Deep Cuts

The Orioles made a deep round of cuts. Team is coming into focus. Some interesting cuts were:

Nolan Reimold--Nolan is headed to Norfolk. There are a lot of ways to look at this. He outplayed Felix Pie this spring, but it didn't matter. Pie can back up all three outfield positions and is out of options. Nolan will never be mistaken for a center fielder and he has an option left.

Nolan had a very good rookie year in '09 but a terrible '10 marred by slow recovery from injury (he may have rushed back) and rumors of personal problems. After that awful year it doesn't bother me that he has to prove his readiness at AAA, but I do understand the argument that he should be getting the ABs scheduled for Vlad or Lee.

Reimold's demotion means Jake Fox is a shoo-in. Fox' spring slugging average is over .400 points higher than his career average, the biggest difference in both spring leagues. BTW, Jose Bautisa had the greatest differential last year. And John Dewan says high spring slugging averages often carry into the regular season. I'm not really on board with all that, but I do like having a power bat on the bench. Sometimes "hot" matters more than "good."

Mark Hendrickson and Clay Rapada--Both gone. Rapada to Norfolk, Hendrickson could hit the free agent market. We'll see. I hate seeing Hendo go. He grew up in Pennsylvania and was one of the few players who always seemed happy to be an Oriole. Roch says these moves mean Josh Rupe has made the team. Personally I would rather see the spot go to Tillman or Bergesen. I don't think Rupe's spring hot streak will last. I guess it doesn't matter much. The Orioles will be fiddling with the bullpen all year.

Rick VandenHurk is gone after a really disappointing spring. He has to clear waivers to get to AAA but he was bad enough for that to be a strong possibility.

Brian Matusz got hit by a line drive while pitching against some Oriole minor leaguers. The team says it is nothing but Matusz has to be a concern at this point. He had a wart removed from a finger, got hit by a batted ball yesterday, got shelled in his last spring start, and hasn't gone over five innings in any spring outing. He is still scheduled to pitch the team's second game on Saturday, but the O's left prospect Zach Britton on the roster instead of sending him to the minors as expected. Britton also pitched yesterday meaning he would be on schedule for Saturday. Seems more likely the Orioles would give a spot start to someone else, but the possibility of Britton is so tantalizing it is hard to ignore.