The Orioles have hired Buck Showalter to be manager through the 2013 season. He will start on Tuesday, August 3rd when the Orioles start their next homestand.

This dragged out but I’m glad its finally official. Showalter gives us some instant credibility. Hes a two time manager of the year and has a career record over .500 (882-833). Hes known as a guy that can rebuild a team and get them on the brink of contention. He managed the Yankees from 1992 to 1995 and New York won the world series in 1996. He then went on to manage the Diamondbacks from 1998 to 2000 and Arizona won the world series in 2001. He went on to manage the Texas Rangers from 2003 to 2006 and has been working as an analyst for ESPN since then. Hes also known as more of a fiery guy than the laid back managers the Orioles have had lately. Ever since Davey Johnson was fired we’ve had guys that didn’t show much energy, for better or worse. Mike Hargrove, Lee Mazzili, Sam Perlozzo, and Dave Trembley were all pretty similar. One thing is for certain, Showalter will demand certain needs be met. He won’t settle for an offseason like the Orioles just had this past year. He’ll bring a different voice to the organization which is desperately needed. No new coaches will be brought in for the remainder of this season but you can bet Buck will clean house in the offseason. For now Juan Samuel goes back to being the third base coach and Gary Allenson returns to manage AAA Norfolk. Today was a big day for the Orioles and I think they took a big step in the right direction.

The Orioles have activated C Matt Wieters from the 15 day disabled list and optioned C Craig Tatum to AAA Norfolk.

The Orioles lineup is finally back to where it was on opening day. We’ll see how long it lasts because I suspect a few players to be traded before the trade deadline. Wieters was finally starting to hit good again when he went down with a strained hamstring. For the season hes batting .245/.315/.357 with 10 doubles, a triple, 6 homeruns, and 29 RBI. Disappointing to say the least but theres still time for him to put up some respectable numbers. Craig Tatum had been playing well in Wieters’ absence but with the Orioles wanting to stay with 13 pitchers he was the odd man out. It was between him and Jake Fox but Fox doesn’t have any options left and would have to be passed through waivers. Tatum was hitting .271/.347/.306 with 3 doubles and 5 RBI as of last night’s game. He seems upset with the decision but hes the back up catcher so he shouldn’t take it so personally. He’ll be back up as soon as the Orioles trade away some position players or decide they don’t need 13 pitchers anymore.

The Orioles have activated 2B Brian Roberts from the disabled list and designated INF Scott Moore for assignment.

Finally Brian Roberts has made it all the way back from his back injury and he’ll bat lead off tonight for the Orioles. He played in the first four games of the season before re-aggravating the back injury he came into spring training with. There was some speculation that he would miss the entire season but apparently theres no risk of hurting it worse. He played in a fairly short rehab stint with the GCL Orioles and Bowie Baysox for how much time he missed. He played well for them batting a combined .483/.516/.586 with 3 doubles. He batted .143/.250/.214 with a double and 2 stolen bases in 16 plate appearances before going on the disabled list. He should help out alot both offensively and defensively. Hes a big improvement at second base over Scott Moore, Ty Wiggington, and Julio Lugo and he finally gives us a legitimate lead off batter. I think Roberts injury was a big reason for our terrible start and play as a whole this year. Moore will have to pass through waivers before we can send him to AAA Norfolk but I think he should. Even if somebody claims him he wouldn’t be a huge loss. He hit .209/.274/.337 with 2 doubles, 3 homeruns, and 10 RBI in his time with the Orioles over 96 plate appearances. Matt Wieters is expected to come off the DL on Sunday and Nolan Reimold is starting to hit again so we’re finally starting to be full strength.

The Orioles have activated RHP Kevin Millwood and LHP Michael Gonzalez from the disabled list and optioned RHP Chris Tillman and 3B Josh Bell to AAA Norfolk. RHP Jim Johnson was transferred to the 60 day DL. Also, LHP Troy Patton was called up before todays game and then sent back down immediately after it.

