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The Rundown: Cruz Returns to Black Holes in O’s Corner OF Spots

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The Orioles are back in action tonight against the Seattle Mariners. I hope they enjoyed their day off on Monday, as they are about to start a stretch of 21 games in 20 days and will need all hands on deck over the next couple of weeks. The bullpen is well rested which is crucial and I have a feeling we will have a read on how fun this summer will be when they finally reach their next off-day on June 8th.

 

CRUZ RETURNS TO BALTIMORE

It will be good to see Nelson Cruz back in Camden Yards for the next three games, but I will probably eat those words if he takes a couple pitches and puts them in the left field stands. Cruz is dominating once again, but we won’t truly know if the Orioles made the right move by letting him walk until year three and year four of his contract. I expected Cruz to have a good season this year, but it’s the backend of these contracts for older players that usually comes back to hurt an organization.

By helping the Orioles win their first division title since 1997, Cruz will always have a special place in the heart’s of O’s fans, but how will we greet him tonight?

 

WRIGHT DOMINATES IN DEBUT

It was a lot of fun watching Mike Wright dominate the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon and with Bud Norris being placed on the 15-day disabled list, it looks like we will see a lot more of Wright. Talk about bad timing for Kevin Gausman though. He has been waiting for an opening in the rotation and now there finally is one and he is on the DL himself.

As for Wright, he displayed a consistent mid-90s fastball, even finding a little extra and touching 97 when he needed it. His breaking pitches were a little inconsistent, but he used them enough to keep the Angels hitters off balance. Many scouts believe he will fit perfectly in the back end of a bullpen, but we can worry about that another day. For now, we will get to see another homegrown arm pitch on the Orioles.

Think about this: Wright, Dylan Bundy, the recent promoted Tyler Wilson, and Triple-A pitcher Zach Davies were all drafted in 2011. All four could make an impact this season. With Gausman and Hunter Harvey (if he doesn’t eventually have Tommy John surgery), that is a nice core group of arms for the franchise in the very near future. Remember this in the offseason when Norris, Wei-Yin Chen, Tommy Hunter, and Darren O’Day could all leave via free agency.

 

CORNER OUTFIELD KILLING ORIOLES

I like Delmon Young, I just don’t think he should be playing everyday. When he is, specifically in the outfield, you know your team doesn’t have many quality options. The depth of bats in the organization is lacking.

Dan Duquette said recently that outfielder Chris Parmelee could be promoted from Norfolk sooner than later. While he is playing very well, when I hear that many scouts think he may be a 4-A player, it lowers my expectations.

In a perfect world, Dariel Alvarez wouldn’t be batting .232 with the Tides and would be knocking on the door for a promotion. Henry Urrutia and Nolan Reimold are two other guys who could help this team at some point, but they aren’t lighting the world on fire either. It’s becoming clear that the organization realizes Alejandro De Aza, Travis Snider, and David Lough aren’t the answers, but who is?

Your guess is as good as mine.

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