Straily seeks most of opportunity

Veteran will start as reliever before joining rotation

Dan Straily walked into the Miami Marlins’ spring training offices March 25 expecting to learn which of the team’s first five games he would start. Instead, he was released.

Miami’s decision “100 percent” surprised Straily, the 30-year-old right-hander said Saturday in the Orioles clubhouse at Camden Yards. On Friday, Straily signed with the Orioles, one of the handful of organizations that offered him the chance to be a starter.

“They called me right away,” Straily said. “They said, ‘Here’s an offer for you. If this is something you’re interested in, just let us know,’ so it materialized pretty quickly once we had that going. For me, I was more interested in starting games than going to the bullpen somewhere, and this is one of the few places to give me the opportunity to do that right away.”

Straily hasn’t pitched in a competitive game since his final spring start March 22. So manager Brandon Hyde said Straily’s initial appearances with the club will be as a reliever before the Orioles “ramp him up” into the role of the team’s fifth starter. Of Straily’s 142 appearances with five teams across seven seasons, 132 have been starts. Six of his relief appearances came in 2014 with the Chicago Cubs, when Hyde was the bench coach.

“He’s just a guy that eats innings, has a really good slider, knows how to pitch,” Hyde said. “Just a competitor, so we’re really excited to have him.”

Hyde is one of eight Orioles coaches Straily figured he has been with in his previous stops. That group includes pitching coach Doug Brocail, who was an Astros special assistant when Straily was with Houston in 2015, and bullpen coach John Wasdin, who was a pitching coach in the Oakland Athletics system when Straily was in the minors with them.

Although Straily arrived Saturday, it’s possible he becomes a trade commodity should the Orioles be out of contention by the July 31 deadline.

Sad to lose Jackson

Richie Martin and Drew Jackson were supposed to move in together Friday.

That didn’t happen. Jackson was designated for assignment to make room on the Orioles’ 25- and 40-man rosters for Straily. The move leaves Martin without a roommate and as the only Rule 5 draftee on the Orioles’ roster after the club left spring training with three.

“A little sad,” Martin said Saturday. “That was my boy, but that’s baseball, and I wish nothing but the best for him.”

Jackson, 25, went hitless with a walk in four plate appearances with Baltimore, though he slashed .316/.355/.386 in 62 spring plate appearances.

Around the horn

Right-hander Matt Wotherspoon has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. … Hyde said Straily’s addition should allow right-hander Nate Karns, who has been the “opener” of the Orioles’ two bullpen games, to pitch in a more traditional relief role. … Catcher Austin Wynns, on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain, will likely catch six innings in an extended spring game “in a couple days,” Hyde said.