Showalter: "You really think the trade rumors will get quieted?"

The question came across as innocent, though it's not always clear when delivered by Orioles manager Buck Showalter.

Showalter usually knows the answer and seems to be testing his audience. Maybe that was the intent yesterday afternoon during his pregame media session.

We took the bait.

Before delving into the latest dissection of Trey Mancini's season, Showalter asked, "Who's the Rookie of the Year frontrunner?"

"Aaron Judge" came the response from pretty much everyone in the room, the major league's home run leader and Statcast god seeming like the obvious choice.

"He's got a shot," Showalter deadpanned, eliciting laughter from the group.

"Who else would be considered above Trey?"

White Sox third baseman Matt Davidson had 18 home runs to trail Judge by 12. Mariners outfielder Ben Gamel was batting .319/.373/.444 in 72 games before last night. Toss Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi into the discussion and make room for others.

Mancini began last night with a .309 average that ranked third among American League rookies. He was fourth with a .352 on-base percentage, third with an .887 OPS, third with 15 doubles, tied for second with two triples, third with15 home runs and third with 50 RBIs.

Showalter has batted Mancini sixth in 41 games, often directly behind Chris Davis, and seventh in 16.

"I'd like to move him up a little bit," Showalter said. "I like the fact that he covers a guy that at times gets in periods where he doesn't make contact. I like having a guy behind him who kind of covers that. I think Trey's got the potential and should hit higher in the order as his career goes forward.

"And I just hope, as I said before, he doesn't lose that give in and take the single to right field in the right situation. I could go back through how many 1-for-4s he's had when a lot of people give in and waste another at-bat, and he shoots a ball to right field and he's 1-for-4. That's where batting averages are made.

"Wade Boggs was the best I ever saw at that. Man, he's 0-for-3, you can count on a base hit to left field. It's coming. Mattingly, I've seen him grind an at-bat, four hour game, 10-2, like it's the seventh game of the World Series."

That's how the Orioles seem to be reacting as they reel off four consecutive wins. But nothing is going to mute the talk of bullpen arms being traded to contenders.

"You really think the trade rumors will get quieted?" he asked. "It's been this way for a long, long time. People throw stuff up against the wall that they really don't have much basis on other than sometimes it's what they think should be done. Not you all, but ... It's about who's first and all of a sudden you get one out of 10 right and you go, 'See, I told you so.' That's OK. It's the world we live in. You wade through it. It's not just in sports, it's in a lot of things.

"People seem to like to read about it. And the other person talks about it. There's just sharing of information. Not quite that many people do their own work, so there's a lot of sharing of rumors. People seem to like it. They like to talk about it. Anytime people are talking about baseball and not the upcoming college football season, I'm OK with that. But you do look at the ballplayers to see how it's affecting them, but I think it falls under the Captain Obvious to them this time of year. But once again I'll tell you, it's a false deadline. It really is. People act like it's like the witching hour and the clock is ticking. That's not the case."

Meanwhile, the Orioles are leaning tonight on Ubaldo Jiménez's track record against the Astros, who visit Camden Yards this weekend after pulling off a three-game sweep at Minute Maid Park on May 26-28.

Jiménez is 4-1 with a 2.87 ERA and 1.162 WHIP in 13 career games against the Astros, including 11 starts, over 78 1/3 innings. He worked six innings in relief of Alec Asher on May 28 and allowed two runs with no walks.

Carlos Beltrán is 10-for-28 (.357) with three doubles and three home runs against Jimenez. Josh Reddick is 8-for-19 (.421) with two doubles and a home run. Evan Gattis is 4-for-11 with a double and home run.

George Springer is 1-for-12 and Marwin Gonzalez is 2-for-12.

Astros right-hander Mike Fiers has allowed two earned runs or fewer in 10 starts this season. His only appearance against the Orioles came on Aug. 20, 2016 at Camden Yards, when he allowed one run and five hits over seven innings, with one walk and seven strikeouts. Davis hit a home run.

The current Orioles are 8-for-48 (.167) against Fiers. Seth Smith is 1-for-9.