Craig Albernaz fails to convince anyone that "everything is fine" with Samuel Basallo and the Orioles

Yesterday marked three games in a row that both Samuel Basallo and Adley Rutschman were missing from the Baltimore Orioles' starting lineup. Catcher is a tough position to play, so the fact that both the Orioles backstops are nursing some injuries isn't shocking on its own, but the way they've both been used during this stretch has raised some eyebrows. Rutschman has been completely unavailable in these games; clearly, his injury is serious enough that bringing him off the bench isn't even under consideration. Basallo has appeared in all of the games as a pinch hitter and, in some of them, caught multiple innings after subbing in. With Basallo clearly being healthy enough to hit and catch as a reserve, the fact that he's being held out of the starting lineup is strange.

When the benching began, Craig Albernaz made a comment about Basallo needing to learn to play through pain. Basallo, in a later interview, said that he knows how to play through pain and plays through pain all the time. This little back and forth through the media only served to make the situation weirder.

Craig Albernaz came under fire for benching Samuel Basallo

Wednesday's lineup came out before Albernaz's media availability, so when Basallo was once again absent from the starting lineup, Albernaz faced a barrage of questions about Basallo, and his answers did not exactly throw anyone off the scent.

A video of questions is available online, and Baltimore Sun reporter Jacob Calvin Meyer posted the transcript of the questions on Twitter as seen here:

It's a lot of word salad, but the intent of Alberanz's answers was clear: he wanted to dodge these questions. The answer he gave to the very first question flatly didn't even attempt to address the question.

The questions keep coming, and the answers keep not coming until the topic changes. No real information was passed on, but the impression left by all the non-answers was clear. Things are tense between Basallo and the Orioles.

Although the Orioles can't hide that something is going on, they have successfully hidden exactly what it is. Which is all they can really hope for. This leaves Orioles fans with nothing but a few crumbs to speculate on. The most popular theory is that Basallo is being left out of the lineup for disciplinary reasons. This theory only gained more traction as Orioles Hall of Famer and color commentator Jim Palmer addressed the situation on air with an extended "rant" that ended with him saying, "I don't think this is the time, when you've lost four in a row, to teach a lesson."

The idea behind this theory is that, based on Albernaz's comments about Basallo "learning to play through pain," it can be inferred that the Orioles believe Basallo should be able to play through this injury, and Basallo has pushed back.

The fact that Basallo has played in every single game both as a pinch hitter and a catcher since the injury means that he's not refusing to play, and he's not refusing to catch. It's hard to believe that Basallo would tell the Orioles, "I can't play even as a DH, but I can pinch hit in the seventh and catch three innings."

What seems most likely is that since this wrist injury, Basallo has tried to dictate his own playing time either by telling the Orioles he can only play as a DH or that he wants certain days off, and the Orioles have grown frustrated and, to regain the upper hand, they've relegated him to a bench role. Basically, sending the message "you're going to play when we tell you, you can play".

If that's not the case and Basallo really is injured in such a way that starting at DH is an impossibility, but pinch-hitting and catching late in games is feasible, then the Orioles are not doing a good job communicating with the media and the fans that this is injury-related. Albernaz could have very easily said in his media availability that Basallo is battling an injury, and the Orioles are being cautious, and that they're on the same page. Instead, it's almost like he went out of his way not to say anything like that.

It's possible that Basallo is being difficult about this injury and that he has worn out Albernaz's patience, but the way the Orioles have handled this is not good. Whether or not the team wants to bend to whatever Basallo wants, they could at least provide him some cover by pretending that his injury is as serious as he believes it is. Instead, they seem determined to make it known they think he's being dramatic and needs to toughen up.

Albernaz can say that it wasn't his intention to call out Basallo's toughness and that he loves him or whatever all he wants, but what's permeated from this whole saga is the exact opposite.

What's striking about this whole thing is how unnecessary it all is. Even if the Orioles are technically correct and Basallo's injury isn't that bad, has his play not earned him a little bit of leeway? It's his body after all, if he feels like pain is preventing him from being his best self, how can the Orioles tell him differently? Basallo plays with a ton of passion; if he felt like he could play, certainly he'd want to play. The Orioles are treating him like he's a work-from-home employee faking a cough so that he can play Xbox during a team meeting.

Hopefully, for everyone involved, this is just a momentary blip that will be forgotten as the season goes on. Basallo will eventually feel better, and his talent will demand that he be in the lineup every day, and in a few months, nobody will be thinking about his playing time in the first week of June. It is worth keeping an eye on, though, because Basallo is the only player signed up with the Orioles long term, so if this becomes a larger issue, it's not one that's going to just go away.

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