A day after the Orioles acquired Tim Beckham to fill their short- and long-term shortstop needs right at the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline, manager Buck Showalter relayed that he'd assured his incumbent starter, J.J. Hardy, that once he his fractured wrist was healed, "he's playing shortstop."
Much has changed since then, including Showalter's own recollection of those remarks, as he challenged the notion he'd made them on Friday.
But the most significant change, if not the most inevitable one, was solidified Friday at Progressive Field when Hardy was activated off the 60-day disabled list and Beckham remained in the starting lineup, batting leadoff and playing Hardy's position of shortstop.