Who’s it Going to Be?

Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

Tomorrow Wei-Yin Chen will be called up from the GCL Orioles to pitch for the Baltimore Orioles in Sunday’s game against the Twins. On Monday, Kevin Gausman is scheduled to start in the series finale against the Twins. With this “promotion” of Chen and Gausman to the Majors, manager Buck Showalter will have to make room for Chen by sending someone down to the Minors. The question is: Who’s it going to be?

When Jimmy Paredes and Steve Clevenger were brought up to Baltimore last week, the thought was for these two to be sent back down when Chen and Gausman next scheduled starts rolled around.

Everything was going according to plan until tonight when Paredes’ bat came alive with both an RBI double and home run in Baltimore’s win. Now Showalter is left with a predicament of what to do.

Clevenger will more than likely be sent back down to Triple-A Norfolk, but if Showalter and Dan Duquette stick to their motto of “next man up,” I see Paredes staying with the Orioles a little longer. Also, Paredes offers the Orioles a solution with the third baseman job up for grabs due to Manny Machado‘s injury. With Paredes at third, Chris Davis can play his natural position at first base.

So if Paredes stays, that still leaves one more roster move left to be made. I do not see Ryan Flaherty being sent down because he is the only real backup at second base. And I do not see David Lough going down because of the speed he offers the ball club.

The player I see being sent down is Ubaldo Jimenez. Since being sent to the bullpen, he has only seen playing time once (against the Cubs last weekend). It appears he does not fit in the bullpen and Orioles faithful know he does not fit in the starting rotation. Jimenez might be packing his bags and headed down to the Orioles Farm System.