Orioles designate Despaigne for assignment

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles designated pitcher Odrisamer Despaigne for assignment this morning to create a spot for left-hander Brian Duensing on the 40-man roster.

The move isn't a surprise. The Orioles didn't recall Despaigne when 25-man rosters expanded this month and he clearly was in a vulnerable position.

The Orioles acquired Despaigne, 29, from the Padres on Feb. 4 for minor league pitcher Jean Cosme. He went 0-2 with a 5.60 ERA in 16 relief appearances, registered a 1.720 WHIP in 27 1/3 innings and never cracked a rotation that's been a weakness on the team.

Despaigne averaged 4.9 walks per nine innings, a major issue for the Orioles. He walked 15 batters and struck out 17.

"I'm sure he'll be picked up by somebody. You can't keep them all," said manager Buck Showalter.

"He's got a good arm. He had some inconsistencies, but when he was good, he was very serviceable. I was a little surprised by his walk totals up here and his command. It was almost like he had too many toys, too many weapons. He's got a lot of different pitches, but we tried to really get him to focus on a couple that he could be a master of. I think he kind of, that was a challenge for him to command the baseball enough up here. And he's capable of doing it, too. He'd go through periods, but ...

"We knew somebody had to go. We all had input on it."

Despaigne, a native of La Habana, Cuba, was 1-9 with a 3.87 ERA in 18 games (17 starts) with Triple-A Norfolk. He averaged 2.8 walks per nine innings.

Cosme, 20, is 8-8 with a 3.22 ERA and 1.270 WHIP in in 28 games (18) starts over 106 1/3 innings at Single-A Fort Wayne. He averaged 1.9 walks and 8.0 strikeouts per nine innings.