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The Orioles are activating Koji Uehara from the disabled list this morning. The corresponding roster move was expected to involve a reliever, but interim manager Juan Samuel summoned first baseman Garrett Atkins into his office.
The meeting includes president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail.
Atkins had just arrived at the ballpark and was getting dressed when Samuel motioned for him.
Update: Atkins was designated for assignment to make room for Uehara.
The Orioles figure that Felix Pie is close to returning and they'd rather have an extra arm in the bullpen for the next few days.
Atkins batted .214 (30-140) with one home run and nine RBIs in 44 games. He left the clubhouse before reporters could talk to him and is cleaning out his apartment.
Check Steve Melewski's blog for Samuel's comments on the roster move.
I read somewhere yesterday where Atkins said he would welcome a move. Something to the effect that it would boost his career. I might add, what's left of it.
Thinning our bench however, does not seem like a good idea. Granted Atkins and Montanez rarely played, but we could sure use someone who could be used as a pinch-runner late in a game, especially when Izturis and Lugo are both in the lineup.
And suddenly, it feels like spring! Let's play two!
ITS MOST UNFORTUNATE, BUT IN THIS GAME YOU HAVE TO PERFORM THATS WHY YOU GET THE BIG BUCKS.......BEST OF LUCK TO GARRETT..........
FULL STEAM AHEAD.......
Probably a good move with bull pen being used heavy the last couple days.
The better question is who will come up to replace Koji after he gets injured again. What is the over/under? 2.1 IP before next DL Stint?
Finally...
If Atkins had signed for less money, I feel like this would have happened a while ago. I can't justify any other reason they held him this long.
I wouldn't say our bench is thinned, we still have Fox and Moore who can fill any void atkins would leave behind. I feel kind of bad for him though because he never go a chance to get off the bench and fight his way out of his slump.
I suppose with O's starters going 4 innings as of late the move to have an extra arm makes sense.
That being said I think Koji will be back on the DL within a a couple weeks. It wouldn't shock me if he was shelved by 4th of July.
Garrett we hardly knew you.
Seemed like a great guy, problem is he was NOT producing. And simply put, nice guys don't get anywhere iin sports. Hopefully he bounces back on some NL roster.
Well, the O's have won three in a row! And I'm back. Way to go O's, and they are letting go of some dead weight w/Atkins. It is about time already. I suppose they just pitch Koji for one or two batters at a time, especially in this heavy humidity. Koji = Situational pitcher no more, no less - at least until the Fall. It doesn't take a rocket scientist.
Great move, glad to hear Koji is back. Hopefully Albers for Sarfate is next
It's hard to finish reading this post with all the tears in my eyes.. but seriously it is a shame he couldn't work out here. I just wish they would have made this move sooner. Hopefully there will be more changes coming down the pipe soon.
Good Luck to Mr. Atkins !! He just ran out of time...and a lack of production just made the clock on him run faster.
I just read on ESPN where it has been reported that Davey Johnsom would be open to another run as Manager of The O's ...
I think that would be a very wise move to bring Davey Johnson back...bring back some of that Oriole Magic !!
Put me down for the under.
I'm sure Atkins had to know he was on borrowed time. Not surprised he left before reporters could talk to him -- what is there to say, really?
Best of luck to Atkins, where ever he lands.
I give Koji until the 4th of July before he's DL'd again.
AM's worst 2 signings in one transaction!
Maybe Koji will get DFA'd when Gonzalez comes back for the trifecta.
This is my only knock on McPhail. I am totally happy w/the draft since he's been in charge and w/the trades that he's made, but the free agent signing leave a lot to be desired. This is a guy they paid 5M to and on a good team he would have been lucky to be a spring training invitee or signed to a minor league contract. I believe McPhail has one more year on his contract and we need to stop watching the "market play out" and signing free agents just for the sake of filling out our roster. We need to make a bold trade and force someone to come here and we need to start going after better ballplayers to help these young guys mature as hitters.
Good riddance Atkins. I know he said he'd welcome the opportunity to be released and play somewhere else. Take the money and run...I don't see anyone else giving you a shot!
I vote Davey Johnson!
I hope they don't pitch Koji today in this heat. I don't want to see somebody die on the field.
Garrett is taking his 4 million bucks and going home. On the bright side, maybe he'll find his glasses while cleaning out the apartment.
Now can we start Jake Fox at first base? This guy was a monster for the Cubs last year and nobody ever comments on it. His combined numbers between AAA and the Cubs last year were as follows:
.341, 28 home runs and 94 runs batted in... Why isn't he the starting first baseman? The 82 games with the Cubs he was .260, 11 homers and 44 rbi. That's a hell of a lot better than anything at first for the o's this year. Let him start at 1st and see what happens.
Roch and Fellow Students,
This is a little off topic, but you can see it with the Hubble telescope.
THE BASEBALL BUCKET LIST
For some time I have maintained a list of changes – some forward looking and some reactionary – that I believe would improve the game. Since the movie starring Michael Caine and Robert Duvall, I have named the proposals: THE BASEBALL BUCKET LIST.
