Per Roch: Roberts to see a specialist in Dallas tomorrow

[LookitsPuck]

Roch:

Brian Roberts will see a specialist tomorrow in Dallas because his knee is still bothering him

Apparently has been throwing, running and taking light BP. Knee hasn't been progressing as well as he wanted.

[BaltimoreO's]

Time to go get Chase Utley.

[waroriole]

Time to go get Chase Utley.

We've played 32 games. The Phillies aren't packing it in yet.

[TonySoprano]

Roch Kubatko ‏@masnRoch 1m

Roberts injury called hamstring but it's a tendon behind the knee

[crissfan172]

[OriolesFaithful]

Well this is not very encouraging

[EagleOriole]

It seems to me that Schoop is being prepared. He is playing a lot of 2B. He is starting to hit. Seems like a good situation. If not Schoop - Navarro and soon.

[LookitsPuck]

I think it's time we cut bait with Casilla and platoon both Flaherty and Navarro. 60 day Roberts.

Oddly enough about Navarro, he appears to be hitting righties better than lefties. Similar to last year in AAA for him as well. I wonder if that's playing in to the decision to keep Flaherty up here.

I wonder how much longer Flaherty will get to start hitting.

Yamaico's numbers in AAA:

309/388/464 - 852 OPS

He's walked 14 times in 116 plate appearances. Only struck out 18 times. Down in the minors, he's traditionally been 70 points higher in OBP than AVG.

Only 25 years old. Seems to have some solid pop in his bat.

[clapdiddy]

Send Flaherty down to Norfolk and get Navarro up here. Casilla can be the late-innings replacement at second if needed.

[LookitsPuck]

It seems to me that Schoop is being prepared. He is playing a lot of 2B. He is starting to hit. Seems like a good situation. If not Schoop - Navarro and soon.

Some promising numbers from Schoop in May (only 21 plate appearances, however):

400/429/450 - 879 OPS

Interestingly he's hitting lefties better than righties. In 31 plate appearances hitting against lefties: 321/387/429 - 816 OPS

This has been the case his entire career in MiLB.

Versus lefties: 313/390/489 - 879 OPS in 366 plate appearances. 22% line drive percentage.

Versus righties: 248/314/369 - 683 OPS in 865 plate appearances. 14.3% line drive percentage.

That number against righties has to go up.

[LookitsPuck]

Send Flaherty down to Norfolk and get Navarro up here. Casilla can be the late-innings replacement at second if needed.

I'd like to see that as well. I don't think Buck does. He's expressed that he's going to give Flaherty every opportunity to take the job.

But Flaherty has an OPS+ of only 15 in 81 plate appearances.

There's really nothing redeeming about his performance. He's struck out 20 times in 81 plate appearances. He has walked 7 times...but not enough, really.

I wonder how much rope Flaherty gets.

Per FanGraphs, he's at -0.2 WAR. His fielding is actually pretty solid. The batting, however, as we know is abysmal.

Navarro I think would give us average defense at 2B with a better bat.

[ExileAngelos]

I felt confident that he would return for three games and be out for the year. So much for that.

[webbrick2010]

Can he just retire... please

Brian if you are feeling guilty for stealing 40 million dollars.... give generously to your favorite charity!!!

[ChrisP]

Some promising numbers from Schoop in May (only 21 plate appearances, however):

400/429/450 - 879 OPS

Clearly Schoop is ready to hit .400 in the majors.

[Conway12]

The Orioles have treaded water(and won) with Flaherty and Casilla for some of the season.

If neither continues to hit after two weeks they need to start thinking outside the box. Yes, Navarro would be a consideration, and Schoop too.

Really.

I agree that Flaherty has to improve with the bat, but just taking a look at the numbers he has thus far been an EXCELLENT defensive second baseman. He still doesn't have enough qualified innings, but of those 2B with at least 160 Innings he is tied for 1st in UZR and alone in first for UZR/150. Also interestingly, this is driven by his excellent ability to turn double plays and his lack of errors rather than solely his range like others in the top 10.

Honestly, UZR is questionable to me, in particular in small samples. But, Flaherty has looked good at 2B and these numbers sort of confirm what I can see.

Therefore, if he can keep up this level of defensive production (maybe he can, maybe he can't), he would have to hit like .250 with a little pop to be a positive overall player.