Miguel Gonzalez has been optioned to AAA Norfolk, where he will start Thursday during the All Star break. He'll come back to the team to pitch for the Orioles on Tuesday, July 22nd, against the Angels on the road. Thus continues Dan Duquette's optioning bonanza. He has also optioned Bud Norris, and has spent the entire season shutting Kevin Gausman to various locations in the mid-Atlantic.
Gonzalez has put up back-to-back starts in which he pitched eight innings and gave up two runs, and as a reward he will get to spend his the All Star break with the Norfolk Tides instead of getting a few days off to spend with his family. Of course the reason that the Orioles will give is that they want to keep him on a regular schedule so that everything is still routine out of the break, but that kind of stinks.
Per Dan Connolly on Twitter, Bud Norris will start Monday for the Orioles against the Angels, which means that the starting pitchers out of the All Star break against the Oakland Athletics will be, in some order: Chris Tillman, Kevin Gausman, and Wei-Yin Chen. Ubaldo Jimenez hasn't yet been placed on the disabled list, but will be in time for Gausman to start tomorrow.
Taking MiGo's spot on the roster is catcher Steve Clevenger, which now brings the total number of Steves on the Orioles to two. Why the Orioles need three catchers is anyone's guess, but it's only for two games so it hardly matters.