With the cancelation of tonight's O's/Red Sox game being postphoned due to rain, we're left wondering what could have been after last night's "Black Monday" game where the O's surrendered a six-run lead. However that in itself might be the least of the Orioles' concerns after last night's game. Derrek Lee left the game after the third inning due to a strained left oblique. He's currently listed as day-to-day, however it's thought that he will require some time on the DL. (Brandon Snyder was called to Boston this afternoon in anticipation for a potential roster move, however at this point he has not been activated and Lee is still on the active roster.) Caesar Izturis was sent back to Baltimore yesterday with a nerve issue, and has already been placed on the DL (Troy Patton joined Snyder on his trip to be with the team, so it's expected that the Orioles will activate him if they haven't done so already). To top it off, Chris Tillman was experiencing some back problems yesterday which apparently flaired up in the fifth inning. Of those three, Tillman's injury looks to be the least serious, and he's not expecting to miss any time.
So basically the gist is that Lee and Izturis are on the DL, and Snyder and Patton are here...right? In theory; there's still a lot to sort out. First off, this is an excellent opprotunity for Brandon Snyder to get some game action in at the major league level. He came up for the final ten games of 2010 but didn't knock anyone's lights out or anything. Derrek Lee was always supposed to be a quick fix at first base, so while the Orioles will undoubtably miss his bat this gives them the opprotunity to play around with the order a bit and perhaps move Adam Jones back into that three hole. However I do have an interesting idea that really wouldn't come into play unless Lee misses a significant amount of time. Keep in mind that this isn't based on anything outside of what's between my two ears and underneath my black hair. Why not try to work Mark Reynolds into more of a supporting role? Last time I checked, third base isn't one of the positions affected by the above-mentioned injuries. However the fact remains that while he's hit a few homers in the past few days, Mark Reynolds has been a big league disappointment thus far at the plate for the Birds. (I recognize that nobody feels worse about that than Reynolds, and I have no doubt that he's trying hard.) If someone's going to hit .191 while playing third base, wouldn't that be an easier sell to fans if it was someone like Josh Bell? At least you could argue that he's being groomed as the third baseman of the future and the Orioles want to work him into the lineup to get him more experience.
With the Washington Nationals coming to town this weekend, we'll see the beginning of interleague play. However the key point there is that the Nationals are coming to town; as in to Baltimore. That means that American League rules will be used, and the Nationals will be given the luxury of a DH while their pitchers won't have to hit. Next month, the Orioles will head down to DC where they'll lose the DH and the pitchers will have to hit. (They'll also play road interleague series' in Pittsburgh and Atlanta.) So let's say that Lee is still hurt come mid-June for whatever reason. Why not send Troy Patton back to Norfolk and call up Josh Bell to play third base, and then platoon Guerrero in left along with Scott and Pie for those nine games? (If they were set on having Patton on the roster they could even put Andino at third.) This suggestion is not meant to embarrass or call out Reynolds, albeit there's certainly that impression given. However the fact remains that he's this year's incarnation of Garrett Atkins at the moment. Given that someone would have to sit given that the Orioles would lose the DH in those games, why not have it be their weakest hitter?
I also recognize that there's a chance Reynolds might be tearing the cover off the ball by mid-June. The counter-argument to this would be that NL teams generally bunt runners over moreso than AL teams; do the Orioles really want an experienced guy (Andino or Bell) guarding the hot corner? All of this is part of what teams face once we enter interleague play. Speaking for myself (and I'll talk more about this next month), I LOVE seeing Oriole pitchers hit. I've always said that's part of the game, and I'd like to see them rid us of the DH. However AL teams have to make adjustments when they go into these NL parks, so why not make them as smart of adjustments as possible? Would it really pay to sit Guerrero when you have a guy like Reynolds that's not hitting Mendoza? Having said all of this, it's May; we don't deal with this until mid-June!
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