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The Baltimore Orioles are good team that just seems to be lacking in one or two key areas. They don’t seem to have all of the pieces they need to make the playoffs as things sit right now. That might change very soon however as manager Buck Showalter is not your standard manager when it comes to the September call-ups. Some managers just call up everyone that they can when the first of September hits but Showalter’s plan of action isn’t likely to be that simple.
After all no one said that you have to call up everyone at the same time. One of the biggest areas of need is the pitching staff. The offense of this team is good enough, even if tired, to make the postseason over anyone. Their pitching staff is tired and can be seen as overstretched at times. That could also be said of many teams but Showalter plans to deal with it in a unique way. He will get Jason Hammel back from the disabled list soon and is likely to call up Kevin Gausman from triple-A when the rosters expand.
From there he isn’t putting anything including the chance of a 6-man rotation out of possible moves that he will make. Gausman for example will be placed in the bullpen but will be used to relieve the starters as well from time to time. This kind of thing will apparently continue throughout the month of September as Showalter does everything in his power to give his team a chance to mount a comeback in either the divisional race or the wildcard. I for one think this time of year is what makes Showalter one of MLB’s best managers.
David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