The throwback uniforms worn on Saturday, brought to mind two items on the BBL. I would like to find out what you think about each point.
UNIFORMS
It does not make sense, nor does it seem desirable for aesthetic reasons, that MLB and each member team does not require uniformity in a team’s uniforms and the manner in which they are worn.
We have players wearing their pants according to several different styles: the traditional “knickers” style, ending just below the knees with stockings visible to the spikes; full-length “pants style” with some so long that the pants actually touch the ground as they end in cascades; the “knickers style” showing the stockings so that the team colors in bands at the top of the stockings are visible, with the stockings made with stirrups and worn with sanitaries. A few Orioles – Jones and Hendrickson -- wore the stirrup stockings with the orange stripe showing. The last I knew, the only remaining major leaguer wearing sanitaries and stirrups was Maddox
Personally I favor the solid stockings and the pants in the “knickers style.” But the major point on the BBL is that uniformity should be required; and, if the Commissioner’s Office cannot bring itself to, once again, get involved in this issue, then each team should dictate the way in which their uniforms should be worn.
Great Bowie Kuhn’s Ghost! It is self-evident that groups that wear a uniform should require it to be just that – uniform. The NFL is probably the most strict in requiring uniformity to the extent that wags in the sports writing community stumbled upon the nickname “No Fun League.” I can’t imagine that Commissioner Stern would permit a maverick or two – on their own – to return to the short-shorts. The properly worn uniform in the military is immediately understood; the public would never see a deviation by a marine or soldier. School kids wear uniforms and -- I guess – do battle every day with teachers and administrators with varying success. On their way to school in the morning, teen-aged girls leave their parents approving sight with their uniforms at a prescribed length; by the time they arrive at school, the clever girls have executed the “roll and tuck” raising their hemlines to a more sociable length.
However, all are expected to wear their uniforms as expected. A larger question may be: Why have baseball players been able to claim a right and privilege to do as they please? Perhaps the answer is simply: Marvin Miller and the MLPBA Union.
At last, I put it to you:
1. Do you favor every team being required by the Commissioner to wear uniform uniforms; or, would you leave it up to each team.?
2. Do you like “pants style,” “knickers style” with or without stirrups?
STIRRUPS STORY*
The beginning of the 20th century brought about another innovation closely associated with the baseball uniform: stirrup stockings.
In baseball’s early days, the dyes used in stockings were not colorfast, so a spike wound could easily get an unhealthy dose of colored dye.
Wearing a white stocking underneath the colored hose would help eliminate the problem, but the double thickness of socks meant that a player’s shoe no longer fit properly. The solution, introduced during the first decade of the 20th century, was the colored stirrup stocking. The innovative sock allowed for a protective layer of material around the leg but a single thickness of material in the shoe.
Since the white stockings worn underneath the stirrup stockings provided a sanitary layer of protection, they were dubbed sanitaries.
*The full story of the development of stockings as an element of the bsseball uniform.
http://exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/dressed_to_the_nines/stockings.htm
Maddy: What makes you think he was such a nice guy - just because of that $µ!† eater's grin he sported all the time?
That's why it is so hard to catch lightning in a bottle. He probably won't be picked up . Is there any chance he accepts a minor league assignment?
About time! How long before Koji goes back to the dl. I wonder what they are going to do with the lousy pitching Bergesen.
They need to play fox everyday and see what he can do. Lugo is a waste of bench space and scott moore is just a crappier version of Luke Scott.
About 2 months too late but at least hes gone. He had to be one of the worst athletes Ive ever seen. He did nothing well whatsoever. You would hope somebody that is that bad offensively that at least he would be outstanding defensively but he was equally as bad with the glove as he was the bat.
At first I wasnt too thrilled with the acquistion of Jake Fox and than I remembered that this was his first year playing in the AL. He really wasnt in the NL all that long when he was up but did hit the ball well as the one poster mentioned above. But someone mentioned on a blog somewhere that Chris Davis is tearing it up in AAA for the Rangers and they are committed to Smoak, they also are interested in Ty Wigginton. Davis makes a lot of sense for the Orioles given their first base situation.
Fox is one of those guys that you can get into every game much like Wigginton in many respects but the bottom line is you have to produce when your given the opportunity.
JDB,
Wow!
Is the season that bad that we have to resort to uniform uniformity concerns?
...I like stirrups.
We all saw this coming....still weird to do for Samuel and AM....but it needed doing....Pie will come and a pitcher will go....
Roch - I was skeptical of the Garrett Atkins signing from day one. Here was a player who struggled in the NL over the past couple of years and who was now expected to find his stroke after switching leagues and hitting in the AL's toughest division. It didn't seem like a good fit to me and not really fair to Garrett.
I still wonder what Andy MacPhail was thinking, especially offering Atkins $4 million--pretty significant money for someone scuffling the way Garrett had. Not one of Andy's better decisions in my view.