Roster moves today

[wildcard]

Armstrong is due to come off the Injured List today if he gets through the Covid protocol.   Sulser is probably the most likely pitcher to be sent down.   With 14 pitchers on the 26 man roster it almost has to be a pitcher that  is sent down.

Hays' tweak of his hamstring will probably cause another move.   With only Sisco, Valaika and Urias on the bench Hyde will probably need to add a position player.  Its not a sure thing that Hays will go on the IL today.  Depending on how long they think he will need to be out they may not want to put him on the 10 day IL.     They could go with 13 pitchers and add McKenna or Diaz to the roster.   McKenna is on the taxis squad traveling with the team so he seems likely.

If they don't IL Hays, the pitcher most likely to be sent down is Tate IMO.  That would make him unavailable for 10 days but they have Lakins and Mattson on the taxis squad so they are covered with right-handed relievers.   Or they could just IL Hays.

Stewart could come off the IL but Roch is writing that is not scheduled to happen until the home stand later this week.

[eddie83]

Unless he looks great today I would put Hays on the IL. I mean why play around with it in April? Now, once again nobody knows the full extent. It’s early in the year though. Be cautious. McKenna is easy choice to replace him.  
 

Stewart I would think takes Urias off the roster. It’s way, way early but Rio looks solid so far. I guess one thing they could do is for 3 days play with a 2 man bench and and when DJ is ready - if by Thursday -then an arm goes down.  

[Legend_Of_Joey]

1 hour ago, eddie83 said:

Unless he looks great today I would put Hays on the IL. I mean why play around with it in April? Now, once again nobody knows the full extent. It’s early in the year though. Be cautious. McKenna is easy choice to replace him.  
 

Stewart I would think takes Urias off the roster. It’s way, way early but Rio looks solid so far. I guess one thing they could do is for 3 days play with a 2 man bench and and when DJ is ready - if by Thursday -then an arm goes down.  

I would not put DJ over Urias. If anything, send McKenna back to the Taxi Squad. Hyde uses Urias in the late innings as a defensive replacement for a reason. Unless Stewart suddenly learned the infield...

[MurphDogg]

14 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

I would not put DJ over Urias. If anything, send McKenna back to the Taxi Squad. Hyde uses Urias in the late innings as a defensive replacement for a reason. Unless Stewart suddenly learned the infield...

The problem with sending down McKenna while Hays is out is that it pencils in either Santander or Valaika as the backup centerfielder.

[ChosenOne21]

Just now, MurphDogg said:

The problem with sending down McKenna while Hays is out is that it pencils in either Santander or Valaika as the backup centerfielder.

I think Santander can handle that for a game or two without being a total embarrassment

[sportsfan8703]

Are the two rule 5s really that good?  Do they outweigh the roster flexibility we’re giving up?  

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Are the two rule 5s really that good?  Do they outweigh the roster flexibility we’re giving up?  

No

[wildcard]

13 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Are the two rule 5s really that good?  Do they outweigh the roster flexibility we’re giving up?  

The O's are not close to returning a Rule 5 guy.   LeBlanc and Fry have not even pitched this season.  6 of the 9 relievers in the pen are probably available tonight. 

[Il BuonO]

2 minutes ago, wildcard said:

The O's are not close to returning a Rule 5 guy.   LeBlanc and Fry have not even pitched this season.  6 of the 9 relievers in the pen are probably available tonight. 

I would say either of the Rule 5 guys is as good as the two you listed.

[sportsfan8703]

4 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

I would say either of the Rule 5 guys is as good as the two you listed.

Leblanc yes. Fry no. Leblanc can actually eat innings too. 
 

I haven’t seen Scroeler pitch. Wells didn’t look like anything special to me. We are passed the point as an org to have to pick up Rule 5s because we have no “younger” guys that could be a part of the future. We have 5+ guys to rotate through this year and to see what they can do. 
 

Plus if the pen is in good shape, we drop the extra pitcher for a few games and not force Hays to the IL. 

[Il BuonO]

18 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Leblanc yes. Fry no. Leblanc can actually eat innings too. 

I have yet to be impressed with Paul Fry. He was well below league average in his only full season with the team.

[MurphDogg]

6 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

I have yet to be impressed with Paul Fry. He was well below league average in his only full season with the team.

That is a really odd way to describe a 28 year-old reliever with a 109 ERA+ in 123 career MLB games. He was well above average in both of his partial seasons, one of which was partial by no fault of his own and the other of which he pitched in 35 games, so it wasn't exactly a cup of coffee.

He had an ERA of 2.45 last year!

He isn't a world beater or anything, but if either of the Rule 5 guys ended up with Paul Fry's career, it would unarguably be seen as a success.

[LA2]

9 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

I have yet to be impressed with Paul Fry. He was well below league average in his only full season with the team.

His rookie 2018 (1 HR yielded in 37.67 innings, 129 ERA+) and outstanding 2020 (187+ ERA) seasons should have impressed you. In 2019 he was inconsistent because, I believe, overused (66 games) and experimented with as a closer. But he made up for it the following season. There's a reason he was guaranteed a spot in the pen this year regardless of his ST stats. I only wish he could learn to get lefty hitters out better to cure his pretty strong reverse-split stats. A rare non-LOOGY late-inning lefthander.

[Il BuonO]

29 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

That is a really odd way to describe a 28 year-old reliever with a 109 ERA+ in 123 career MLB games. He was well above average in both of his partial seasons, one of which was partial by no fault of his own and the other of which he pitched in 35 games, so it wasn't exactly a cup of coffee.

He had an ERA of 2.45 last year!

He isn't a world beater or anything, but if either of the Rule 5 guys ended up with Paul Fry's career, it would unarguably be seen as a success.

An ERA of 2.45 in 22 IP! In his full season (66 games, 57.1 IP) it was a 5.45 ERA and 1.48 WHIP. So, not great.

But, I’ll keep an open mind. 

[LA2]

5 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Leblanc yes. Fry no. Leblanc can actually eat innings too. 
 

I haven’t seen Scroeler pitch. Wells didn’t look like anything special to me. We are passed the point as an org to have to pick up Rule 5s because we have no “younger” guys that could be a part of the future. We have 5+ guys to rotate through this year and to see what they can do. 
 

Plus if the pen is in good shape, we drop the extra pitcher for a few games and not force Hays to the IL. 

It was just one inning, but I had the opposite impression of Wells yesterday. Consistent 4-seamer, and the slider and curve both had a lot of velocity differentiation and break and were usually close to or in the strike zone. There was one, arguably two strike calls he didn't get.

I appreciated his inning plan:

Nothing but fastballs to the first batter of his major league career, the very adept Bogaerts (OBPs of .360, .384, .364 last 3 years) and got him out on a 3-2 94.3 mph fastball after being down to him 3-0.

Mixed in three breaking pitches and full-count walked the next batter because the ump was inconsistent.

One-pitch fastball popout.

Lively slider and curve and five fastballs resulting in a base hit.

Two sliders for a called strike and a groundout, end of game.

So my impression was that Wells has a good repertoire of pitches and can battle. But like I said, it was just one inning against a team that was down 11-3 and batting in the shadows. We shall see, but no reason to be unimpressed.