This story was excerpted from Jake Rill¡¯s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BALTIMORE -- For weeks, the Orioles have looked forward to getting some reinforcements from the injured list. It started to happen Sunday, when reliever Jacob Webb and outfielder Heston Kjerstad were activated and re-added to the 28-man roster.

Top left-handed reliever Danny Coulombe (left elbow surgery) could be next, having made several rehab appearances for Triple-A Norfolk. Infielders Ryan Mountcastle (left wrist), Jordan Westburg (right hand) and Ram¨®n Ur¨ªas (right ankle) are close to game action.

But how about Grayson Rodriguez?

Rodriguez (right lat/teres strain) has been throwing routine bullpen sessions since Sept. 4, the most recent coming Tuesday at Camden Yards. The 24-year-old right-hander should soon face hitters, but he may not be ready for game action before the Triple-A season ends on Sunday.

On Tuesday, general manager Mike Elias acknowledged that time isn¡¯t on Rodriguez¡¯s side at the moment, with Baltimore having only 11 games to go in the regular season.

¡°The calendar is not exactly our friend here,¡± Elias said. ¡°We¡¯re just kind of doing everything that we can to keep it moving in the right direction on a day-by-day basis and sort of see where we¡¯re at in terms of the calendar and then also our scenarios and what we¡¯re projected to be in postseason-wise and all that, and we¡¯ll see where we¡¯re at with Grayson. But right now, it¡¯s a one-day-at-a-time thing.¡±

If Rodriguez isn¡¯t ready to pitch in a game by Sunday, then the Orioles will have to use live batting practice and simulated settings to get him built up. That leads to two more important questions:

Is there enough time to get Rodriguez (who hasn¡¯t pitched since July 31) stretched out as a starter for either late in the regular season or the postseason? And if not, could Rodriguez instead be used in a relief role for late September/October?

Earlier this month, pitching coach Drew French said ¡°everything is on the table at this point,¡± despite Baltimore remaining optimistic that Rodriguez would rejoin the rotation. Elias was non-committal when asked about the chances of Rodriguez returning as a reliever should he not be ready to start.

¡°A reliever takes less buildup, for sure. But this kid is a starting pitcher,¡± Elias said. ¡°Very difficult for me to give you a real direct answer on that, because it¡¯s going to depend on the circumstances of the rest of our staff, the standings, yada, yada, yada. There¡¯s a lot that¡¯s going to go into it.

¡°But the main thing is making progress with his health one day at a time, and when we get to a fork in a road about how much to build him up and when, we¡¯ll address that then.¡±

It¡¯s clear why the O¡¯s would love to have Rodriguez as a starter for the postseason, as he could join Corbin Burnes and Zach Eflin as a formidable trio to deploy. Without Rodriguez, that leaves Dean Kremer and Albert Su¨¢rez as the primary candidates to be the No. 3 starter.

Before being hurt, Rodriguez was having a strong sophomore campaign. He went 13-4 with a 3.86 ERA over 20 starts, racking up 130 strikeouts over 116 2/3 innings.

However, it would be better to have Rodriguez in a relief role than to not have him at all. He¡¯s pitched out of the bullpen only once in his pro career -- a two-inning outing in the Gulf Coast League on July 23, 2018, a month after he was selected in the first round of the MLB Draft -- but his high-octane arm could be valuable to have in short bursts of postseason action.

¡°We¡¯ll just see,¡± Elias said. ¡°He is healing and doing really well, and that¡¯s the most important thing.¡±