BALTIMORE—Mark Trumbo has begun playing in extended spring training games in Sarasota, Fla., and manager Brandon Hyde hopes he’ll be back with the Orioles relatively soon.
Trumbo, who is on the 60-day injured list after September surgery on his right knee, had a painful incident when he was hit by pitches in the back twice in a game, according to Hyde.
“He’s progressing, doing well,” Hyde said. “He’ll start playing the field. His leg feels good. Now it’s about getting in baseball shape, getting at-bats, playing some defense to see where his leg is and [he’ll] be off on a rehab assignment pretty soon.”
Trumbo had 12 at-bats in spring training until his rehab was halted because his knee wasn’t progressing.
“I just want to do what’s best for Mark,” Hyde said. “We tried it out in spring training, and it was obvious he wasn’t ready. He needed more time, collaborate on that. He agreed with it. Taking our time with rehab. Remember, he’s coming back from a tricky injury
“We’re going to be as patient as possible with him and want to do what’s best for him. If we feel like and he feels like he’s ready to help out our club and potentially not only DH, but maybe play first or an outfield spot some nights, that would be great. I don’t want to rush him in any way. I don’t want to put him in a bad spot in anyway. I want him to have success.. I want him to feel like he’s ready when he gets here … We know that he’s going to take pro, big league at-bats. We can definitely use that.”
Adding a reliever: After Sunday’s game, the Orioles optioned Yefry Ramirez, who started for Triple-A Norfolk. They selected the contract of right-hander Josh Lucas to replace him.
Lucas, who was with the Orioles for nine days last month, had a 4.15 ERA in three games. At Norfolk, Lucas is 0-1 with a 4.70 ERA in six games.
He was optioned to the Tides on April 20 and designated for assignment two days later. When he cleared waivers, Lucas was assigned outright to Norfolk, and he says he’s a bit surprised to return.
“I didn’t know what was going on, what the situation was going to be,” Lucas said. He pointed out that both Tanner Scott and Evan Phillips were already on the 40-man roster, but Phillips wasn’t eligible to be recalled until Tuesday because he hasn’t been with Norfolk the required 10 days.
“I thought they’d be the first option, but glad to be back.”‘
To make room for Lucas on the 40-man roster, pitcher Nate Karns (forearm) was transferred from the 10-day to 60-day injured list. Karns is not eligible to return until June 8.
“He was not going to come back within the 60,” Hyde said. “Had that roster spot open. Shouldn’t be too much longer after that, but we just didn’t see him coming back before then.”
Villar gets a rest: Jonathan Villar has played in each of the Orioles’ first 46 games, but he wasn’t in the starting lineup for Monday night’s game against the Yankees.
Villar, who’s batting .251 with five home runs and 19 RBIs, is the club leader with nine stolen bases. He’s been the leadoff hitter 37 times, and will be replaced there by Hanser Alberto, who’s starting there for the first time this season and the second time in his career.
“He hasn’t taken the at-bats that I would like,” Hyde said. “I just wanted to give him a blow.”
Dealing with slumps: With only 12 position players, Hyde doesn’t always have the options available to put together the lineup he wants.
In Monday’s lineup were Renato Nunez, who is 6-for-68 (.088) since April 26, and Dwight Smith Jr., 3-for-25 (.120) in his last six games. Chris Davis, who is 4-for-29 (.138) against New York starter J.A. Happ, sat out.
Davis is also 4-for-29 in his last eight games.
“It’s not like we have a ton of veteran at-bats,” Hyde said. “It makes it challenging … every hitter goes through it, every guy has tough moments throughout the season. You try to stick with them. You try to find the right time to rest guys or bump guys down or bump guys up in the lineup.
“You do your best to try to get the guys that you think have the best opportunity against that starter the most at-bats. In our situation, sometimes it’s challenging, but we’re doing the best we can.”
Minor matters: Bowie left-hander Zac Lowther was named the Eastern League’s Pitcher of the Week. Lowther was 2-0 and threw 12 2/3 scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts in two starts last week.
