Rich Dubroff

Orioles make first September roster additions

The Orioles added to their roster by recalling pitchers Branden Kline, Tanner Scott and outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. from Triple-A Norfolk on Sunday. They also activated pitcher Shawn Armstrong from the 10-day injured list.

Kline, a 27-year-old right-hander, has spent considerable time with the Orioles this season. He’s 1-4 with a 7.44 ERA in 25 games and was 1-1 with a 6.86 ERA in 18 games with Norfolk.

Scott, a 25-year-old left-hander, was 1-0 with a 5.29 ERA in 15 games with the Orioles and  3-4 with a 2.98 ERA and seven saves in 28 games at Norfolk. Scott has struck out 57 in 45 1/3 innings with the Tides.

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Smith, who had been on the 10-day injured list with a left calf injury, was optioned to the Tides after his rehab assignment so that DJ Stewart could get more playing time.

In 84 games with the Orioles, Smith is hitting .238 with 12 homers and 48 RBIs and in 11 games, hit .311 with three home runs and 12 RBIs in 11 games at Norfolk.

Armstrong, who had a right forearm strain, has a 5.01 ERA in 39 games.

More callups are expected after Norfolk’s season concludes on Monday. Catcher Austin Wynns and designated hitter Mark Trumbo are likely additions.

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Trumbo, who is on a rehab assignment, is 4-for-20 (.200) with two homers and six RBIs in his last five games. He’ll decide if his right knee is strong enough to play.

The Orioles will also make a final decision on Ryan Mountcastle, the International League Most Valuable Player.

If Trumbo or Mountcastle is activated, room must be found on the 40-rman roster.

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Rich Dubroff

Rich Dubroff grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of New York teams, but after he moved to Baltimore, quickly adopted the Orioles and Colts. After nearly two decades as a freelancer assisting on Orioles coverage for several outlets, principally The Capital in Annapolis and The Carroll County Times, Dubroff began covering the team fulltime in 2011. He spent five years at Comcast SportsNet’s website and for the last two seasons, wrote for PressBoxonline.com, Dubroff lives in Baltimore with his wife of more than 30 years, Susan.

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  • ...none of which will make a difference. We’ve seen enough of all of them in an O’s uniform. What’s to be gained by exposing their weaknesses further? They’re going to have to take players off the 40 man roster to protect a bunch of players anyway so why not get a head start? Yeah, I know... They don’t want to “start the clock” on them. But, wouldn’t it be a good idea to expose these guys to some high level coaching now rather than having them have to fight though the mass of players at Spring training. Just saying...

    • You don’t start the clock in September. They don’t accrue service time for that. Mountcastle is really the only non 40 man guy who has earned a shot anyhow. None of Cody Sedlock, Akin, Kremer or Diaz have really forced anyone’s hand for a call up.

      I suspect most of the guys who will be removed from the 40 man this offseason are currently our SP’s or long men. The most obvious 40 man removals aside from Jace P Are the out of options career swing guys like Ynoa, Brooks, and Wojo. I would imagine they want to see who earns a spot out of the group. As well as determining if Hess or Eshelman goes. Because I would imagine one would.

      • Add Ty Blach and Luis Ortiz to the Hess/Eshelman group. I believe one or two of those 3 guys get cut as a 40 man casualty at some point this offseason. Though we will need some kind of SP’s next season so it very well could be someone in the Evan Phillips/Cody Carroll/Tayler Scott/Ryan Eades group that gets axed. We’ve managed to keep Carroll on the 40 man all year despite his injury so I would place my bet on him
        staying.

        So, yeah as you can see there’s a lot of fringe arms Elias has to pick through. I’m sure that’s the most important thing for him this September because he has some cut decisions to make.

    • Players who do come up in September do accrue service time. But with the possible exception of Mountcastle does it really make a difference. Hays is 24, so even bringing him up now he wouldn’t become a free agent until 2025. Outside of Rutschman and possibly Grayson Rodriguez, don’t see anybody in the low minors who they manipulate the service time

      • Yeah my fault there. It does not burn an option year to call up a guy in September though. But like you said Mountcastle would be the only guy with any consideration for that at this point. Which I’m perfectly fine w not bringing up. We really don’t have an everyday slot for him right now anyway with Nunez and Mancini occupying the 1B/Dh role.

  • Trumbo should not take up anybody's playing time. So all the Orioles did was to call up three players who have already proven inadequate at the major league level rather than taking a look at Mountcastle and/or Williams. -The season was down the tubes record-wise by the second week of May (not a surprise--everybody understood the deal with rebuilding) and the entire year should have been about taking a look at players who might be useful down the road. Instead, we get months of Joey Rickard, months of Steve Wikerson in CF (how many drops does it make after last night?) months of Chris Davis doing whatever it is that he does, months of the same inept pitchers getting shuttled back and forth to Norfolk.

    In all seriousness, who did they "discover" this year? Means, Alberta, Severino, and Santander. Everyone else had either already established themselves (Villar, Mancini) or just took up space (Davis, Rickard, Smith, Wilkerson, pitchers beyond counting...)

    Mountcastle and Williams should have been called up at the least so they could see whether there was anything there. Trumbo? WHY?

    • I would say “discovering” 4 players in one year is pretty good. I also think Tanner Scott has earned more time in Baltimore.

      • Not arguing that at all-if they had discovered one more useful starting pitcher this would have been a real plus year. My point was why bring up people they've already looked at and who didn't perform when given the chance? Let them play somewhere this winter and perhaps develop enough to be considered next year. For September, play as many who haven't been given that chance as possible and weed out the non-useful players (I'm looking at you Stevie Wilkerson-he's my new Joey Rickard with a perennial "why"? plastered in my mind every time I watch him in the starting lineup).

        I do think they are perhaps just a bit over a year away from having a decent rotation and then they can fill in the pieces for the bullpen. I will say they were a lot more interesting most of the time this year than last year's excuse of a team.

    • I’ll agree with Camden that discovering 4 players in one year is very good. Now it’s still to be determined if they can continue that success.

      But to Borg’s point - I think “taking a look” at players includes looking at the players while still playing in the minors, not just the majors. A lot of these players (Mountcastle being the exception) are only just now showing promise at the minor league level. And maybe that’s the look they need right now. This rebuild is a long process and bringing players up now or next year is going to make much of a difference in the long term success.

    • People in the know said it was a way of thanking him, he was a good example of how to do things for the youngens, pretty much the great example that was previously set by CD & Blier, not arguing with you, I TOTALLY agree, both Williams & Mountcastle should be up here, we owe Trumbo nothing...go O’s..

  • I know all you fans have been wondering what could possibly make the season worse! , We here at the warehouse have come up with the perfect thing: the return of Mark Trumbo! Captain Buzzkill will thrill you with his dazzling strikeouts and surly demeanor!! Best of all, every at bat he takes is one less at bat for a developing player! It’s a real lose-lose!! If you call yourself a REAL glutton for punishment, you won’t want to miss this!

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Rich Dubroff

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