It's way too soon to give up on Pie. He should play against righties until the All-Star break at least.

A couple reasons: 1) The guy's broken, he needs a chance to be fixed.
2) If he needs to go to AAA to turn his game around, it will be easier for him to clear waivers in July.

Pete- excuse me for going off topic , but I like to ask you this Q.

What is your take on Big Papi's prolonged slump and power disappearance ? Do you think he will prevail or his window closing up ?

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Pete's reply: I think his weight is making him get old ahead of his time, but I don't think he's done.

I know DT is using the rightie/leftie match up with Pie. But we need to see what Reimold can do against righties & the pitching elite like Halladay. O's have been playing well with NR in the lineup & need to start looking to more consistency in the lineup. Hence, NR should be playing every day. Adam Jones crushes right handed pitching better than he does leftie right now, so it is not an automatic conclusion that the leftie/rightie match up always works. Let Pie come in the late innings to play defense or pinch run.

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Pete's reply: It's okay to give Reimold a day off against Halladay. In fact, I think it's a pretty good idea if you want him to stay hot.

Pete, is there a reason that they aren't bringing up Wieters to play tonight or tomorrow? Is it just a roster complication?

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Pete's reply: They announced it a few days in advance to help ticket sales this weekend. If they had sprung it on everybody, it wouldn't have the same effect. Nothing wrong with letting fans get excited and want to come to the ballpark to see him.

Reverse lock? Going against Halladay in a get-away-day game? Seems like it to me.

I think Ray is the way to go. He was lights out during the spring but is being battered up here. He needs to go down have some prolonged success and get his stuff straightened out. Pie looks like he'll be staying since he's the only one other than Jones who can play CF on the team. I know he hasn't shown much these first couple of months but he still serves a purpose at least.

Should be a fun next couple of days.

It could mean sayonara for Walker.

Why no Nolan? When you are facing Roy H, you need your top guns in the lineup. Why put Andino and Pie in this lineup together? That just seems like a white flag to me

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Pete's reply: Think harder about it. Reimold is a young player who is heating up and feeling good about himself. Halladay is the best right-hander in the game. Why send him out there to get his butt handed to him. It's an obvious day to sneak Pie in there.

I don't think the Thursday move is all that problematic. The obvious move is sending Chris Ray down to work out his problems. I doubt they're ready yet to eat the remainder of Jamie Walker's contract, which is the only other pitching staff move that makes sense. Pie gets to stay a while longer now that Montanez is out of the picture.

Ray should be the obvious choice. He needs to pitch more, down there, to iron out his problems. Hey, he just missed a year and with some pitchers, it takes more time than others to get it back. In the long run, he will be fine.

Albers is pitching great right now-leave him alone. We need him in the bullpen.

Keep Walker, for now, to do mop up duties.....

Check this out:

Roberts (.305 BA, projected at 21 HR)
Jones (.354, 42)
Markakis (.302, 24)
Huff (.267 which will probably raise a bit, 28)
Scott (.303, 25)
Wieters (maybe .285, 15)
Reimold (maybe .270, 20)
Mora (.259, 9)
Izturis (.246, maybe 50+ RBIs)

If some combination of Guthrie, Uehara, Hill, Bergesen, Berken, and Hernandez can pull out a few more wins than losses and stay in a bit longer, Sherrill keeps his current stuff rolling and the bullpen settles down having to work a bit less, we won't win less than 75 games.

Daniel Cabrera has been released by the Nationals. I guess changing where he stood on the mound made a big difference. Where are all the calls to pick him up for the league minimum from the people who denigrated the Orioles for releasing him instead of going to arbitration? It's sad that he could never put it together for an extended amount of time. But he's not the first pitcher pitcher to disappoint and he certainly won't be the last. Considering that the Orioles will be fortunate if more than half of their "can't miss" pitching prospects meet expectations in the show, it is sobering to realize that a number of these young arms the Os have will lack the "magic" to make it in the "show".

And that throw, ladies and gentleman, is why we need to keep Pie for a while.

If he finds his offensive stroke, he'll be a very complete player

I just want to gratuitously state my welcome to a new little Oriole fan born on May 19th in Brooklyn New York. My brother who was born in Baltimore and raised in Maryland carried his son out of the hospital in NYC wearing a little Orioles outfit to snub the Yankee hourdes.

Welcome a new lifer Oriole fan, Cooper Austin Andrew Fisher.

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Pete's reply: Congrats to the proud family.

thanks for the shout out to cooper! cooper doesn't know it but a new era of o's baseball is among us! thanks, bro and thanks, pete!

Surprise no mention of releasing Walker. He's been awful for 2 seasons