The Baysox released right-handed pitcher Lucas Long, who had been in the organization since 2014.
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At this point, does Trumbo make much of a difference as a DH? A spot start in the OF where we can hold our breath waiting to see if he can get to and catch a ball. Maybe we would have lost yesterday’s game 10-1 with him in the lineup. I guess at this point you just put him in the lineup hoping he gets hot so that you can trade him for a mid level prospect. I’d rather see the kids play even if it is painful to watch at times. I guess he could be a good mentor to some of these young guys, but he doesn’t offer much more at this stage in his career. Am I missing something?
Unfortunately, a mid-level prospect would likely be asking a lot for Trumbo, even if he is on a hot streak. The mkt doesn't value non-fielding bats the way it use to. Look at the sell off last yr. The birds got an upper mid level prospect in DIaz , a few lottery ticket youngsters, and a bunch of has been pitchers for Machado, Schoop, Britton, and Gausman. If only the team could have a mulligan in contracts from the 2015 off season. If they didn't sign Trumbo and Davis, they would have likely been able to keep Machado. Even though he is a bit of self centered head case, the birds would have had a star to build around and likely turn the rebuild into a couple yr reload,
Mcgooding, the answer is in the middle of your comment. They're hoping he gets hot so he can be traded for a prospect.
McGooding - He makes a big difference because he's a professional hitter and cleanup batter. Good run producer and we certainly could use him for that alone with the team struggling to knock in runs with runners in scoring position. Was a good home run hitter as well. And keep the kids on the farm!!! We don't need to rush the clock on these guys any more than we need to. Why struggle at the major leagues because we pushed them too soon!!! They haven't even had a full season at triple-a yet! Let them bang on the door for a while trying to get to the majors. Once we start the clock on these kids, I'd like to see them stay because they're doing great and not on the shuttle back and forth because they're struggling. You see whats happening to Evan Phillip's and Tanner Scott and Yefry Ramirez because we rushed them when they had a decent month in the minors.
Yefry, Phillips, nor Tanner Scott were rushed. (Scott probably should’ve ironed out his control issues first but that may never happen)
Phillips has spent parts of 3 seasons in AAA and Yefry spent most of last year down there. Same story w Scott. It’s not a rushing issue. It’s a talent issue. They’re either going to sink or swim up here you can’t keep them in the minor leagues forever. This wasn’t calling up guys out of A ball or something. Its just what we have. Most of these guys aren’t good enough to cut it and even those that are will probably have growing pains.
In my eyes it isn’t going to make one shred of difference. The O’s won’t get anything of value for him and, on top of that, he’s damaged goods. All the talk of getting something of value for Givens was pretty much blown up tonight as he blew up, giving up 2 homers and five runs. Same ole, same ole from him. At least I’m getting some pleasure out of watching the Nats struggle.
I don’t think one garbage performance is going to all of a sudden tank his value. GM’s aren’t fools. If severino catches that ball Voit hit, Sanchez never even comes up. Dwight Smith’s inability to hit the cutoff man is another thing.....It sucks to see a game get blown in that fashion but I’m not worried about it tanking Givens’ stock.
Trumbo, yeah I agree. Completely worthless in a trade. Look at what the Jays got for Kendrys Morales. He’s probably the most apt comparison to Trumbo, they essentially got nothing but 2 million bucks of salary relief. They ate 10 million dollars on his contract and the “prospect” they received is some longshot utility man in the ENgelB Vielma Ilk. You’d have to be a fool to think the Orioles would actually get something halfway decent back. Guys like that discarded everyday.
Evan Phillip's spent 25 games in 2017 and 39 games in 2018. That totals 64 games in triple-a. Not even 1 full season in games at Triple-A. Don't tell me he wasn't rushed. Played last year with the Orioles after trade. Spent 20 games this year with O's minor leagues. 4.75 era in 2017 and 2.28 era in 2018. 31 games 1.99 era with Braves Triple-A and 3.38 era in 8 games in Orioles Triple-A. Not much for a call-up to me!!!