Baltimore Orioles: Construct the roster

How do fans think the Baltimore Orioles’ roster should look after tomorrow.

Today is a mandatory day off for the Baltimore Orioles – the players, that is. Manager Buck Showalter and his coaches are busy working with the front office in terms of how to best construct the 2016 Orioles’ roster. How many starting pitchers should they carry? How many outfielders? You get the idea. All of these men have some tough decisions to make, and only a short amount of time in which to make them.

Certainly the Hyun-Soo Kim situation is probably in the forefront of the Orioles’

Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

minds. As it stands now, all indications are that the O’s aren’t going to simply release him and eat his $7 million salary over the next two years. That goes against my better judgement, however that’s just where the organization appears to stand right now. (Bearing that in mind, I’m also on record as saying that finding a reason to send him to the DL wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.)

But there are other players upon which the Orioles will have to render a decsion very soon. Not the least among them is Xavier Avery, who had a great spring – including last night. Paul Janish also has an opt-out clause if he doesn’t make the team out of spring training. The Orioles are wary of losing him as well.

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Then you have Vance Worley, who started last night’s game. Granted he only pitched for two innings, however the rain delay had a lot to say about that. Is there a role for Worley as a part of this team after noon tomorrow? My gut says yes – but that’s just me. The fact that he made it to the end with pitchers being sent to minor league camp left and right over the last week bodes well for him. This is something that Worley himself noticed (quote courtesy of Steve Melewski, MASNsports):

"There are a few of us who still don’t really know what our role is or if we are even on the team. We traveled with a lot of guys here. Just patiently waiting."

We know that Tyler Wilson is going to be on the team – we just don’t know whether it’s in a capacity as a reliever or as a starting pitcher. As I’ve said many times, the Orioles have to option to and in all probability will begin the season with only four starters. They have the option of doing that only because they have an off day scheduled for this coming Tuesday after Opening Day.

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Common sense would dictate that would give them an extra bullpen slot. In theory, that fifth starter would start out the season as a reliever. However let’s think outside the box for a moment; could they not use that extra roster spot to include someone like Avery on the Opening Day roster – as opposed to carrying an additional reliever? That way you still have the spot for Kim, you can carry someone (Avery or someone else) who truly should be there, and for the very beginning at least you still have a fully-staffed bullpen.

However the roster shakes down after tomorrow, it will all of course be temporary. However perhaps the scenario that I just gave above would give them a chance to “bury Kim on the bench,” which perhaps might make him think twice about allowing himself to be optioned. This is not said to be aggressive towards Kim, however I agree with the organization in that it would be the best thing for him.

That said, what are your thoughts? I’d love to hear how you, the fans, think that the roster should shake down!

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