No more of these Human Rain Delays

May 31, 2008   ·   Paul Raymond   ·   Jump to comments

It looks like the days of the human rain delay are finally coming to an end. No I’m not talking about Major League Baseballs enforcement of the pace of game rules (hate to say it but I do agree with their position, but thats another story). I’m talking about Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Trachsel. Taking Steve out of the bigs, may lower MLB Game Time averages by 2 minutes all by himself. Due to consist struggles this year, actually not struggles just complete flat out horrible pitching, his next start is in doubt. He was already skipped in the rotation once, so his roster spot most likely will be in doubt now.

Tracshel’s next start was supposed to come Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins. The reason I say supposed to is that Manager Dave Trembley has not yet announced his starter for that game. The Orioles are considering different options right now. The first was Hayden Penn playing at Triple-A Norfolk but he just went on to the disabled list with a sore shoulder. Matt Albers was a consideration pendinghow much he threw Friday and Saturday, in the end he tossed 3 innings Friday night. Another option is Radhames Liz, he was scheduled to start for Norfolk but was scratched last minute, no reason given.

“I have to think about all those guys down there,” Trembley said. “If there’s somebody ready, we’ll give him a shot. If they’re not ready, we’re not going to do that.”

So, at the moment if no one shows up as a viable option by Tuesday, Trachsel will start. In Trachsel’s latest start he gave up seven hits totaling nine runs in only 1 and 2/3 innings pitched, against the Tampa Bay Rays. The sad thing about this? It comes off a 14-day lay off. Trembley skipped his turn in the rotation his May 9th start against the Kansas City Royals. His season totals now stand at 2-5 with a 8.82 era in 33 innings.

The actual excuse for skipping Trachsel in the rotation was a string of Baltimore off days. Trembley claims that he didn’t want his young pitchers pitching off schedule, and wanted them to stay on their 4 day rest. This is possible, but the one hole in this theory is that Trembley can not be used out of the bullpen. So for 14 days the Orioles went one man short in their pitching staff. The team wants to avoid using him in that role as he has only pitched once out of the pen in over 400 game appearances. If he’s skipped again in the rotation his career as an Oriole, and maybe a Major League player, could be over.

“We’ll have to re-evaluate [his role],” Trembley said.

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