On the fifth day of their baseball season, the Orioles named their fifth starter. It's Vance Worley, who will be getting the ball to start the Sunday afternoon game against the Rays, the team announced on Friday.
It's been a bit of a jumbled rotation to start the season already, thanks to the Opening Day rain shortening Chris Tillman's start then, giving him a chance to start again tonight on such short rest.
Weather might jumble it even further, depending on what happens with Mike Wright's start in Saturday's game, where there may be precipitation and possibly even snow. April weather is fun.
Are you surprised to see Worley get the nod over Tyler Wilson? Do you think that it means the O's have more confidence in Worley than Wilson as a starter?
You could probably read this decision two different ways. Taken in a vacuum, the decision to start Worley over Wilson seems pretty plain: The O's think Worley gives them a better chance to win in the rotation.
However, the decision's not made in a vacuum, because we also know that, as things stand now, Kevin Gausman is expected to return and start on April 19, meaning that Worley would only be making two starts, tops. It's possible the O's don't want to jerk around Wilson from role to role, while they care less about Worley so they don't mind doing it to him.
I don't know how much I'd buy that second explanation because honestly, they kept screwing around with Gausman and they obviously like him more than Wilson. The simplest explanation is probably the best. They're higher on Worley as a starter, so he'll get the first chance to start for however many games they need him to.
So does that mean Worley will go back to being a long man and Wilson will get optioned to the minors when Gausman is healthy? They've got ten days before they have to worry about that, and that's assuming that Gausman comes back when currently scheduled. His return date has been pushed back once already. A lot can happen in ten days.
For now, Worley is in the rotation, so best of luck to him.