The Orioles let a chance to win the series slip away against the Chicago White Sox and instead settled for a split, along with suffering a couple of injuries. The New York Yankees come to town struggling in a big way as they have dropped five consecutive games.
The Yankees offense ranks 28th in baseball and their pitching ranks 24th. There is no denying this is a bad baseball team right now and the Orioles have to capitalize on that this week.
HARDY SUFFERS HAIRLINE FRACTURE IN LEFT FOOT
The Orioles avoided a serious injury to Adam Jones earlier this season and it appears they have avoided a serious injury to Zach Britton. However, they weren’t as lucky with J.J. Hardy as he will be out for at least four weeks, but it could stretch up to two months depending on how quickly he recovers.
Ryan Flaherty will be recalled and should get the majority of his starts at third base. It appears the team will promote Paul Janish later this week and finally get back to a four-man bench.
The team will have to decide if they want Manny Machado making the majority of the starts at shortstop with Flaherty at third, or if they’ll keep Machado at third and use Janish as the primary shortstop. I’m a big believer in Machado eventually playing shortstop and if Hardy’s injury was season-ending, I would probably be more inclined to say Machado should be playing shortstop everyday.
However, the drop-off defensively from Hardy to Janish is minimal compared to moving Machado to shortstop and inserting Flaherty at third. There will obviously be an impact offensively with the loss of Hardy, but the team will feel his absence more acutely defensively. The question is how to minimize the impact, and it may be by keeping Machado at third base.
PLATOON COMING IN THE OUTFIELD?
The Orioles have had a consistent lineup throughout the season. When a lefty is on the mound, Nolan Reimold starts in the outfield with Mark Trumbo moving to designated hitter and Pedro Alvarez on the bench. However, there’s a chance we could start seeing a specific lineup when a right-hander is on the mound.
[Related: Word on the Street – O’s Deep Outfield is a Welcome Change]
Even if it isn’t always pretty, there’s no denying the fact that Hyun-Soo Kim has been productive offensively in his limited opportunities. In only 15 at-bats, the outfielder is sporting a .600 batting average. As for Joey Rickard, the talented rookie is batting .257 with an OPS of .609 against right-handers compared to a .333 batting average and a .935 OPS against lefties.
I’m not saying this should be every game when a right-hander is on the mound, as Rickard provides more upside with his ability to play defense and hit leadoff. However, Kim isn’t going anywhere and the O’s can’t just have him rot on the bench, especially when he does seem to be adjusting to the big leagues. He should get more chances as a starter going forward, particularly against right-handed pitching.
