .274/.390/.532 line.

“We’ve actually been really encouraged by how he’s thrown the ball recently,” French said. “I think it’s tough to look at the stat line, and it’s more about Craig getting back to competing and having the type of intent he had through the first 3 ½ months of the season. We’re doing a lot of things internally to try to prop him up and get the game back right again.

“Everything’s on the table but we are encouraged by the last I’d say five outings from him for sure.”

The average velocity on Kimbrel’s fastball dipped to 92.97 mph in August per Statcast data and is at 93.14 this month. It’s really more about location, and side sessions have been arranged to address mechanics.

The Orioles signed Kimbrel at the Winter Meetings to a deal that pays $12 million this season with a $13 million option in 2025 that includes a $1 million buyout. He was an early target in free agency, a veteran with 440 career saves now to rank fifth on the all-time list but none since July 7. Boston’s Kenley Jansen passed him for fourth.

A return next season is unlikely but the Orioles could use the earlier version of Kimbrel down the stretch. They might have some hard decisions to make on the staff when Coulombe, Webb and Grayson Rodriguez are reinstated. Coulombe needs to get back onto a full 40-man roster.

There also are some possible Triple-A promotions that would further complicate the situation.

Matt Bowman is making it easy to keep him.

The Orioles signed Bowman as a free agent on Aug. 15, three days after the Twins released him. The same Twins that traded Coulombe to the Orioles for cash considerations.

Their bullpen judgement isn’t always sharp.

Bowman replaced starter Corbin Burnes yesterday and retired all five batters he faced, striking out two. The native of Chevy Chase is ready for prime time – pausing here to see if you get the Saturday Night Live reference – and has allowed one run and five hits in 10 innings with the Orioles. The only blemish is five walks, one intentional.

The only run surrendered by Bowman crossed after he left an Aug. 29 game at Dodger Stadium. But he loaded the bases with one out before Keegan Akin allowed Tommy Edman’s sacrifice fly, so blame can be shared.

Bowman signed with the Twins in January, he landed with the Diamondbacks on May 2 and signed back with the Twins on July 4, and he was released Aug. 12. His first appearance came against the Orioles on April 15 at Camden Yards, when he allowed one run and one hit on Gunnar Henderson’s homer in three innings. He tossed two scoreless and hitless innings against the Orioles at Camden Yards on May 12 while pitching for Arizona.

“I’ve liked Matt for a long time. I’ve been a fan from afar, especially when he threw (two) innings against us when he was with Arizona back earlier in the year,” French said.

“We have a lot of guys down there that, they’ll just take the ball in whatever situation and whatever inning and they’ll go do what they do. And I think that’s not Bowman specific. I think that’s the culture and the environment down there. But Matty’s been really good for us and it’s a unique delivery. There’s some funk to it but he’s got some stuff. He’s got the ability to get both bat sides out, and that’s huge.”

Rookie Cade Povich will try to provide some rest to the ‘pen with tonight’s start in Boston.

Povich was at his best against the atrocious White Sox in his last start, shutting them out with no walks and 10 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings. It takes some work to look bad against them.

His previous outing against the Dodgers resulted in five runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3. He faced the Red Sox on Aug. 17 at Camden Yards and held them to two runs in 6 1/3 innings.

“He’s kind of come into his own,” French said. “The delivery, he’s starting to get a little more mature. We know that takes time. This league is not easy and once the league starts to learn you it’s even more difficult, so I think he’s becoming the best version of himself because I think he’s moving with a patience and kind of a fluidity that allows the command to play up. And we’ve seen some of the better fastball velos and the better fastball command.

“The one thing that he has done is he’s shelved the cutter a bit recently and we think that’s helped the fastball, too.”