REALITY: Matt Wieters is expected to return from the Disabled List Thursday and re-join the Baltimore Orioles.
PERCEPTION: The Orioles, or Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter, will have some tough decisions to make. Wieters is expected to DH on Thursday and catch on Friday.
Having Wieters DH is not a big deal. Jimmy Paredes needs a break. Yes, he is still hitting .314 on the season, but in the last week, Paredes is hitting just .194 with 11 strike outs. It’s time to give him a rest, and Thursday sounds like a great time to do that.
The bigger issues comes when Wieters is behind the plate. Caleb Joseph has done absolutely nothing to be demoted. Frankly, he has been good enough to warrant a starting job. Many teams would like to have Joseph anchoring that position for them. He has produced at the plate, while also being a great signal caller for pitching staffs, as well as being a great defensive catcher.
But now you also have another person in the debate. Steve Clevenger is 4-for-7 (.571) in the two games he has played since being recalled from Norfolk. While in Norfolk, Clevenger hit .352. He is proving to be someone who will get on base.
Clevenger has been optioned this season, so he could be sent back down, but with a team that is struggling to get base hits, how do you send down a guy who is doing just that?
Something tells me that won’t matter. You could probably count on Clevenger being sent down on Thursday. The only way I see him staying is if Buck decides to use Wieters more at DH or 1B. Then Clev stays at the back-up catcher.
Side-Note: If Wieters stays healthy and plays DH and/or 1B, that hurts the chances of seeing Chris Parmelee, who is hitting .318 with 4 HRs and a team leading 81 total bases in Norfolk, in Baltimore, without a Chris Davis injury.
REALITY: Nolan Reimold has hit safely in eight of his last ten games, batting .516 in that span.
PERCEPTION: Reimold was not in the Norfolk Tides line-up on Sunday, causing many people to think that maybe he was on his way to Baltimore. However, his wife quickly tweeted at MASN’s Steve Melewski to shoot down those suspicions.
With Adam Jones missing the last two games due to a sore ankle, I thought we might see Jones hit the DL, giving Reimold a chance to prove his worth in the big leagues. But Jones will do everything he can not to go on the DL.
Reimold is hitting .292 on the season, which is higher than Travis Snider, David Lough, and Steve Pearce, but none of those outfielders have minor league options left.
Snider is struggling, with just four hits in his last 18 plate appearances. Pearce has three hits in his last 15 at-bats, but two of those are home runs.
David Lough is just three for his last 16. Lough may not be getting base hits, but he has been making solid contact and at least not striking out. His worth is definitely playing in the outfield.
The only way Reimold makes it to Baltimore soon is if someone goes on the DL, or Lough gets released… and that is something I just don’t see the Birds doing, as he is a favorite of Showalter’s.
REALITY: It is June 1 and the Orioles are 2.0 games out of 1st Place in the American League East.
PERCEPTION: The Birds are 23-26 on the season, which puts them three games below .500 but just two games out of first place on the AL East. The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays are tied for first at 26-25.
At the end of May in 2014, the Orioles were 27-27, and 4.5 games back of first place.
At the end of May in 2013, the Orioles were 31-24 and 1.5 games back in the East.
At the end of May in 2012, the Orioles were 29-22 and tied for first place.
So this is the worst record to start off the month of June the Birds have had in the last four years, but not by much.
The O’s haven’t had their share of “good luck” as they did two seasons ago, but if they can win a few series coming up, it could easily put them in first place.
And for those who are really ticked off by the Orioles season so far, remember… it could be worse!
In 2010, the Orioles were 15-36 at the end of May.
