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The business side of baseball reared up and bit reliever Roansy Contreras earlier today with news that the Orioles designated him for assignment to make room for right-hander Shawn Dubin.
Contreras finally got the call this week and made his Orioles debut last night, tossing 4 1/3 scoreless innings behind opener Dietrich Enns. He’s out of minor league options and would need to pass through waivers before the Orioles could outright him.
“Those are tough decisions,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “There was a lot of time spent on that, trying to figure out what the right thing to do was. We’ve got a lot of smart people who are looking at a lot of different type of information and trying to make the best decision they can.
“The coach in me wants him to get claimed because we want our players to play in the major leagues and get opportunities. The Baltimore Oriole in me wants him to get through and go unclaimed and be back in the fold for us.”
Dubin will be in the bullpen today.
“He’s in the mix,” Mansolino said. “As you see, there’s a lot of open roles down in the ‘pen. We’re just trying to figure out the best pieces and the best spots, guys who can get out righties and lefties. He played catch last night after the game on our field, came in and got his arm moving a little bit, and he will be in the mix, and if he pitches well, he’ll pitch leverage.”
Dubin faced the Orioles three times this month and allowed nine runs and 11 hits in four innings.
“I’m excited to be here,” he said. “You guys touched me up pretty good last time, so it’s good to be on this side of it. I’m excited to meet all the guys and excited to see how the rest of the season winds up.
“I’ve been with the Astros my whole career, so it’s a little bit of a change of scenery I think is gonna go a long way.”
Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers are out of today’s lineup. Jeremiah Jackson gets another start in right field.
Emmanuel Rivera is playing third base. Coby Mayo is at first, with Ryan Mountcastle serving as designated hitter.
Mansolino was asked again today about raising Beavers in the order. The rookie outfielder is batting .344/.475/.563 and has reached base in nine of 10 games. He’s reached 19 times to begin his career, second most through an Orioles’ first 10 games behind Curtis Goodwin’s 21 in 1995.
Beavers maintains his rookie status for next season as long as he stays below 130 at-bats.
“There’s certain values and there’s certain things that I really believe in, and if you really believe in something, you do it and you don’t second-guess yourself and you don’t look back,” Mansolino said.
“There’s a handful of factors for him, and I think the other day we might have hit him sixth or seventh at some point, got him out of the eight hole. But that decision there isn’t in a vacuum and you guys can probably speculate on a lot of the reasons why we’re doing what we’re doing, some of those things. I won’t specify it myself, but I believe in why we’re doing what we’re doing for the player, and it’s a tough one to swallow sometimes, but in due time it will be the right thing.”h
Jackson Holliday continues to lead off while his on-base percentage has dropped to .302 in 124 games. He’s batting .146/.276/.202 this month and the Orioles have considered a move down the order.
“We’ve talked about it but I don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” Mansolino said. “I think we need to support the kid, have his back, and know he’s had three bad weeks now, two bad weeks, whatever it is, and he’s not happy with it by any means.
“The kid, you go back to facing Max Fried in New York (June 20) and having that game out of the DH spot in the one hole. Everything’s just going up at that point. So is it OK for a player to have a few bad weeks or a bad month? Yeah, I think we see it all the time. He’s played a lot this year. There’s things that they’re working on swing-wise. He’s getting a lot of information right now on himself to set himself up for the future to be the guy he’s going to become.
“It’s really hard to watch players go through struggles, but being a coach, I also know that guys struggling, a lot of times it’s the best thing for him.”
For the Orioles
Jackson Holliday 2B
Jeremiah Jackson RF
Gunnar Henderson SS
Ryan Mountcastle DH
Emmanuel Rivera 3B
Colton Cowser CF
Coby Mayo 1B
Dylan Carlson LF
Alex Jackson C
Cade Povich LHP
For the Red Sox
Roman Anthony RF
Alex Bregman 3B
Trevor Story SS
Romy Gonzalez 1B
Rob Refsnyder DH
Nate Eaton CF
Carlos Narváez C
Ceddanne Rafaela 2B
Jhostynxon Garcia LF
Garrett Crochet LHP
Here are the starters for the series in San Francisco:
Friday: RHP Dean Kremer vs. LHP Robbie Ray
Saturday: LHP Trevor Rogers vs. TBA
Sunday: RHP Tomoyuki Sugano vs. RHP Justin Verlander
* I'm flying to San Francisco. Brendan Mortensen will handle today's game coverage.
