Baltimore @ Kansas City preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 29, 2010 ) Baltimore 6, Kansas City 5

Buck Showalter has waited four years to put on another major league uniform, so another few days won’t hurt. He’ll need the time to prepare for what will be the next great challenge of his career.

The former Yankees, Rangers and Diamondbacks manager is the new skipper of the Orioles, but won’t officially take over until Tuesday, when the Orioles start a seven-game homestand.

They’ll have a new look on the field, too. The team traded Miguel Tejada on Thursday for the second time in three years, this time to San Diego for minor-league right-handed pitcher Wynn Pelzer.

The move will save Baltimore about $1 million in salary, although the team will also send about $1 million to San Diego to help cover the remaining $2.3 million owed Tejada. More importantly, it will finally allow the Orioles to get an extended look at third-base prospect Josh Bell.

Bell came to Baltimore in last year’s deadline deal that sent reliever George Sherrill to Los Angeles. This will mark his third recall to the Orioles this year, but the first time he’ll get consistent at-bats. He can’t join the Orioles, though, until Saturday because he was optioned to Triple-A on July 21 and must stay a minimum of 10 days before being recalled again.

Bell, 23, is 5-for-19 this year in Baltimore. A prospect with tremendous power potential, Bell entered Thursday batting .400 since his latest demotion, with three homers and six RBIs in eight games.

He is the latest young piece the Orioles are dropping into place as they continue a long, slow climb out of baseball irrelevance. Showalter, 54, faces a daunting task when he arrives next week, figuring out how to assemble all of Baltimore’s young talent while trying to compete with behemoths like the Yankees and Red Sox within the division. He is Baltimore’s 10th manager since Peter Angelos took control of the team in the summer of 1993.

Jake Arrieta (3-3) starts for Baltimore on Friday. The 24-year-old has just one victory over his last seven starts, and was shelled for five run on seven hits over four innings in his previous outing, a 10-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins.

The Orioles will try to piece together a winning streak in interim manager Juan Samuel’s final days. Baltimore’s 6-5, 11-inning win over Kansas City on Thursday means the Orioles can try to win consecutive games for the first time in nearly three weeks.

The Royals haven’t been any better, dropping eight of their last 10 at home and 14 of 17 overall to fall a season-high 18 games below .500. They remain tied with Cleveland for last in the Central Division.

Kansas City will turn to recently acquired Sean O’Sullivan (1-1) in trying to avoid its second six-game losing streak during July. O’Sullivan, acquired on July 22 from the Angels, allowed five runs in five innings in his Royals debut last Sunday.