2 Orioles who have no business being on major league roster but still are

The Baltimore Orioles needed to get their roster down to 26 players on or by May 2nd. It appears that they have, but not without some question marks being made.

Depending on when you read this, the Orioles have finally got their MLB roster down to 26 players. MASN’s Roch Kubatko made the announcement via Twitter early on Monday morning as Kelvin Gutierrez was designated for assignment. Not news coupled with the Ryan McKenna news that dropped after the O’s series win against the Red Sox makes us believe the moves are complete.

It felt as if the written was already in the stars for Gutierrez because Orioles fans haven’t seen him on the field in quite some time. The Ryan McKenna option to Triple-A does seem odd, however, because the Orioles are somewhat limited when it comes to outfielders, but not so much in the infield, which leads us to our opening statement of players being here that don’t need to be.

Over the entire month of April, Birdland saw four infielders all buying for the same positions. Gutierrez, Mateo, Owings, and Odor. As you know, Ramon Urias has locked down the left side of the infield, only leaving room for two positions (depending on where Urias is) open.

Two Orioles who have no business being on major league roster but still are

Jorge Mateo has started solidifying his name with both Brandon Hyde and the Orioles faithful when some outstanding speed and defense. However, Owings and Odor have not entirely made the same impact. After Rougned Odor’s towering long ball yesterday, he has bought himself some time, but Owings isn’t even on borrowed time; it’s lower than that.

So yes, Chris Owings would be the first of the two that do not deserve being on a major league roster anymore. The second, Travis Lakins Sr. Are you surprised by that pick? Doubtful, and especially after giving up a grand slam late in Sunday’s game. This season he is 0-1 with a 9.72 ERA in 8.1 innings. What’s worse than being a liability? Because whatever that is, Lakins is.

It is debatable on who deserves to go more between Owings and Gutierrez, but as we know, Kelvin won the short end of the stick today. However, there is no way Lakins should still be on the roster after a horrific April. Ryan McKenna should be solely on the idea of depth, whereas the Orioles have a magnitude of it in other places.

This season for the Baltimore Orioles feels like one where it’s going to take Hyde and the front office down the rabbit hole of constant call ups and options down, but their first big shot at moving off the dead weight hasn’t been successful. There is a lot of the season left, and the future is bright; these moves just spread gunk on a Monday morning after a successful series win.