On Nov. 8, Dan Duquette took the reigns as head of the Baltimore Orioles. He said many of the right things in his press conference. He spoke of rebuilding the farm system and investing in international scouting. He understandably was quiet on specific moves to be made, but one of them will surely concern Brian Roberts(notes).

The question: Will Brian Roberts still be an Oriole in 2012?

I would think that the answer would be no. Now, don’t get me wrong, Brian has been a tremendous asset to the Orioles organization. The problem, though, is that Peter Angelos is cost conscious. That means keeping him seems like too big a risk for this owner. You throw in the new Duquette regime coming into power and one would think that he is looking to maximize the room he has on the payroll.

If Roberts were the player of say three years ago, perhaps you would leave a roster spot open for him. He was a fairly good leadoff man and stole quite a few bases. Unfortunately for Brian, he is just not that guy anymore. A self-inflicted injury back in 2010 led to the Oriole second baseman missing parts of two seasons with concussion like symptoms. That was in addition to back and neck maladies that he also has dealt with.

For a young team looking to maximize their payroll dollar, an expense for a guy that plays a couple of months in two years is too big a risk. Besides the injuries, there is another factor many do not mention. The Orioles want him to be a leadoff man, and I just don’t think that is Roberts anymore.

Roberts changed a few years back when he developed some real pop in his bat. Where once he was a guy that worried about getting on, he started to think he was a power guy. Sure, he hit more home runs, but the on base percentage and stolen bases went down. Brian would bunt less and have a marked increase in fly-ball outs. To me, he became less of a weapon for the Orioles in that role.

At this point, I don’t know that anyone would trade for Roberts. He is coming off two seasons almost completely off. He says that he is healthy again, but he was kind of this way last spring and then went down for the count. If he can’t be traded, I think you release him. It can be a risk, but is it any bigger risk than paying a guy who might not play a majority of your season?

Though a Washington native, John Atchison grew up a fan of the Baltimore Orioles. Many think he should now become a National, but he says the Black and Orange is where he will stay!

Sources:

MASN sports network

orioles.com

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

When: Thursday through Sunday.

Where: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Md.

TV/radio: SportsTime Ohio Thursday, Friday and Saturday; WKYC/Ch. 3 on Sunday; WTAM AM/1100.

Series: Indians lead, 3-0, this season. They lead, 418-383, all-time.

Pitching matchups: RHP Justin Masterson (7-6, 2.64 ERA) vs. RHP Jeremy Guthrie (3-12, 4.23), Thursday at 7:05 p.m.; RHP Josh Tomlin (10-4, 3.81) vs. RHP Jake Arrieta (9-6, 4.90), Friday at 7:05 p.m.; RHP Carlos Carrasco (8-6, 4.28) vs. RHP Alfredo Simon (1-2, 4.85), Saturday at 7:05 p.m.; and RHP Jeanmar Gomez (0-1, 4.91) vs. TBA, Sunday at 1:35 p.m.

Indians update: Indians lost the last three of a four-game series against Toronto to enter All-Star break at 47-42. They are a half-game behind Detroit in AL Central. … Tomlin has worked at least five innings in each of his 30 major-league starts.

Orioles update: Orioles were swept in Cleveland, April 15-17, by scores of 8-2, 8-3 and 4-2. Masterson and Tomlin each earned a victory.

Injuries: Indians — OF Trevor Crowe (right shoulder), RHP Alex White (middle finger), RHP Mitch Talbot (back), RHP Fausto Carmona (right quadriceps) and OF Shin-Soo Choo (left thumb) are on disabled list. Orioles — RHP Justin Duchscherer (back), SS Cesar Izturis (right elbow), OF Luke Scott (right shoulder), 2B Brian Roberts (concussion-like symptoms) are on disabled list.

Next for Indians: Trip continues with four games in Minnesota beginning Monday.

By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer

BALTIMORE (AP) – Adam Jones capped a ninth-inning uprising with a two-run walkoff homer against Joakim Soria, giving the Baltimore Orioles a 5-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

Jones hit an 0-2 pitch far over the center-field wall to cap a three-run rally. Upon reaching the plate after a joyous trip around the bases, Jones was buried under a wave of teammates celebrating Baltimore’s third straight victory.

The Orioles improved to 1-21 when trailing after eight innings.

Baltimore trailed 3-2 entering the ninth. After Soria (3-1) retired the first batter, J.J. Hardy doubled off the glove of third baseman Wilson Betemit. Pinch-hitter Felix Pie then grounded a double inside third base to tie it.

Soria rebounded to strike out Robert Andino before Jones connected.

Alfredo Simon (1-0) worked a perfect ninth in his season debut.

It was the eighth loss in 10 games for Kansas City, now 14-2 when leading after eight innings.

Royals rookie Danny Duffy gave up two runs and five hits over 5 1-3 innings in his second big-league start. The 22-year-old took a three-hit shutout into the sixth before running into trouble trying to protect a 3-0 lead.

Duffy was poised to collect his first win in the majors before Baltimore’s ninth-inning rally.

Orioles starter Zach Britton allowed three runs and nine hits in six innings, but the rookie was again victimized by a lack of offensive support. The Orioles had gone three straight games without scoring while Britton was in the game before getting two runs in the sixth.

Britton has a 2.35 ERA overall and has allowed a total of six earned runs over his last four starts, but he’s 0-1 in that span.

