This is a weekly column that dives into eight random thoughts about the Orioles/MLB. Why eight? It’s a nod to Cal Ripken Jr. of course. That, and doing 2,632 of these would be a little overboard. – A.S.
1. My worst fears were confirmed yesterday when Matt Wieters was diagnosed with right elbow tendinitis, one day after catching his first Grapefruit League game. Set the alarms off and wave the white flags. On a serious note, I’m not all that worried. It stinks that this is going on and it’s getting fairly obvious that Wieters will start the year on the disabled list, but it isn’t all bad. He’s been doing a lot to work his way back and he’s only at about the nine-month point from surgery. Would it be nice to have Wieters healthy and ready to rock in April? Of course it would. Would it be nicer to have him healthy throughout the season, even if it starts in May? You bet.
2. There’s been a ton of talk this week about a possible trade involving Brian Matusz. I’m on board. I’m 100% for it. The Orioles have a serious roster logjam, and it centers around the bullpen, specifically left-handed pitchers. The idea of dealing the southpaw to the New York Mets for second baseman Daniel Murphy has been floated, but I tap the brakes there.
That deal would involve Jonathan Schoop as well. When you look at a swap of Schoop for Murphy, you find that the offense would be boosted but the defense would drop. I’m not on board with that. Especially since Schoop seems like the type of player that has a lot of room to develop into (at least) an average MLB player offensively. I’d gamble on Schoop at this point. I wrote last week that the second baseman’s job should be Schoop’s to lose. I don’t think he should lose it by being traded either. He doesn’t have to be Robinson Cano at second base, he just has to be Jonathan Schoop. I’d personally look to the Mets for a deal that would involve the O’s keeping hold of Rule 5 pick Logan Verrett. Maybe they can throw in a Single-A prospect or something along the way. That’d be a deal I could get behind.
3. The Ubaldo Jimenez situation still hasn’t been figured out. To be fair, I didn’t think it would be figured out by March 19th, but it’d be nice to at least have some kind of idea about what’s going to happen. Jimenez does seem to pitch a little (very little) better each time he goes out to the mound. Yesterday’s outing wasn’t impressive by any means, but it was his best of the spring. Results are extremely important for Jimenez this spring. I’m sure it’s something he knows, but there has to be more urgency on his part if he wants to be a starting pitcher. At this point, I’d imagine an injury would give him that chance, but that’s about it.
4. Is everyone done freaking out about the lack of offense yet? The Orioles haven’t won a ton of games this spring, and while managers everywhere will tell you it’s better to win these games than lose them, it’s really not a big deal. The O’s bats busted out this week for 16 runs against Cole Hamels and the Phillies and nine runs against Phil Hughes (but mostly the rest of the Twins). If the Orioles are struggling to score two weeks into April, I’ll start to worry then. Otherwise, I don’t really care all that much. The Orioles are bound to see some offensive setbacks this season without Nelson Cruz in the lineup anyhow.
5. Has Hunter Harvey surpassed Dylan Bundy in the pecking order of Orioles pitching prospects? Buck Showalter made some comments earlier this week that hinted that Harvey could make his big league debut later this summer. He and Bundy were sent to minor league camp earlier this week along with first baseman Christian Walker. Harvey will have his innings limited with eyes on possibly contributing later this year, which would be a huge step after being picked in the first round of the June 2013 draft.
That’s the same month Dylan Bundy had Tommy John surgery. Think about that for a second, really let it sink in. Bundy seems to have fallen out of favor a bit in the eyes of the organization, which isn’t really all his fault. He’s still fully making his way back from the surgery and is entering this season without limitations for the first time. He’s going to head to Bowie and get his work in there, but I feel like he still needs a full season in the minors to prove himself. That’s not to say he couldn’t appear at some point in Baltimore this year, but I’d imagine players like Tim Berry, Mike Wright and Zach Davies will also be in line.
Not to mention Harvey, who might have the brightest upside outside of Kevin Gausman.
6. Ramon Martinez already seems to be making an impact on the pitching staff since being hired as a special assignment instructor. As MASN’s Roch Kubatko notes, Martinez has been teaching a number of different grips to certain pitchers. He’s worked with Wei-Yin Chen on a new change-up/palmball, Darren O’Day on a new change-up and Tommy Hunter on a type of split-finger fastball. I think it’s always good for pitchers to have something else in their repertoire if possible. Sometimes reaching back for a few extra miles-per-hour on a fastball doesn’t get the job done. Pitchers have to be able to change speeds and have movement in order to miss bats. That’s something all Orioles pitchers could use some help with.
7. Am I the only one who geeks out over NASA astronaut Terry Virts? If you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, he’s the super Orioles fan who is currently orbiting Earth as Commander of Expedition 43. Fox 45 did an interview with him from the International Space Station on Wednesday. There are many great celebrity Orioles fans – Edward Norton, Joan Jett and Josh Charles to name just a few – but there aren’t many who take their fandom beyond the planet. Virts is a great follow on Twitter as well for anyone who is interested. He posts some outstanding photos of our great planet and a number of other cool space-related things @AstroTerry.
After the last storm, and before the next, #ChesapeakeBay to #CapeCod pic.twitter.com/qZIAiwMlha
— Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) February 14, 2015
His fellow astronaut, Reid Wiseman, currently home, also represented the Orioles while he was in space:
There's only one thing that needs to be said today: GO @ORIOLES !! pic.twitter.com/22tHErSY0L
— Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) October 2, 2014
8. Another local story caught my eye this week that ties in perfectly with the Orioles. Dalton Hoiles, son of former Orioles catcher Chris Hoiles, is starting his college career at Shippensburg College in Pennsylvania. PressBox did a nice little feature on the 18-year-old here. Chris has come back into the Baltimore scene over the last few years, doing many events around Oriole Park and interacting with fans. His wife Dana has even become a local celebrity, selling her own jewelry and wine products and creating a footprint on social media. It’s now going to be fun to watch Dalton’s career develop, knowing he could be just a few short years away from being drafted, perhaps even by the Orioles. All the best to Dalton and Shippensburg.
