everyone stays healthy, the Orioles will enter the regular season with an all-right-handed starting rotation, which is not an ideal situation for a team that plays in the shadow of the flag court at Camden Yards.
Manager Buck Showalter, however, disputed that notion Sunday.
“That part of it doesn’t really bother me," he said. “I've never really understood why I have to have this many left-handed hitters in it. Because it does what? What does it do for you? If it’s your ballpark, that’s one thing. … Our park is pretty [even] — the right-left stuff, I really mean that, not because we potentially don't have one. I just want good starters. If they are right-handed, so be it.”
So if you have only right-handed starters, is it imperative to have a left-handed long reliever in the bullpen?
“On paper, it should be left-handed, but who knows?” Showalter said. “You know you’ve got your closer is left-handed, so most of the people in the lineup are going to be left-handed. That’s one of the advantages of having a left-handed closer, is that most of the pinch hitters and everyone off the bench is left-handed. There’s not that many right-handed pinch hitters coming off the bench in the American League East unless they’ve got a day off or something else is happening. Most of those guys are cut from a different cloth.”
Matusz fine with bullpen role: Left-handed reliever Brian Matusz likely will get stretched out again this spring, but offseason speculation that he might get a chance to audition for a starting job probably has become moot.
He said over the weekend that he’s fine with that, though he still hopes that he’ll someday get a chance to be a starter again.
“Absolutely, that's something I love doing," he said. “I love pitching out of the bullpen and I love starting. Would I love to start again some day? Absolutely, but for me, [the goal] is to be ready to help this team as much as I can. I'm open to any decision that's made.”
Around the horn: Mark Trumboreported to camp Sunday, as did Orioles minor league Player of the Year Trey Mancini. This offseason was a busy one for Mancini, who completed the final six credits he needed to get his political-science degree from Notre Dame. … Nonroster right-hander Todd Redmondmissed his third day of camp, including his second scheduled bullpen session, with a family situation but is expected to return soon.
Copyright © 2016, The Baltimore Sun
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