Will Lowther or Akin be called up to make Saturday's start?

[wildcard]

The O's have announced the starter for tonight's game vs Texas as Jorge Lopez and Sunday's starter as John Means.  But Saturday's starter is TBD.   It is Kremer place in the rotation but because of the rainout he would be pitching on three days rest.   Maybe something the O's will not want to do to a pitcher that has not been doing that well in his first two starts.

So the options are:

1) Start Kremer on three days rest

2) Start Valdez, LeBlanc, Plutko or Wells from the current major league staff

3) Call up Lowther or Akin and option Kremer 

What would you do?  What will Elias/Hyde do?

[SteveA]

I expect he will start Plutko.

[UMDTerrapins]

Bullpen is already tired, so gotta figure someone is getting the call, right?

[SteveA]

3 minutes ago, UMDTerrapins said:

Bullpen is already tired, so gotta figure someone is getting the call, right?

Why is the bullpen tired?  Not counting Sulser, who was just up for the DH, we used 4 relievers yesterday for an inning or less each.  And we had a day off Wednesday.  Even assuming Plutko will be held out to start, we have 4 totally rested guys in the pen, plus Fry who threw one pitch yesterday.  Wells and LeBlanc haven't pitched in several days and they can give us length of we need it today or tomorrow.

The bullpen is lacking in quality, but I wouldn't call it tired.

[SteveA]

7 minutes ago, UMDTerrapins said:

Bullpen is already tired, so gotta figure someone is getting the call, right?

Why is the bullpen tired?  Not counting Sulser, who was just up for the DH, we used 4 relievers yesterday for an inning or less each.  And we had a day off Wednesday.  Even assuming Plutko will be held out to start, we have 4 totally rested guys in the pen, plus Fry who threw one pitch yesterday.  Wells and LeBlanc haven't pitched in several days and they can give us length of we need it today or tomorrow.

The bullpen is lacking in quality, but I wouldn't call it tired.

[oriole]

If Lopez has another terrible outing I could see them releasing him and bringing up Akin. It would also make sense to option Kremer considering he is doing pretty terrible and it’s not like he had a great spring or anything either. 
 

My guess is LeBlanc starts but I’d rather see one of the first two scenarios I mentioned. 

[SteveA]

Just now, oriole said:

If Lopez has another terrible outing I could see them releasing him and bringing up Akin. It would also make sense to option Kremer considering he is doing pretty terrible and it’s not like he had a great spring or anything either. 
 

My guess is LeBlanc starts but I’d rather see one of the first two scenarios I mentioned. 

We haven't even gotten through three turns of the rotation yet.  I don't think they are going to make any drastic changes this soon.

I think Lopez is probably on the thinnest ice because I believe he had the least upside of any of the starters coming in.  I could see his job being in jeopardy after a few more starts.  Especially if Plutko gets the spot start tomorrow and represents himself well.  But I don't think Kremer is in any danger of losing his rotation spit, at least until May.  Making a change based on 6 innings of work seems crazy to me.

[eddie83]

My guess is Plutko. The 2 off days next week make things mug easier to manage. 

[UMDTerrapins]

27 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Why is the bullpen tired?  Not counting Sulser, who was just up for the DH, we used 4 relievers yesterday for an inning or less each.  And we had a day off Wednesday.  Even assuming Plutko will be held out to start, we have 4 totally rested guys in the pen, plus Fry who threw one pitch yesterday.  Wells and LeBlanc haven't pitched in several days and they can give us length of we need it today or tomorrow.

The bullpen is lacking in quality, but I wouldn't call it tired.

Fair enough. I was thinking of four games in three days, 11 relief outings in that span. Not a ton of innings, but a lot of guys used to try and fill the Saturday start from the bullpen. 

[Moose Milligan]

I think they have whoever doesn't mop up whatever mess Lopez creates tonight start on Saturday.  So either LeBlanc or Plutko, depending who needs to go 3 or 4 innings tonight.

 

 

[oriole]

1 hour ago, SteveA said:

We haven't even gotten through three turns of the rotation yet.  I don't think they are going to make any drastic changes this soon.

I think Lopez is probably on the thinnest ice because I believe he had the least upside of any of the starters coming in.  I could see his job being in jeopardy after a few more starts.  Especially if Plutko gets the spot start tomorrow and represents himself well.  But I don't think Kremer is in any danger of losing his rotation spit, at least until May.  Making a change based on 6 innings of work seems crazy to me.

Lopez is as replaceable as it gets. Maybe it’s too soon for Kremer but he is optionable, a spot is needed, and he has been awful since the start of the spring so it’s not necessarily based on regular season starts. 

[Legend_Of_Joey]

Keep an eye out for who is on the Taxi Squad for this trip. That might tell you something.

[HowAboutThat]

Having watched the Rangers all season, I think every start will be low-stress. If ever we have a chance to beat up the little guy, it’s this weekend.

I agree it is too early to make moves, unless, the Bosses already had an idea of what they were planning. They know how long the Lopez and Kremer leashes are, and who is next up. Sceroler is on the IL, but I wonder if Wells will get a start at some point?

[SteveA]

10 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

Keep an eye out for who is on the Taxi Squad for this trip. That might tell you something.

[wildcard]

Lopez has not allowed a run in the first two innings of both of his starts.  If he does that again tonight I think the O's hold on to him as a reliever if he isn't a good starter.

I don't know which way the O's will go but I don't see it as a big deal if Kremer is optioned.  He goes to Bowie, works on this control and is eligible to return in 10 days.   What we don't know is whether Akin or Lowther are ready to start in the majors.