Orioles recall Cobb, lose Schoop to oblique strain
The Baltimore Orioles added a new arm to their rotation Saturday, but also lost a key member of their lineup to injury, placing Jonathan Schoop on the 10-day disabled list with a right oblique strain.
As their corresponding roster move, the Orioles recalled right-hander Alex Cobb, their biggest offseason addition, from Double-A Bowie. He'll make his debut Saturday against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Cobb, one of the top starters available in free agency this past offseason, didn't finalize his four-year, $57-million deal with Baltimore until the penultimate week of spring training, and consequently wasn't able to break camp with the club. When the Orioles headed north in late-March, the 30-year-old hung back in Florida to get his work in before joining their Double-A affiliate earlier this week for some final fine-tuning.
"It's been a little bit of a wild ride the past month," Cobb told MLB.com's Craig Forde. "It's honestly the most comfortable I've felt being in this locker room, somewhere I'm familiar with, in the clubhouse around guys that I know. Just looking forward to getting this whole thing underway and my season started, get back to some normalcy in my life. Looking forward to that competing nature and going out and trying to win ballgames."
After making just five starts in 2016 following Tommy John surgery, Cobb rebounded with aplomb last season, managing a 3.66 ERA (113 ERA+) and 1.22 WHIP over 29 starts for the Tampa Bay Rays. Over parts of six seasons in the majors, all of them coming with Tampa Bay, Cobb owns a 3.50 ERA (111 ERA+) across 115 starts.
Schoop, meanwhile, will miss at least the next week-and-a-half after an MRI on Saturday morning revealed a strain in his right oblique. The 26-year-old was removed late in Friday's 7-3 loss at Fenway Park, replaced in the field by Engelb Vielma in the eighth inning. In Schoop's absence, the Orioles - now utilizing a three-man bench - will likely shift Tim Beckham over to second base and have Danny Valencia take over at third.