The Orioles are preparing for the looming absence of catcher Matt Wieters, who could leave the team on the paternity list as early as Saturday to be with his wife, Maria, for the birth of their second child.
Manager Buck Showalter said he spoke with his All-Star catcher about the medical plans, which seem fluid, though he seems to be accounting for the period of time between Saturday and Tuesday.
"You know, he doesn't have to take all three [days allotted on the paternity list]," Showalter said. "He could take one, he could take two, a maximum of three. So obviously, his priority and our priority is for him to be there for his wife and family. I know a lot of the details that I'm not going to bring up. That's their private affairs.
"But, I think it's probably going to be something, somewhere between the range of Saturday through Tuesday where we're going to have to do something — somewhere in that area. I don't know where the three days, two days, one day will fall. There's some different scenarios with it that should come to light as we get closer to the due date."
Showalter said Wieters' wife has an early morning appointment with a doctor Saturday. If Wieters needs to begin his absence that day, Showalter said the Orioles would be able to add a roster replacement in time.
That extra player would almost certainly be a catcher, with Triple-A catcher Francisco Pena the only option already on the 40-man roster. Pena hit .219 with a home run in nine games while Wieters' primary backup, Caleb Joseph, was on the disabled list with a testicular injury suffered on a foul tip.
Joseph would presumably benefit from Wieters' absence most, getting himself the regular at-bats he craves for at least a day or two. He played six straight games when Wieters was nursing a bruised foot back to health in mid July, and posted two-hit games in three straight starts before returning to a bench role.
On the season, Joseph is batting .200 with a .466 OPS and no home runs or RBIs in 117 plate appearances.
Wieters entered Thursday batting .243 with 10 home runs on the season, his August batting average buoyed to .277 by a five-hit game Sunday in San Francisco.