Ubaldo Jimenez got hurt right around the time he was pitching himself out of Baltimore’s rotation, so the Orioles took their sweet time activating him from the disabled list and then demoted him to the bullpen.
But now the Orioles need a spot starter for Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jays and they’ve decided on Jimenez, with manager Buck Showalter explaining to Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun that the choice was made because “we feel like it disrupts our bullpen the least.”
In other words, they’re hoping Jimenez can give them 5-6 innings rather than turning the start into a “bullpen game” that requires the use of a bunch of pitchers. And, because Jimenez has pitched just twice in the past month and zero times in September it won’t disrupt the bullpen hierarchy even a little bit.
Of course, not pitching at all for two weeks and not starting a game for a month means it’ll be tough to count on Jimenez not being a mess versus Toronto. He has a 4.96 ERA with 70 walks in 114 innings overall this season, immediately making the Orioles regret their four-year, $50 million investment.