Britton’s streak of 19 straight innings without allowing an earned run ended when three of the first four Kansas City batters singled, including an RBI liner to left by Jeff Francoeur.

Alex Gordon made it 2-0 in the third with his fifth home run, the first yielded by Britton in three starts since May 6.

The Royals added a run in the sixth when Francoeur led off with a single, stole second and scored on a single by Billy Butler. Britton avoided further damage by retiring Gordon on a short fly with the bases loaded and two outs.

In the bottom half, Nick Markakis singled and stole second before Matt Wieters chased Duffy with an RBI double. Louis Coleman promptly threw a wild pitch and yielded a run-scoring single to pinch-hitter Luke Scott.

NOTES: Orioles manager Buck Showalter said both RHP Brian Matusz (oblique) and 1B Derrek Lee (oblique) should be ready to come off the DL on June 1. Matusz will pitch for Triple-A Norfolk on Friday. … Baltimore 2B Brian Roberts (concussion) saw a specialist in Pittsburgh on Tuesday and is expected to be sidelined for at least three more weeks. … SS Cesar Izturis underwent surgery on his right elbow Tuesday and will probably miss 6-8 weeks. “If everything goes as planned, he’ll be a player for us again this year,” Showalter said. … There was a moment of silence before the game for those killed and injured over the weekend by a tornado in Missouri. … Butler has hit in 121 straight series, second-longest active streak in the majors behind Markakis (155).

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

By Grant Brisbee

– Editor

Follow , and

Like Baseball Nation on Facebook.

May 24, 2011 – Baltimore Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts spent time on the disabled list last season with concussion-like symptoms that might have been a result of Roberts whomping himself in the batting helmet with his bat. While he spent the first part of this season dealing with back and stomach issues, it looks like his head is a concern again. From Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com:

Roberts will rest for 2 more wks,.at least 3 wks away from returning.

Roberts saw a concussion specialist, who decided that more rest was needed. The Orioles’ second baseman was originally put on MLB’s new seven-day DL for concussions, but it’s likely now that the Orioles will transfer him to the 15-day list in order to keep a replacement for Roberts on the 25-man roster longer.

Concussions are a tricky, tricky thing — and it’s not like there’s a guarantee that they get better over time. So this is a pretty scary story, especially considering that Roberts thinks he hurt himself this time by sliding head-first into first base — hardly something that causes a lot of concussions around the league.

The Orioles will use Robert Andino in Roberts’s place in the lineup, where he will team with J.J. Hardy at the keystone.

Read More: brian injury, brian injured, brian status, brian injury update, brian injury report, brian injury 2011, brian news, roberts news, brian out, brian roberts injury, roberts injuries, roberts injury report

BALTIMORE – The Baltimore Orioles selected the contract of second baseman Ryan Adams and recalled outfielder Nolan Reimold from Triple-A Norfolk for their interleague game against the Washington Nationals on Friday night.

After the Orioles’ 17-5 loss, reliever Jason Berken was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Berken allowed six runs in an inning against Washington.

The 24-year-old Adams was in the starting lineup and went 1 for 4 with a run scored while batting ninth in his major league debut. He was hitting .303 with two homers and eight RBIs for Norfolk.

Reimold was batting .237 with six homers and 22 RBIs.

Left-hander Troy Patton was designated for assignment by the Orioles before Friday’s game. Patton and right-hander Chris Jakubauskas, who was optioned to Norfolk after Thursday’s 13-0 loss to the New York Yankees, both pitched in the lopsided defeat.

Jakubauskas and Patton had replaced first baseman Derrek Lee (strained left oblique) and second baseman Brian Roberts (concussion) on the roster Thursday. Lee went on the 15-day disabled list and Roberts was placed on baseball’s new seven-day DL for concussion-related symptoms.

Both moves were retroactive to May 17. Lee has a left oblique muscle strain and Roberts has been sidelined with a concussion.

The Orioles hoped to avoid placing both players on the disabled list, but neither showed significant improvement.

“Talking to medical people, I don’t want to lose Derrek (long term),” manager Buck Showalter said. “He impacts our team in a lot of ways, but taking a chance on this?

“The medical people think we could potentially take care of it during the DL period, but in my mind, that’s iffy. My experience with these things over the years, there is usually a lot more going on there than you think. I hope not.”

Roberts has had headaches since making a headfirst slide in a game against Boston on Monday.

“He’s the same today as he was yesterday,” Showalter said.

Roberts missed extensive time last season with a concussion after he hit himself on the batting helmet with a bat after a strikeout, but Showalter said this injury is not related to that one.

“Anytime you’re dealing with a concussion and heads and stuff, you’re concerned about it. I was talking to Brian. This isn’t anything like the symptoms he was feeling last year,” the manager said. “That’s good, but you still have those symptoms that we’re going to make sure that we have our arms around it before we go forward. We’re hoping that it clears up and the doctors feel fine about it, and he’s (back) on Tuesday.”

Lee is hitting .231 with four homers and 14 RBIs. Roberts is hitting .221 with three home runs and 19 RBIs.

After using the entire bullpen in Wednesday night’s 15-inning loss to the New York Yankees, the Orioles recalled two relievers from Triple-A Norfolk, right-hander Chris Jakubauskas and lefty Troy Patton.

Jakubauskas pitched in three games with the Orioles in April. Patton was 1-0 with a 2.60 ERA in six games with Norfolk.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)