The Orioles have activated DH Vladimir Guerrero from the disabled list and sent RHP Mark Worrell to AAA Norfolk.

I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I guess it can’t get much worse. The offense has been slumping lately. I would hope Vlad doesn’t go back to being the every day cleanup hitter since he hasn’t hit for much power this year. His offense slash line is .279/.315/.385 with 12 doubles, 7 homeruns, and 31 RBI. Those would be the lowest batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentages of his career. With Luke Scott out for the year the only other real option we have for DH is Nolan Reimold who should get good playing time in left field. Matt Wieters should serve as DH a few times when hes not catching. I’m sure the Orioles are hoping to trade Guerrero before the August 31st waiver trade deadline but the only thing we would get is some salary relief. No way a team would give up anything of value for him. As for Worrell, this was inevitable with his performance since being recalled. He was filler anyway.

The Orioles have placed OF Luke Scott on the 15 day disabled list and recalled 3B Josh Bell from AAA Norfolk.

That didn’t last long. You could tell all night in his first game back from the DL that Scott just wasn’t comfortable. His shoulder is clearly still bothering him and at this point I don’t see why he doesn’t just get surgery done to correct the issue. It would end his season but he isn’t performing well anyway and the team isn’t in contention so why not try to get 100% healthy for the 2012 season. Bell comes back up after getting a one game call up earlier in the week. Looks like he’ll have an extended chance to be a bench player. It beats AAA I’m sure and he can always earn more playing time. Maybe he’ll split time with Nolan Reimold and Matt Wieters at the DH spot until Vladimir Guerrero comes off the disabled list.

The Orioles have activated OF Luke Scott from the 15 day disabled list and optioned OF Matt Angle to AAA Norfolk.

Scott forced his way back with an outstanding performance at AA Bowie last night. He had six RBI, a double, and two homeruns. Overall he batted .500/.583/1.500 with a double, three homeruns, and seven RBI over 12 plate appearances on his rehab assignment. With Vladimir Guerrero on the DL Scott will probably see most of his time in the DH position until Vlad returns. Felix Pie and Nolan Reimold will split the duties in left field. Angle returns to the minors after only getting seven at bats. He walked once but didn’t get a hit. I would’ve preferred to see Angle stay in the big leagues and take Pie’s spot on the roster but since Felix is out of options he gets to stay for a while longer. If Andy MacPhail can find a team to take Pie off our hands I hope he does it. I was a fan of his but he hasn’t hit for power, shown any patience at the plate, and he continues to make stupid mistakes on the field and on the bases. I’m confident that Angle would at least do the little things correctly and have a patient approach at the plate. But for now he returns to AAA to get every day at bats.

The Orioles have placed DH Vladimir Guerrero on the 15 day disabled list with a fractured wrist. LHP Pedro Viola was optioned back to AA Bowie. OF Matt Angle and LHP Troy Patton were recalled from AAA Norfolk.

Guerrero was hit by a pitch in the last game of the Boston series before the all-star break. He rested it over the break but couldn’t swing a bat when the Cleveland series started. Hes hit .279/.315/.385 with 12 doubles, 7 homeruns, and 31 RBI so far this season. His power numbers have been a big disappointment hitting out of the cleanup spot. Viola gave up back to back to back homers against the Red Sox and just isn’t ready for the majors at this point. Patton has been excellent for Norfolk pitching mostly out of the bullpen. He had a 1.83 ERA over 44.1 innings with 30 strikeouts and 12 walks. Hes no lefty specialist as hes better at getting right handed hitters out and he’ll work in long and middle relief. Angle is a speedy center fielder who will mostly play left field for as long as hes with the big league club. He provides good defense, a stolen base threat, and a guy that can get on base at the top of the lineup. Hes hit .266/.334/.337 with 7 doubles, 2 triples, 4 homeruns, 29 RBI, and 20 stolen bases over 323 at bats in AAA. He started off in a huge slump over the first two months but hit .315 in June and .328 so far in July.

The Orioles have signed SS JJ Hardy to a three year contract extension worth $22.5 million.

