Notes on roster moves, Stewart, opener and new left field wall

The Orioles placed pitcher Dean Kremer on the 10-day injured list today with a strained left oblique, an injury that manager Brandon Hyde said might keep him out for a month.

Kremer felt the oblique grab yesterday as he was warming in the bullpen. He was supposed to provide length behind starter Tyler Wells, who lasted only 1 2/3 innings against the Rays.

Hyde said no discussions have been held regarding the 60-day injured list.

“The oblique is tricky,” Hyde said. “I think we’re hoping three to four weeks, but you kind of never know with an oblique and he’s got to build up from there, as well. It’s an unfortunate thing that happened yesterday in the bullpen. Those things happen, but hopefully he’s back within a month or so.”

Spenser Watkins and Alexander Wells joined the club, giving the Orioles 15 pitchers and 13 position players – the expected ratio before they switched to 14/14 for the opening series. The 40-man roster is full with Watkins’ contract selected from Norfolk.

The Orioles haven’t announced a starter for Tuesday night. Watkins and Wells haven’t been told much about their roles.

“We’re day-to-day right now,” Hyde said.

Wells tossed four scoreless innings Thursday at Triple-A Norfolk, allowing only one hit. Tides manager Buck Britton told him last night about the promotion.

“I’m excited to be here, ready to get going,” Wells said. “It’s going to be an awesome day, opening day in Baltimore, first one.”

Wells was one of the earlier cuts in spring training, his removal from camp coming on March 28.

“It’s OK,” he said. “They told me I needed to build up some innings down there, and just go after it and get the pitch count up and be back as soon as possible.”

“He had a good outing in Norfolk,” Hyde said. “I’m looking for Wellsy to come in and throw strikes, bottom line. All of our young guys. (Keegan) Akin the other day, (Mike) Baumann that last outing in Fort Myers. They have good stuff. It’s about being able to work ahead in the count and throw strikes. Wellsy did that in his outing in Norfolk. Just looking for him to do that here.”

The abundance of starting candidates at spring training didn’t allow the Orioles to take an extended look at Wells.

“It was a little difficult, knowing there wouldn’t be as many innings available with the amount of guys there,” he said. “Every time we got that chance, we went out there and competed the best we could.”

Watkins was on the taxi squad in St. Petersburg and received confirmation this morning that he was staying with the Orioles.

“Throughout the last series, they kind of kept me in the mix of, ‘Hey, you’re on the taxi squad, things can happen,’ ” he said. “So, they said to just stay ready.”

Watkins doesn’t know whether he’ll start Tuesday, work in a tandem or just wait his turn.

“They’re still just kind of saying, ‘Be ready whenever we need you,’ ” he said.

“As a minor leaguer you learn how to deal with adversity, crazy stuff, so I always adopted that thought process of, I’m ready whenever they need me.”

Outfielder DJ Stewart was optioned to Norfolk after yesterday’s 8-0 loss. He pinch-hit in each game and went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

“Give him at-bats, we need a pitcher, obviously, after yesterday,” Hyde said. “Things didn’t work out, we had to use guys in the bullpen that we didn’t want to. I stayed away from some guys to have people available today. We were hoping Dean could give us some length yesterday and it’s just unfortunate what happened. We felt like we needed more arms.”

Hyde said Stewart, who has one minor league option remaining, handled the news like “a pro.”

“He understood,” Hyde said. “No hard feelings, part of the business, part of the game, and I thought he handled it well.”

Losing Stewart removes a left-handed bat from the bench, “but the bottom line is we need pitching,” Hyde said. “We’re not stretched out in the rotation, we’re having to piggyback stuff. We had a guy get hurt who was going into the game. I think to be conservative we needed to get some arms.”

Hyde held his pregame session in the auxiliary clubhouse, a return to pre-Zoom normalcy with one adjustment – the media had to wear masks. But no one complained. It beat the alternative.

Baseball returned to Baltimore after an extended absence, and it looked like its old self.

“It’s awesome,” Hyde said. “We’re real excited to be back, looking forward to the day when we’re starting the season here. Just the drive in, the somewhat back to normal, feeling like we’re back to normal, it’s a great feeling. Just being in your home clubhouse, seeing you guys in there, it’s like a first day of school feeling a little bit. There’s a lot of excitement, a lot of newness, kind of a fresh start, and hoping we play a good game today.”

“It’s amazing,” said Trey Mancini. “It’s got to be one of the best, if not the best, opening day experiences you can have, running down the orange carpet and seeing the stadium really crowded. It’s amazing.”

There also are the simple pleasures taken for granted during the strict health protocols. Couches and tables are back inside the clubhouse. Players can eat their meals together.

“It feels a lot more like it did before COVID, so it’s really nice,” Mancini said. “I think a lot of us forgot what that felt like.”

Hyde is handing the ball to Baltimore native Bruce Zimmermann, giving the home opener its defining storyline.

“It’s a great story, a guy who grew up going to Camden Yards as a kid,” Hyde said. “I remember my first time – obviously, I never made a start or anything like that – but going back as a big league coach to San Francisco and having your friends and family, and places that you went to as a kid, and all of a sudden you’re in it. And he’s making an opening day start. It’s another level. But I know he’s super excited, he’s ready, he feels good. I’m sure he’s going to have major butterflies.

“I hope he can calm those down a little bit and control his emotions out there and give us a quality start, or however long we’re going to go. We’re not going to go too far with him, just because he’s not built up like everybody else, but hopefully he can give us four or five innings and go from there.”

Said Mancini: “I can’t even imagine, growing up here in Baltimore, being an Orioles fan. He probably attended a lot of these opening day games as a kid growing up. I can’t imagine what that’s like, and I think it’s going to be a really, really special day for him.”

Hyde walked out to the field this morning to get his first glimpse of the new left field fence.

“It reminds me of Pittsburgh a little bit, how their fence is,” Hyde said. “We have no idea at this point. I think it is going to help out our pitching staff. We’re fortunate to have Austin Hays, who’s a center fielder who can go play left field. For me, it’s going to play a little bit like Fenway in that you want your corner outfielder to have center field range, so having Austin is very beneficial. But I’ll be interested to see how it plays.”

Mancini, the designated hitter for the third time in four games, described the height of the wall as “large,” and “a little more jaw-dropping than I thought.”

“It will take a little getting used to,” he said, “but I know Haysie’s going to play really well out there when he’s in left, and whoever’s out there. I’m sure our pitchers are pretty happy about it.”

For the Brewers

Andrew McCutchen LF
Willy Adames SS
Christian Yelich DH
Hunter Renfroe RF
Keston Hiura 1B
Tyrone Taylor CF
Kolton Wong 2B
Mike Brosseau 3B
Victor Caratini C

Adrian Houser RHP