Kevin Millwood is taking Chris Tillman’s spot in the starting rotation and will pitch tomorrow night in the series opener against the Minnesota Twins. He missed a couple of weeks with a strained forearm. Hopefully the time off will do him some good, he was throwing alot of pitches each time out this year. I was hoping Tillman would get a chance to stay for a while. He pitched so good against Texas that we finally saw the pitcher that hes capable of being. I think sending him down immediately following a bad start yet again might have a negative effect. If he thinks hes going to be sent down after every bad game he could put too much pressure on himself and pitch scared. At least he can go down to AAA Norfolk and continue to work on his cutter and command. If a spot opens up in the rotation maybe he’ll gain some consistency.

Michael Gonzalez finally makes his return to the bullpen after a long rehab. As I’m sure everyone remembers he pitched in three games at the beginning of the year with not much success. He blew two saves while going 0-2 with a 18.00 ERA, 4 walks, and 3 strikeouts over 2 innings. He’ll be eased back into high leverage situations, starting off in middle relief. If and when he proves hes fully healthy and productive again he’ll move up the ladder. He’ll have to be close to dominant to regain the closer role but he is more than capable of doing that when healthy. He replaces Josh Bell on the roster who has been wasted over the last two or three weeks. There was no reason to ever bring him up in the first place if he was only going to get 19 at bats over two and a half weeks. He needs to stay at AAA Norfolk until hes the everyday third baseman. If Miguel Tejada is traded that will be as soon as a week from now. If not, wait until September when rosters expand. Let him get his at bats every day and continue to improve. Troy Patton was called up for today’s game in case of an emergency after the bullpen had been put through the ringer over the last three games. He wasn’t needed today so he was sent back down as soon as it was over. To be honest I’d rather have him on the roster than Mark Hendrickson, but I guess that will have to wait until next year.

The Orioles have activated OF Luke Scott from the 15 day disabled list and optioned RHP Frank Mata to AAA Norfolk.

This should help the offense a bit. Scott started off this year ice cold but since the first month and a half or so he has been hitting very well. He leads the team in OPS (other than Felix Pie over 52 plate appearances) with a line of .274/.348/.520 (.868 OPS). He has 17 doubles, a triple, 12 homeruns, and 30 RBI on the season. As you’ll recall he hurt himself rounding the bases after he hit a homerun and could barely make it around the bases. Frank Mata goes back to AAA Norfolk where he should’ve been a week ago. He barely pitched and left us short handed on the bench when we had a bunch of minor injuries and when he has pitched in mop up duty he hasn’t been effective. He had a 7.79 ERA over 17.1 IP with 9 strikeouts and 8 walks in his first taste of the majors. I think hes better those numbers indicate but not good enough to be anything more than an injury replacement/last man in the bullpen kind of guy. He was closing for Norfolk before he was promoted so maybe he can go back to doing that and having success.

The Orioles have placed C Matt Wieters on the 15 day disabled list with a strained hamstring and recalled 3B Josh Bell from AAA Norfolk.

The Orioles were hoping Matt Wieters’ hamstring injury wasn’t serious enough to land him on the disabled list but he still wasn’t feeling 100% so they decided to play it safe. Better safe than sorry. I’d rather them be cautious and let him heal all the way than rush him back into action and have him re-injure himself or make it worse. Its a shame though because he was finally starting to hit after a prolonged slump. Hes eligible to come off the DL on the 24th so hopefully he only has to miss the minimum amount of games. At least with the all-star break he won’t have to miss as many games as he would without it. I don’t know if we should’ve called Josh Bell back up. He should be getting regular at bats and he didn’t get that when he was up here the first time. He didn’t even have time to play in Norfolk when he was sent down before getting called back up. If hes going to be up here he needs to be used or else his development could be hindered. He hasn’t had much success at the major league level but in very limited at bats and in sporadic playing time. I’d like to see him prove himself and be able to stick after Miguel Tejada and/or Ty Wiggington are traded before the deadline.

The Orioles have recalled RHP Chris Tillman from AAA Norfolk and sent 3B Josh Bell back to AAA Norfolk.

