Aaron

Rakers

We’re happy to see Rakers finally get another opportunity after posting a 2.48 ERA and striking out 80 in 65 1/3 innings of relief for Ottawa. He should be useful in middle relief.

Rakers still can’t catch a break. He made his only appearance in tonight’s blowout, allowing one run in 1 1/3 innings.

This is overdue. Rakers had a 2.75 ERA and an 80/25 K/BB ratio in 78 2/3 IP as a reliever for Ottawa. He’s capable of being an asset in the middle innings.

Even though he might take precious innings away from James Baldwin? Rakers finished with a 2.57 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 77 innings for the Orioles. Hopefully, he’ll get some work in close games to allow the club to see if he is worthy of a spot in the 2006 bullpen.

How many times the last two years did the Orioles pass Rakers over for promotion? The 28-year-old right-hander has given up one hit and struck out eight in five innings this month.

After Bruce Chen was lit up for seven runs in four innings, Rakers did a great job of holding the Yankees down. Considering that he threw just 29 pitches, he could have stayed in a little longer.

The late-winter additions of Steve Kline, Steve Reed and Jay Witasick have pretty much taken Rakers and Eddy Rodriguez out of the running for spots in Baltimore’s bullpen. Both might be needed later on, but they’ll open the season at Triple-A Ottawa.

Rakers wasn’t guaranteed a bullpen spot out of spring training, but we were projecting him to be one of the Orioles’ top relievers. His loss is unfortunate.

Rakers is expected to miss the season after undergoing surgery on March 2.

That can’t be good. It’d be a shame to see the 29-year-old Rakers go down just as he was beginning to establish himself. After what he did during the latter part of last year, he’s a leading candidate for a bullpen spot.