MacPhail speaks on the Trembley front

Maybe O's team president Andy MacPhail has contemplated firing his manager, Dave Trembley, but he will not admit to that publicly. He was asked by MASNSports.com if he contemplated a manager change on Monday. "No, we had our hands full dealing with the fact that two of our relief pitchers are going on the DL." He was asked about his commitment to Trembley and if he will be O's manager for the rest of this season. "Right now, I'm saying what I've always said and continue to say. Right now, we're focused on everything we can do player personnel-wise to try and make it as good as we can make it. Get the right people up here and try to keep them healthy." At the moment, MacPhail seems focused on helping the O's bullpen after Alfredo Simon and Koji Uehara went on the DL today. "We've lost five of our late-inning relievers. Our first guy out of the shoot for the minors, Lebron, he went down with Tommy John. Then, Simon, who did a nice job, makes number five. We're down to option six now, so that's a tall order. But we're doing some things to try and augment the bullpen as best we can." The O's are moving David Hernandez into the bullpen. MacPhail was asked if that could lead to Hernandez working in a late-relief role. "We have to break him in and we'll see. You don't know how anyone is going to react for certain. I don't know that you just throw him in there right off the get go. We reserved that for Alfredo, who had relieved in the minors in his career, which David hasn't."

With Garrett Atkins still slumping at bat, MacPhail was asked if there is a time frame for Atkins to begin to produce or risk losing his roster spot. "We're not getting the production out of first base we need to get. That's not, unfortunately, the only position where we are not getting the offense we need. But it's one of the most pronounced. We do have options there. Wigginton is playing there today. If we get Brian back that could be an internal option for us. "Dave is obligated, in my mind, to put the lineup out there he thinks gives him the best chance to win that day. And if it's Wigginton at first and Lugo at second today, that's what it is." Can you keep Atkins on the roster if he's not productive? "Right now, we have so many guys on the DL, that that's not quite an issue for us. We'll see what the future holds in terms of Garrett's productivity and when guys start coming off the DL, what happens then."