O's notes: Hendrickson, Kranitz gone; Samuel returns

- The Orioles have declined their $1.2 million club option on Mark Hendrickson. The O's will instead pay Hendrickson his $200,000 buyout, and he becomes a free agent. According to FanGraphs, Hendrickson was worth 0.4 WAR ($1.8 million) last season, so paying him $1 million next season would have been reasonable. Still, the O's have other bullpen options, and Hendrickson is also 36 years old.

- Without a new contract from the O's, Rick Kranitz accepted a position with the Astros to become the organization's Minor League pitching coordinator. Brittany Ghiroli, who wrote the linked MLB.com article, speculates that "Rangers Minor League special assistant Mark Connor is in line to become the new Orioles pitching coach." That deal may be announced soon.

- Juan Samuel apparently will be returning to the O's to occupy a position he had before Buck Showalter's arrival: third-base coach. The Baltimore Sun's Dan Connolly offers this reason for Samuel's return: "In putting together his coaching staff, Showalter wanted a base coach who could work with infielders and also was hoping to add a Spanish-speaking coach. He accomplished both with Samuel. Although not involved in the organization’s glory days, Samuel is also someone with Orioles ties, given his four previous years as a coach with the club." Makes sense. Hopefully Samuel doesn't also end up filling another O's coaching position he previously held: interim head coach.

Tillman sent down again; more roster moves coming

After a subpar performance last night, the Orioles decided to send Chris Tillman back to Triple-A Norfolk. According to O's manager Juan Samuel, the move doesn't mean a whole lot:

"We figured Tillman is not going to pitch again for five days, so why not do it now and get him on his way," interim manager Juan Samuel said. "That's the decision we made instead of waiting until" Wednesday.

With Kevin Millwood scheduled to be activated from the disabled list tomorrow and slated to start against the Twins on Thursday, the O's needed Tillman's roster spot to make the move.

First off, I don't really have a problem with the decision. The O's need to get Millwood back on the roster to make a few starts since they would obviously love to trade him and get something of value in return. That will only be possible if he's able to pitch well and stay healthy, so we'll see how that goes. Second, the front office's hands are really tied at this point with Michael Gonzalez, Brian Roberts, and Matt Wieters all expected to join the team within the next week or so. That's a lot of roster moves and decisions to make in such a short period of time.

With Luke Scott taking Frank Mata's roster spot and Millwood taking Tillman's, (at least) three more choices will need to be made. Barring possible trades or injuries, here are a few options: 1) demote Josh Bell to Norfolk; 2) release Julio Lugo; or 3) designate Matt Albers for assignment (I believe he's out of options). I guess the O's could also release Jake Fox or demote Brad Bergesen, though that would probably mean that Tillman would be promoted.

In the long run, these roster moves won't mean a whole lot. But even really bad teams have to make difficult personnel decisions.

For one game, coaching change does nothing

The one positive thing (in my opinion) about the firing of Dave Trembley is that the players have one less excuse now. The almost daily distraction of wondering when Trembley would be dismissed is gone. With a current record of 15-40, the O's were obviously never held back simply by the manager; the main problem is the awful play on the field. And now that's what everyone will focus on instead of the interim manager, Juan Samuel.

Last night, in Samuel's first game as head coach, the O's played yet another terrible game and lost 11-0 to the Red Sox. Clay Buchholz threw a complete game shutout, allowing only five hits and walking just one batter. All five of those hits were singles. Buchholz also threw just 101 pitches, which is pretty difficult to do.

The hitting was terrible, and so was the pitching. Chris Tillman, in his second start this season, lasted just 1.1 innings and 57 pitches. He gave up four runs, five hits, and two walks, and never looked comfortable on the mound. The bullpen wasn't a whole lot better, giving up three home runs and allowing the Red Sox to tack on seven more runs as the game went along.

At some point, the O's are going to start playing better. Their play lately has been so ugly that it's extremely difficult just to find a few positives. The offense almost never scores more than four or five runs, and it's a miracle if the O's get some kind of rally going.

The O's are rebuilding; it's important to remember that. But even rebuilding teams are supposed to be fun sometimes. Right now, there's nothing fun about this team.