Can anyone explain Baltimore's handling of Kevin Gausman?

In his first major league game since rehabbing a sore shoulder, Baltimore Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman threw five innings this past Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays, giving up two runs on four hits with one walk and one strikeout. It wasn't a spectacular game but it wasn't terrible, and it was enough to show that he looked healthy, although a bit rusty early in the game.

The Orioles responded by sending him down to Triple-A Norfolk yesterday.

Baltimore manager Buck Showalter was quoted to this effect: "We got to keep stretching him out innings-wise. We think he has a chance to be in the rotation next year. There's a newsflash."

Nice snark from Buck there. At least I hope it is snark. Is there really any question that a presumably healthy Gausman belongs in the rotation?

The Orioles do seem to enjoy racking up Gausman's frequent flier miles, no doubt a source of frustration to fantasy owners who invested in Gausman as a hot young starter. The general fan consensus is that Gausman is getting jerked around with all the roster and role shuffling, which could perhaps harm his development, although the counterpoint to that is that they are at least actively managing his workload and not throwing him out there to ring up giant pitch counts at a young age.

What do you guys think about the handling of Gausman? Are Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter being wise, foolish, or somewhere in between?