Baltimore Orioles Designate Freddy Garcia for Assignment, Recall Kevin Gausman from Triple-A Norfolk

There are days where news breaks from the beat reporters reading the lineup board. Today is one of those days. When they meandered down to the clubhouse to get the daily info dump, Kevin Gausman's name was on the board with the relievers, and Freddy Garcia's name was not on the board with the starters. Garcia was not on the board at all.

It doesn't take much to figure out what's happening there, and sure enough, minutes later, they had the chance to talk to Garcia:

Freddy Garcia is heading back to Miami. He's been DFad. He won't retire. Did not rule out accepting a minor lg asst w Os

— Dan Connolly (@danconnollysun) June 24, 2013

As of this writing, the Orioles have not sent out a press release about the move, but that is not required for it to be official. It's clear this is what they have decided to do.

No surprise, given Garcia's struggles. A 5.77 ERA isn't going to cut it on a team that's trying to contend. Neither is a 2.76 HR/9. He pitched 53 innings and gave up 16 home runs. That is just ridiculous. The only way to remove him from the roster is to designate him for assignment. So he is gone.

Gausman may end up pitching out of the bullpen, or he could find himself sliding back into the rotation if he isn't needed out of the bullpen over the next few games - much like what happened with Jake Arrieta, only hopefully far more successful than what happened with Arrieta.