ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles resume play Friday night against a struggling Tampa Bay Rays team at Tropicana Field, and manager Buck Showalter will send right-hander Yovani Gallardo to the mound with an extra day of rest.
The move also allows Showalter to give ace Chris Tillman a fifth day of rest before he takes the mound on Saturday against the Rays. He's typically liked to keep Tillman on regular rest – he is 8-1 with a 3.47 ERA in 10 starts this season on four days rest – but he's also fared well when given an extra day of rest (3-1, 3.79 ERA in six starts).
Showalter's move might have less to do with the extra rest than is has to do with positioning Tillman in the rotation. With the Orioles starting pitching suspect -- the rotation's 5.15 ERA is second-to-last in the American League and 28th out of 30 major league clubs – Tillman has been the team's most reliable starter and several times this season, he's been the Orioles' stopper, able to give the team a deep, effective start when his rotation mates weren't able to do so.
So while it's tempting to give Tillman the ball in the Orioles' first game out of the break, it might be just as tactical to position him more toward the middle of the rotation, especially with struggling right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez's position in flux.
Regardless, the Orioles must take advantage of a struggling Tampa Bay team that lost 22 of 25 games coming into the break.
Improvements expected from Gallardo
Showalter has said numerous times that he expects to see an improved Gallardo in the second half. Gallardo's ability to get deeper into games would qualify. It's been more than a year since Gallardo recorded an out in the seventh inning – an 8 1/3 inning outing for the Rangers at Toronto on June 27, 2015 – a span of 19 starts.
Gallardo has shown increased velocity across the board on all of his pitches since returning from the disabled list last month, which is a good sign, but he still has yet to get deep into games. He's struggled his third time through the order, allowing a .333/.385/.417 slash line, and a career-high 4.8 walks per nine innings is partially to blame for his pitch count getting up.
The Pomeranz trade
As the non-waiver trade deadline approaches on Aug. 1, the Orioles need to upgrade the starting rotation. There's no doubt about that, but Thursday's deal that sent left-hander Drew Pomeranz to the division-rival Red Sox was a lesson in the price of doing business in a weak starting pitching trade market.
Pomeranz, who was 8-7 with a 2.47 ERA in 17 starts with the Padres, was one of the few quality left-handed starters available on the trade market. The Orioles could use a lefty to add to their entirely right-handed rotation, and they were interested in Pomeranz, but there's no way they would have been able to give San Diego the bounty the Red Sox did in trading away highly touted pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza.
Espinoza, 18, was just ranked the 15th-best prospect in baseball by Baseball America this week. That's a significant price to pay for Pomeranz, even though he doesn't become a free agent until after the 2018 season, but the Red Sox's deep farm system allowed them to make a deal the Orioles wouldn't likely be able to consummate.
The Red Sox have five players on the most-recent Baseball America top 100 prospect list, including three in the top 15 if you include Espinoza. By comparison, Double-A Bowie catcher Chance Sisco was the only Orioles prospect to make the list, and he came in at No. 85.
Friday is deadline to sign draft picks
The Orioles have until 5 p.m. Friday to sign draft picks from last month's first-year player draft. Their highest unsigned pick is seventh-rounder Preston Palmeiro, the son of former Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro.
The Orioles were involved with deep negotiations with Palmeiro throughout the week, but this is one that will likely go down to the deadline. The Orioles are still optimistic Palmeiro, a first baseman out of N.C. State, will sign.
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