Exactly a year and one day since he was traded to the Orioles and labeled the organization's third baseman of the future, Josh Bell was in a big league lineup with the knowledge that if he performs, he's here to stay.
Bell, the 23-year-old whom the Orioles acquired before last year's trade deadline from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the deal for George Sherrill, was officially activated Saturday to take traded third baseman Miguel Tejada's spot on the roster. And unlike his previous two stints with the club earlier this season, the plan is for the switch-hitter to play every day.
"You don't ever expect the opportunity," said Bell, who hit .263 (5-for-19) in six games during his brief stays with the club. "As much as people say you're going to get that opportunity, until it happens, you just kind of sit back and play. I'm glad to get the opportunity. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes."
In trading Tejada to the San Diego Padres on Thursday, Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail cited the need to open a spot for Bell, who will be evaluated by the front office and new manager Buck Showalter for the next two months.
The Orioles told Bell that he would come up Thursday, but he couldn't officially be activated until Saturday. Bell was optioned to the minor leagues July 21, and players are required to stay down for 10 days in a noninjury situation.
"I think just going through the minor leagues and getting drafted and everything, everyone waits for that opportunity to make it to the big leagues and have an organization say we want you to play every day and see what you can bring to the table so I'm excited for it," Bell said. "I feel blessed for the opportunity."
Bell, considered the organization's top position prospect, hit .278 with 13 homers and 58 RBIs in 81 games for Triple-A Norfolk. Since his demotion, he was batting .400 (12-for-30) with a double, three homers and six RBIs in eight games for the Tides.
"He is here to stay," interim manager Juan Samuel said. "He is going to be the third baseman. Hopefully, we can see the Josh Bell that everyone knows when we got him. He just needs to relax and prepare himself for who he is facing that day. We saw some good things, a tremendous kid when he was here in understanding the situation. ... We just want him to relax knowing that he's going to be out there. A lot of times that gives these guys a lot of confidence knowing that they're going to be in there every day."
Patton will get call
Triple-A left-hander Troy Patton, 24, will join the team Sunday and take the roster spot vacated by the trade of Will Ohman to the Florida Marlins. Samuel said Patton will be used as a long man out of the bullpen, and that will push Mark Hendrickson back to the situational lefty role that Ohman had occupied.
It will be Patton's second stint in the big leagues, with the first one lasting just one day. Patton was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk on July 21 just to give the team an extra arm in the bullpen because the previous night's game went 13 innings. He didn't pitch that day and was optioned back to Norfolk to make room for Kevin Millwood. Patton, who hasn't pitched a game in the big leagues since 2007, when he was with the Houston Astros, is 7-9 with a 4.80 ERA in 20 starts for the Tides.
"To have too many guys in that bullpen that are just one inning or fraction-of-an-inning guys really wasn't a good match given the fact that we have a lot of our starters turning the ball over in the fifth or sixth inning, and in some cases earlier," MacPhail said. "This is sort of an easy first move for us. Troy's on the 40-man [roster and] we want to get a look at him in the bullpen. He can act as a long guy. That will give us a little more time to evaluate what our other options might be."
No rotation changes yet
While each bad start for youngsters Brad Bergesen, Brian Matusz and Jake Arrieta brings more questions about whether their rotation spots are in jeopardy, MacPhail said he'll give Showalter a chance to evaluate the staff before any changes are made.
"I'm going to talk to Buck about it, but my inclination at this point would be to ideally ... go through the rotation one time with Buck there, one more time and give him and [me an opportunity] to meet with [pitching coach Rick Kranitz] and [bullpen coach] Alan Dunn and try to determine what might make the most sense," MacPhail said.
Around the horn
The Kansas City Royals held their annual salute to the Negro Leagues on Saturday, with both teams wearing throwback jerseys. The Royals were the uniforms of the 1949 Kansas City Monarchs, while the Orioles wore the Baltimore Elite Giants road uniforms from the early 1950s. ... Cesar Izturis, who is five hits shy of 1,000 hits for his career, was held out of the starting lineup with Julio Lugo getting the start at shortstop. Second baseman Brian Roberts and catcher Matt Wieters are expected to get today's series finale off. ... Though Samuel said Michael Gonzalez is getting closer to returning to the closer's role, he said he would probably stick with Alfredo Simon in save situations in his final two games as manager.