REALITY: Nolan Reimold is hitting .286 in his return to Baltimore.
PERCEPTION: In four games, Reimold is 4-for-14, but of his four hits, he has two home runs and a triple. He has three RBIs and two walks.
He has made some nice plays in LF and has outplayed any of the Orioles other options in LF. He should be given a chance to be the everyday LF. There is just one month to go until the trade deadline. The Orioles need to figure out who is going to be in their plans for the rest of this year (and maybe next year). If Reimold is that guy, then maybe the Orioles need to look at trying to trade David Lough or Travis Snider. If Reimold is not the guy, then they need to find a buyer for him. But the Birds can’t keep everyone, when they have some guys in the minors ready to take the next step.
REALITY: Chris Parmelee has a June 15 opt out date in his contract with the Orioles.
IF/OF Chris Parmelee candidate for promotion with #Orioles. Believed to have June 15 out; .843 OPS at AAA. Rival such as #Rays could jump.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 14, 2015
PERCEPTION: According to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, it is believed that Parmelee has a June 15 opt-out in his contract. That means if the Orioles don’t promote him to the big leagues by today then he can get out of his contract with the Orioles and be a free agent… free to sign with any team he wants.
Parmelee has been the best hitter for Norfolk all season. Yes, Steve Clevenger has a better On-Base Percentage, but he has played in half as many games. Parmelee is hitting .321, with a .381 OBP, and .444 slugging percentage. He has six home runs, 32 RBI’s and 28 walks.
That batting average and OBP would be the best of any every day hitter on the Orioles. The rest of his numbers would all be top five on the Birds.
Parmelee has clearly proven worthy of being called up to the big leagues. The biggest issue is… where does he play? In his career, he has played the most in RF and 1B with a few games in LF and CF.
As I said earlier, Reimold has proven worthy of an extended look in LF. Obviously, Adam Jones is going nowhere in CF. Delmon Young is not going anywhere. That leaves Snider and Lough.
With Chris Davis and Steve Pearce already clogging up the hole at 1B, I’m still not sure where Parmelee goes.
Someone has to go in order for Parmelee to come to Baltimore. And with the lack of players with minor league options, that means if Parmelee is to be called up today then someone will be leaving the Orioles. Most fans would say that person should be Lough. But I have a hard time believing Buck Showalter will let Lough leave. He is the fastest guy on the team and a really good defensive outfielder. Buck loves the guy and I can’t see him being released for a career journeyman who is having a good three months in AAA.
The Orioles have Snider under their control thru the 2016 season. I don’t see them giving up on him right now either.
Yes, Snider and Lough have not panned out the way the team might have hoped, but do they really cut ties with either of them?
I’m very interested to see what happens today with Parmelee.
REALITY: The Orioles are hitting .270 as a team in the month of June.
PERCEPTION: In May, the Orioles were the worst hitting team in the American League, hitting just .231. In June, they are the 5th best hitting team.
Over the last week, the Birds have broken out the bats. We missed them, and it’s nice to see the guys hitting again. The pitching has been above average all season, but it got lost when the team couldn’t score more than one or two runs in a game.
Since the bats have gotten hot, the Orioles have won eight of their last 10 games.
REALITY: The Orioles are 31-31 on the season, and trail the Yankees by just three games.
PERCEPTION: Remember last year? Remember that team that won the AL East going away? Well, on this date last year, the O’s were just 35-32 and were 3.5 out of first.
This thing is far from over, and they will have more opportunities to move up in the standings with four games against the Phillies, before going to Toronto and Boston.