This is a good deal. As bad as the Orioles have been over the past month Hardy has been a bright spot. The Orioles traded two minor league relievers for him over the offseason to replace Cesar Izturis at shortstop. We knew he would hit better than Izturis (because really, who doesn’t) but hes even been better with the glove. If he can stay healthy which has been an issue over his career, even missing about a month early in this season, he’ll give us steady production out of a hard spot on the field to fill. I was expected him to get paid more than $7.5 million per season so I think we got a deal there. Hardy would’ve been one of our best assets to use at the trade deadline but instead he’ll man shortstop until top prospect Manny Machado is ready. Then he can either move to second base or Machado can start his career at third base. Despite currently being in the midst of a slump, Hardy is hitting .275/.332/.490 for the year with 15 doubles, 13 homeruns, and 33 RBI mostly out of the leadoff spot in the lineup. He took over Brian Roberts role and has done a good job there hitting three leadoff homeruns. O’s fans don’t have much to cheer for lately but this definitely qualifies as one.

The Orioles have demoted LHP Zach Britton to AA Bowie. LHP Mark Hendrickson has been recalled from AAA Norfolk.

This is a little surprising but I can understand the reasoning. The Orioles want to limit Britton’s innings this year and since we’re no longer competitive we can add a year of control of the young lefty. We were supposed to wait until three weeks into the season to bring him up for this reason but were forced to do so right away with Brian Matusz’ injury. He can go down to Bowie for about a month, throw five innings every five or six days and come back to finish the season with the O’s. He wasn’t pitching very well anyway so maybe he can get straightened out a little bit. So far in his rookie season Britton was 6-7 with a 4.05 ERA over 104.1 innings with 64 strikeouts and 39 walks. I’d like to see his strikeout rate increase and his ground ball rate as well, even though it is already 1.74. Its very disappointing that Britton, Brian Matusz, and Chris Tillman are all in the minors while Brad Bergesen is pitching out of the bullpen. Didn’t see that happening when the season started… Hendrickson comes up to help the bullpen. He was signed to a minor league contract in the offseason and had a 2.87 ERA over 47 innings with 22 strikeouts and 12 walks for AAA Norfolk. Hes a veteran and familiar with the team plus he can pitch multiple innings so it was a pretty easy call. The Orioles bullpen has been considerably overworked over the past few weeks and a move had to be made after Britton couldn’t get out of the first inning last night.

The Orioles have called up RHP Mitch Atkins from AAA Norfolk to make tonight’s start. OF Luke Scott was placed on the 15 day disabled list to make room on the roster.

Its been clear for a while now that Scott’s shoulder has been bothering him both in the field and at the plate. Hes struggled all season long except for a brief time after he got a cortisone shot. Unfortunately thats only a short term solution. Scott can be a force at the plate especially when hes hot but not unless hes at full strength. His trade value is as low as it can be at this point so theres no use hurting the team by running him out there game after game. Get him healthy and see how things go from there, whether thats later in the season or next year. This makes room for Nolan Reimold to get more playing time. I’m assuming him and Felix Pie will share left field duties, hopefully Reimold gets the extent of it. Atkins gets a chance to fill the recently departed Brian Matusz’ place in the starting rotation after posting a 3.18 ERA over 82 innings between A+ Frederick (two starts), AA Bowie (four starts), and AAA Norfolk (8 starts) with 62 strikeouts and 27 walks. Hes only 25 years old and has put up good numbers the last couple years in the minors. He was signed as a minor league free agent after spending the beginning of his career in the Chicago Cubs organization. Why not give him a chance, hes earned it.

The Orioles have optioned LHP Brian Matusz to AAA Norfolk and recalled LHP Pedro Viola from AA Bowie.

Matusz had two pretty good starts when he first came off the disabled list after missing the first two months of the season with a strained intercostal muscle in his back, but has struggled mightily ever since. His velocity is down, his command is nowhere as good as it was last year, and his pitches don’t have their normal bite on them. In six starts he went 1-4 with an 8.77 ERA over 25.2 innings with 18 strikeouts and 11 walks. He’ll go down to Norfolk and work with pitching coach Mike Griffin who is highly thought of in the organization. Matusz mentioned his mechanics were changed in spring training which seems to be a common theme this year and maybe the reason pitching coach Mark Connor left the team. Hopefully this isn’t a lingering injury issue with Matusz. As long as hes healthy I have confidence that he’ll right the ship and get back on the track of a top of the rotation starter. Viola comes up temporarily again to be used out of the bullpen. He had a 2.25 ERA over 28 innings with 25 strikeouts and 9 walks with the Baysox.