Orioles activate John Means, place Grayson Rodriguez on injured list

For weeks, we've all been wondering how the Orioles would manage to get Means back into the rotation when he was active. Would that mean fellow lefty Cole Irvin would be squeezed out? Surprising veteran Albert Suárez? Maybe even Dean Kremer, if he really hit the struggle bus?

In the end, it's none of these. Rodriguez must have had more lingering soreness than he and the team were comfortable with after his start on Monday. Perhaps this has been ongoing even before his most recent start. To the injured list he goes. The Orioles will still have to make one more decision about which healthy pitcher to take out of the rotation as Kyle Bradish returns, possibly as soon as tomorrow, but that's a problem they can deal with tomorrow.

No one's preference would have been for Rodriguez to end up on the injured list as the move to bring back Means. There is a convenient aspect to it in terms of the Orioles roster. Means had to be activated today, 48 hours after the end of his rehab assignment. He won't be able to pitch until Friday at the earliest.

If the roster move had been more along the lines of what we expected, with either Irvin or Suárez dropping to the bullpen and Yohan Ramírez being designated for assignment, the Orioles would be short-handed in the bullpen for Wednesday and possibly also for Thursday. Irvin needs one more day of rest after his Saturday start, and Suárez needs two after starting on Sunday.

The Orioles still haven't announced a starting pitcher for Thursday. Maybe Bradish will come back and Irvin will go into the bullpen to be a long man. Maybe Irvin will still make that Thursday start, with Bradish starting Friday and Means on Saturday. This would put Means in the rotation spot that has been occupied by Rodriguez. Since Bradish was not maxed out on his rehab assignment, the team doesn't have to activate him until it decides it wants him to pitch.

Means returning and Rodriguez continuing to pitch like he did in the second half of the season were two things that figured to be important for the Orioles this season. Now, Rodriguez's health is up in the air. It might be a relief that it's "only" shoulder inflammation rather than something elbow-related, but shoulder problems are bad for pitchers too and if the O's aren't able to get that resolved on a short timetable, they'll have to get by without him.

I'll be interested to see what either manager Brandon Hyde or GM Mike Elias say about this closer to game time on Wednesday, when one or both of those guys would typically be available to media.

With Means only having made four starts a year ago in his return from Tommy John surgery, he didn't have the opportunity to do much to answer whether he's bounced back from that or not. Actually, if anything, the answer was that he hadn't bounced back, since he wasn't available for the postseason after making just four starts.

Everyone with a rooting interest in the Orioles wants the Means experience in 2024 to go a good way. This is no guarantee that's what will happen. It might take some time before he looks like his 2021 self again or he might never look like the old days again.

Means could pitch well but also have an innings limit before he starts to wear down. This possibility seems to be anticipated by the Orioles, hence their taking the opportunity to wait to have his season begin until May. If this decision leads to his being available in October when he might not have been otherwise, that will be a positive. And as our Alex Church wrote earlier today, the O's have managed to get by without Means and Bradish so far. They've avoided a big downside to not having Means here in April.