Tillman is taking Kevin Millwood’s spot in the rotation after he went on the disabled list earlier in the week. He was 3-0 with a 1.66 ERA for AAA Norfolk spanning three starts after his demotion. In his four starts for the Orioles this year he went 0-3 with a 8.40 ERA. Two of those starts were pretty good, the other two horrendous. We’ll see which version we get tonight as he tries to make his case that he should be kept in the bigs for good. I think its about time we let him work his kinks out at the major league level. He might get beat up on some days but its obvious hes too good for AAA. Bell needs to get at bats so he’ll go back down to Norfolk and play everyday at third base. He only played in half of the games since he was called up and he struggled when he did play with three singles and eight strikeouts in 15 at bats. Hopefully he’ll take what he learned up here and use it to improve his game. I don’t think hes ready yet, lets give him another look in September. Of course, he might be back sooner than that if Matt Wieters or Felix Pie’s injuries are bad enough to land them on the disabled list.

The Orioles have placed RHP Kevin Millwood on the 15 day disabled list and activated OF Felix Pie to take his place on the roster.

Felix Pie finally makes his return tonight but unfortunately it comes at the expense of Kevin Millwood, whose trade value is now completely gone. The only way we can move him now is if he comes back and pitches well before the August 31st waiver trade deadline. He goes on the DL because of a strained right forearm. He has been pitching badly for over a month after his hot start. The Orioles became concerned yesterday when he could only make it through one inning. Apparently his velocity was down and he kept missing his spots up in the zone. With Millwood now sidelined we’ll need a starter to make his next scheduled start on Saturday. Chris Tillman pitched a gem yesterday, 9 IP, H, 0 ER, BB, 5 K, and would be in line to make it so he seems like the favorite at this point. Hes obviously too good for AAA but has struggled at the big league level. Millwood’s ERA increased sharply to 5.77 after hovering around 3.00 for the first two months of the season. We can always hope he nets us a draft pick or two in the offseason.

Pie’s return comes at a good time since Luke Scott hit the DL. We could use his bat in the lineup. He hit .400/455/.650 with 2 doubles and a homerun over 20 at bats before hitting the disabled list in early April. We need him to stay healthy and get regular at bats for the rest of the year so we can have a better idea of what we’ve got in him. I think he can be a well above average player for us going forward. The one bad thing about Pie’s return is that there isn’t much room for freshly promoted prospect Josh Bell to get at bats with how the roster is currently constructed. If hes not going to be in the lineup four or five times a week he needs to be sent back down to AAA Norfolk so he can get regular at bats and continue his development as our third baseman of the future.

The Orioles Have placed OF/DH Luke Scott on the 15 day disabled list and recalled 3B Josh Bell from AAA Norfolk to take his place on the roster.

This is a shocking decision. Luke Scott injured his hamstring after hitting a homerun last night and had to be placed on the disabled list. With Felix Pie in the last few days of his rehab assignment and most likely coming off the disabled list tomorrow to join the team in Boston I would’ve thought the Orioles would just activate him a day sooner. With Josh Bell getting his first look at the major leagues I wonder where he’ll fit in the lineup. We have Miguel Tejada seemingly entrenched at third base and when Pie comes back he’ll either DH or play LF. I’m fine with Corey Patterson being a bench player but I don’t think the Orioles will do that with him playing good right now. The only way this works is if Bell is in the lineup everyday and at third base for the majority of the time. If not theres no reason to slow his development by sitting on the bench or being a part time player. I’m excited to get a look at our third baseman of the future but I’m not sure its the right move unless a Tejada or Ty Wiggington trade is on the horizon. Bell hit .266/.311/.455 for AAA Norfolk with 24 doubles, 10 homeruns, and 44 RBI. Hes gotten better each month after hitting .295/.376/.516 in 448 AA at bats last year with 35 doubles, 2 triples, 20 homeruns, and 76 RBI. His sudden downturn in walks at the AAA level is a concern and his defense is still a work in progress. Hopefully this situation becomes more clear as we move forward.