SARASOTA, Fla.—A week remains before Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, and the Orioles don’t know if Mark Trumbo is going to be ready to play.
Trumbo had surgery on his right knee last September. Since returning to the lineup on March 13, he’s 2-for-10 (.200) with a walk.
He was not in the lineup for Thursday’s game in Bradenton. Manager Brandon Hyde said Trumbo would start at designated hitter Friday against Toronto in Dunedin.
“We’re still going on how he feels day-to-day, and that’s going to be probably an end-of-the-camp decision,” Hyde said about Trumbo’s availability for the season opener.
“We’d like for him to be comfortable and for him to feel like he’s fully healthy and his legs are underneath him.”
Trumbo has typically been taken out after two at-bats, hitting three times just once.
“It’s a wait-and-see because the injury is so tricky and he’s done so well from the tough surgery,” Hyde said. “Credit goes to him for coming back… He’s ahead of schedule. Still haven’t made a decision on it.”
The Orioles could use Renato Nunez in place of Trumbo at DH if he begins the season on the injured list.
Hyde, Trumbo and head athletic trainer Brian Ebel regularly confer on the slugger’s progress.
“…[We] talk through what the next four or five days look like and then we readjust after a game played,” Hyde said.
“We just want to do what’s best for him. I want him to be healthy. I want him for the long run, and not the short sprint at the start of the season. I want the best Mark Trumbo. If that’s him [starting with the team], then it is. If it’s not, and he waits a few weeks, whatever his timetable is, then it will be then. That’s why we’re not in any hurry to make any decision on it.”
While the Orioles wait on Trumbo, they’ll have to make a decision Friday on catcher Jesus Sucre, who must be added to the 40-man roster. If Sucre isn’t put on the roster, then he can opt out of his minor league contract and elect free agency as infielder Alcides Escobar did on Wednesday.
Sucre, who reported to camp late because of visa issues in his native Venezuela, has played in six games, batting .250 (3-for-12).
Austin Wynns’ sore left oblique, which has caused him to miss more than two weeks, has helped Sucre’s chances.
“I think he’s got a good shot to make the team,” Hyde said. “I’ve been playing him every other day. He went down and took a bunch of minor league at-bats a couple of days ago to try and catch up.”
Chance Sisco has an excellent shot to make the team. Carlos Perez, who has struggled defensively, and Andrew Susac remain in camp.
Hyde praised Sucre on Thursday.
“He’s catching great,” he said. “He throws great. He does a really nice job behind the plate. He’s a major league veteran.”
Although it appears likely Sucre will start the season on the Orioles’ 25-man roster, Hyde isn’t guaranteeing anything.
“We still have a bunch of things to sort through there,” he said.
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I want Jesus Sucre to start the year on a rehab assignment in Bowie, then be elevated to the big league club a few weeks later. There is zero reason for me to desire this, other than when he is brought up, Rich can write a headline that reads "He is Risen".
I can always count on you, Bancells.
What about CD 0 for 3 all strikeouts soon a decision has to be made on this disaster . He simply is a out no matter where you bat him.
Bhoffman1. We are pretty much screwed at the moment w this horrible, ridiculous, stupid, asinine, outrageous, and oh, ill-advised contract. This is the bad news.
The good news is that if this continues, the Orioles WILL face the music and bite the bullet and release him before next season, thereby eating the rest of this contract..
Elias would not have taken the job had he not received ownership's support on this (likely/inevitable) scenario...
If he continues his hapless ways through this season, they may do it sooner, rather than later...
They can handle it financially, it's just a terrible hickey from the reign of one Peter Angelos..
I hear what you say and it makes a lot of sense but I’m from the old school. Yes he has a four more years and over $100,000 due but I really believe rather that risk embarrassment like sitting on his ass everyday he and his agent will agree to a buyout.
I meant 100 million. It gets me sick to thing of the money he is making for his pathetic performance
Bhoffman1
Please remember that Davis didn't sign himself to that contract..Mr. Angelos signed him to that contract. the shame his that Mr. Angelos was doing something he thought that the very same fans that are complaining about him so bitterly now were the ones crying to sign him then... If we had a GM that the owner respected and wasn't being stabbed in the back by the Manager and the juicer Special Assistant of Nutrition, maybe we wouldn't be in the shitter now...
This is a pox on Boras and the union as well. Want to know why veteran free agents have been ignored as FAs the past 2 years? Chris Davis. This has to be addressed in the new CBA. Tony Clark saying he is going to wat h what the O's are doing g! Gimme a break. No business should be forced by a union to pay so aggreciously for non performance. Yes, Boras represented that Davis was signed at a market discount.
Shame about Wynns. I was very upbeat about him going into spring training.
I now better understand why they let Caleb go.
Trumbo doesn’t appear to be ready, not with the kid gloves their using to handle him. There’s no point in rushing him. Let him spend a month in extended spring training. They didn’t expect he’d be ready for the season anyway. Get him healthy, get him hitting, and trade him. Trumbo’s contract isn’t outright awful (*cough*, Davis, *cough*), but it sure wasn’t a good one, or particularly well thought-put.
Exactly plus he still can hit i assume once healthy and not a sure out like CD. Many people on this board including Rich might feel I’m to hard on Davis. In general the amount of money given to top players is becoming outrageous but atleast they perform for the team and fans. This guy doesn’t perform and actually performs worse then anyone in the history of the sport the last two years and is paid yearly more then all of us will ever earn together in our lifetime.
Bhoffman1--you make a lot of sense to me after a few drinks...
Seriously, it is a full-blown financial hit to the team, but I believe that they have made allowances for it and will deal with it. They can not seriously undergo a re-build with him playing like this around the rest of the team.. It makes no sense.
It will be dealt with. Maybe surprisingly faster than any of us think..
P.S.
Trumbo was signed by Dan Duquette to replace Davis's bat in the lineup and then Mr. Angelos goes and re-signs him. Now we have a 2-for-one deal... Oyyyy.