Hyde unable to give relievers defined roles

I'm not sure if there's a media member alive covering baseball who doesn't want the answer.

We have to know specific bullpen roles. Who's the closer, primary set-up man, lefty specialist, middle reliever and long man?

The emergency catcher also is a common curiosity, but let's stick to the bullpen for the sake of this morning's discussion.

(Manager Brandon Hyde hasn't revealed the identity of the emergency catcher, but Stevie Wilkerson is back on the roster and he got in some work behind the plate last year at extended spring training. Otherwise, Hanser Alberto would be the likely choice. But I digress again ...)

Most managers will tell you that a reliever's role is to be ready when the phone rings and to get outs. But jobs have been more clearly defined in the past.

Randy Myers was the closer until he left via free agency and Armando Benitez moved up from setup man. Tippy Martinez, Tom Niedenfuer Gregg Olson, Doug Jones, Heathcliff Slocumb, Ryan Kohlmeier, Mike Timlin, Jorge Julio, B.J. Ryan, Chris Ray, George Sherrill, Koji Uehara and Alfredo Simon, among many others, were publicly known as closers at various stages.

Don Stanhouse was a closer. Tim Stoddard was a closer and power forward.

Jim Johnson saved 101 games over two seasons and nobody wondered if he was the actual closer. Tommy Hunter handled that responsibility in 2014 until it was given to Zack Britton, who turned around his career and earning potential because of it.

Darren O'Day was a setup man. Brian Matusz was reinvented as a lefty specialist. The Orioles tried to do the same with Mark Hendrickson. No one was confused.

Hyde moved through six weeks of spring training trying to determine if anyone fit a specific role. He was getting acclimated with his roster, which was short on track records. Think singles instead of albums.

(If you need to look up "albums," you probably missed the Kohlmeier reference as well.)

Mychal Givens was the most logical choice to close, based on a modest sample size and his surroundings. No one else was really qualified to enter the discussion.

Hyde intervened after Givens had three losses and blown saves in a 10-day span, but the shortstop-turned-reliever regained his effectiveness and retired the side in order Tuesday with two strikeouts for his sixth save. He warmed Wednesday night as the Orioles began to rally from a six-run deficit and would have pitched if they took the lead in the eighth or the game moved past regulation.

As long as Givens is ready and getting outs, he's going to be the closer and Hyde will figure out how to build a bridge to him.

"It's just stuff didn't go my way," Givens said. "That's baseball, and you're going to have stuff like that and, yeah, it sucks that it went that direction, but at the same time you've got to just get on the mound and just go compete. You've got to put that behind you.

"That's why in baseball you play every day. You've got a whole bunch of games to make adjustments."

The unit was much better, allowing Hyde to breathe more easily, until Wednesday night's hiccup. Miguel Castro threw a wild pitch that let the tie-breaking run score and served up a grand slam to Rowdy Tellez - the first allowed by the Orioles this season.

Evan Phillips gave up two runs in the sixth, but Shawn Armstrong tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

The bullpen fell hard the following night, allowing a combined nine runs and 10 hits with four walks in four innings. Dan Straily let an inherited runner score last night and surrendered four home runs and seven runs total in only 1 1/3 innings.

Hyde can't assign roles unless his relievers get on a roll.

Armstrong is earning more work in high-leverage situations. He'd make a nice setup man except Hyde might need him to cover more innings.

A hitter can fail miserably in one at-bat and not hurt the club. A starter can have one rocky inning and still offer quality. A reliever can make one regrettable pitch and decide the outcome.

"It's tough," Givens said. "You have to be perfect most of the time in the bullpen and one bad outing can dictate your season, but at the same time we've got a lot of young guys, and me and (Richard) Bleier and the pitching coaches, we've been working real hard and trying to get everybody to be more loose and confident and stay loose and just pitch."

Someone who isn't currently on the roster might get a chance to pitch today. The Orioles optioned Luis Ortiz after last night's game and didn't announce the corresponding move.

Four non-roster pitchers were used by Triple-A Norfolk last night: Matt Wotherspoon, Sean Gilmartin, Luis Gonzalez and Jay Flaa. Gilmartin tossed three scoreless innings with no walks and lowered his ERA to 2.48.

Jimmy Yacabonis worked two-thirds of an inning on Thursday and hasn't allowed a run in his last three appearances. Tanner Scott tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings on Wednesday.