Orioles Exploring Reimold at First Base?

Well, it looks like the Garrett Atkins experiment has failed.

Let me put a number in your head, and let’s see if you can guess what it is.  Ready?  .226.

So what does this number represent exactly?

That, my fellow Oriole fans, is the combined batting average of the Orioles’ first basemen.  Add on no homers, 11 RBI, and six Rs in 38 games, and we can safely say that the O’s still have a hole to fill.  By the way, the Orioles are the only team in the majors without a homerun from a first baseman.  As if today’s unbearable loss to the Kansas City Royals wasn’t enough to dampen your day, maybe that stat did the trick.

So let’s look at the O’s current options at the position.  For starters, Atkins and youngster Rhyne Hughes have now officially gone South for the summer.  Ty Wigginton has been fantastic; however, he is needed at second base where Brian Roberts is currently on the 60-day DL.  How about Nolan Reimold?  That’s right.  Nolan Reimold has officially been considered by team officials to man the position, and they have gone so far as to give him a start with the Norfolk Tides.

“I thought it was a good opportunity for him to get some experience there,” Orioles President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail said. “We had him take some groundballs in spring training and he’d occasionally do it during batting practice here, but I thought some game experience there would help increase his versatility, take some pressure off his [surgically-repaired] Achilles and give us some potential options down the road.” (quote from the Baltimore Sun)

Well folks, the team is officially sad…again…and now they are reaching into the furthest depths of oblivion to find an option at a key position in the infield.  I’m not saying that having Reimold there is a bad decision; however, the fact that it has gotten to this point makes me cringe.  It’s too bad Brandon Snyder is off to a slow start for the Tides.  We could really use him right about now.