Bundy’s start bumped back
Orioles shuffle rotation, shift workload, call up Eshelman
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — In an effort to plan ahead for left-hander John Means’ potential All-Star Game workload and to match up with opposing lineups as best as they can after the midseason break, the Orioles have rearranged their starting rotation for the final week of the season’s first half.
Through a series of moves Monday, the Orioles added right-hander Tom Eshelman to the 25-man roster to make his major league debut as the starting pitcher against the Tampa Bay Rays, acquired right-hander Asher Wojciechowski for cash from the Cleveland Indians and announced that right-hander Dylan Bundy was no longer their scheduled starter for Tuesday’s game.
Bundy, though, isn’t injured, manager Brandon Hyde said. Instead, the Orioles wanted to line him up to pitch the first game after the All-Star break July 12 against the Rays. To give him more rest between outings, he’ll instead start Friday’s series opener at the Toronto Blue Jays.
After Sunday’s announcement that Means will represent the Orioles during the All-Star festivities in Cleveland, the Orioles altered their plans to find the best way to deploy their rotation following the layoff.
Between his previous start Wednesday against the San Diego Padres and his assignment Friday, Bundy will receive eight days rest, then six before starting the second-half opener. Bundy has not received more than six days’ rest between any other starts this season.
“We set it up for two weeks after the break, how we wanted to see [Andrew] Cashner, Means and Dylan and who we wanted to throw them against with their rest,” Hyde said. “We projected that, and we felt like the best thing to do was to give him enough rest post-break, which means we wanted him to start the first game after the break. It’s kind of a complicated … It was hours in my office yesterday.
“We worked backwards.” Wojciechowski, who spent part of the 2018 season with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate but hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2017 with the Cincinnati Reds, was in the Orioles’ clubhouse Monday because he was on the taxi squad, able to be around the team but not yet part of the roster. Hyde referred to him as a “possible probable.”
With Eshelman and potentially Wojciechowski starting consecutive days, the Orioles could leapfrog the Seattle Mariners for the second-most starting pitchers used in baseball with 14. The Los Angeles Angels have used 15 starters.
“I think that we have faced challenges all year, juggling rotation, not having your normal five starters that you roll out there,” Hyde said. “We’ve been mixing and matching all year long with many roster moves and transactions and the Triple-A shuttle.
“We have these off-days to play with and need arms. It’s just one of those things with where we are from a pitching staff standpoint right now.”
July 1, as it’s unofficially known in the baseball world, is Bobby Bonilla Day. It’s only a few years until it possibly referred to as Chris Davis Day in Baltimore.
The New York Mets bought out the remaining $5.9 million of Bonilla’s contract in 2000, but instead of paying it in one lump sun, they agreed to pay the former outfielder $1.19 million every July 1 from 2011 to 2035.
Davis, meanwhile, signed a seven-year, $161 million deal with the Orioles before the 2016 season, with $42 million of it being paid in deferred payments from 2023 to 2037.
The Orioles will pay Davis $3.5 million on each July 1 from 2023 to 2032 and $1.4 million on each July 1 from 2033 to 2037. Davis will be 51 on July 1, 2037, while Bonilla will be 72 when his payments from the Mets come to an end.
Bonilla is also paid $500,000 a year from 2004 through 2023 on a separate deferred money plan involving the Mets and Orioles, who acquired Bonilla and Jimmy Williams from New York for Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa in 1995. Bonilla batted .300 in a season and a half with the Orioles, helping the team reach the American League Championship Series in 1996.
Davis, 33, is struggling mightily for the second straight season. He’s hitting .169 entering this week’s series against the Tampa Bay Rays and hasn’t homered since May12.
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