The Orioles went shopping for a jolt and ended up with another headache.
After claiming Luis Robert Jr. off waivers from the Mets last week, Baltimore was hoping the move would steady a team that was hanging around the Wild Card race. Instead, the Orioles placed Robert on the 15-day injured list Sunday with left hamstring discomfort, and the setback is likely to end both his season and his brief run in Baltimore after just three games and 11 at-bats.
That’s a brutal turn for the Orioles, especially with a three-game series against the Guardians arriving this week. Baltimore enters the matchup four games behind Cleveland in the Wild Card standings, with the Rangers and Blue Jays sitting between them, and the Orioles now need a sweep to keep their postseason hopes alive. Losing Robert makes that task a lot tougher.
Robert did manage to flash a little of why Baltimore took the gamble. Both of his hits with the Orioles went for extra bases, including a two-run double off the wall for his first hit in an Orioles uniform. But those moments came during a season-long six-game losing streak, so there wasn’t much to celebrate.
For Cleveland, the injury brings back a familiar name with a familiar pattern. Robert was always the kind of player who seemed to punish the Guardians when he got the chance, posting a .799 OPS against Cleveland.
The catch was that those chances were usually limited, because injuries kept him off the field. He has only one season with more than 110 games played, and this year he appeared in just 61 games after a lumbar spine disc herniation cost him nearly three months.
Baltimore knew the risk when it claimed Robert and took on the remaining $5 million on his deal, betting he could be the missing piece. Now the Orioles are left holding that contract and figuring out what comes next, with all signs pointing toward a $2 million buyout instead of exercising his $20 million club option.
The whole episode only sharpens the contrast with Cleveland’s deadline approach, which brought in four current big league contributors on relatively cheap deals. And as the Guardians open this series, Orioles fans are left staring at the roster they hoped would change everything - and wondering what might have been.
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