Spring training is rapidly winding down and the Orioles still have some things to figure out.
Hello, friends.
Orioles Opening Day is just one week away! The 2025 MLB season has already gotten started in Japan with the short series between the Dodgers and Cubs taking place over there. The rest of us will have to wait out a few more spring training games. For the O’s, that includes tonight against the Yankees. The 6:05 game will actually air on MASN.
Counting the game tonight, there are only four more games to be played in Florida plus the one exhibition in our nation’s capital before the team heads to Toronto to prepare for the season. Will the roster be settled by the time they are leaving Florida, or will they wait until after that final skirmish halfway towards their eventual destination?
I’m going to be interested to find out if today is the day where the Orioles give more information about when they expect Gunnar Henderson to be back in game action. I grow more glum about the possibility with each passing day that it does not happen. There are only so many games left to tune up now. It is best not to rush him back when they are going to need him all year, but still. He will be missed even if he only misses a handful of games.
There’s also the question of Jorge Mateo’s Opening Day status. He got into spring games with just enough time to spare that you could maybe think the team will put him on the OD roster. That’s especially true if Henderson is out. But maybe they’ll stick to Mateo needing a couple more weeks to shake off the offseason rust, in which case things are thrown a bit more wide open. Maybe non-roster surprise Vimael Machín would be the guy to benefit there.
Outside of the infielders, the big question left to settle is probably whether the Orioles hand out the fifth starter’s job to Cade Povich or Albert Suárez. With the way that the schedule works out this year, this is the pitcher who will be making the start in the home opener. Suárez certainly had a better track record overall last season, but I think that by season’s end this had flipped and that in 2025, Povich is likely to be the better pitcher.
The Orioles might see it differently, and if that’s the case, then we’ll get Suárez until he fails his way out of the picture, or until Grayson Rodriguez makes his debut. Would Povich hang around for multi-inning relief and spot starts, or would he go back to Triple-A to wait his turn? With as many old (for a professional baseball player) guys in the rotation, the odds are that Povich would not be waiting for long.
Speaking of spring: Today is officially the first day of it here in the Northern Hemisphere. It looks like the pleasant weather we had yesterday won’t stick around for long, so hopefully you enjoyed it while it lasted. Better weather will be around eventually, hopefully in time for the home opener on the 31st.
Around the blogO’sphere
Playoff-hungry Orioles in a ‘different mode’ after rebuild success (Orioles.com)
I predict that this is the latest in a series of Mike Elias quotes in which people will convince themselves he means something other than what he said, and then get mad when he doesn’t do what they told themselves he said.
After quiet offseason, Orioles march forward at their own cautious pace (The Athletic)
It’s been a while since The Athletic had a dedicated Orioles reporter, but every now and again the publication notices and assigns a story.
Between hunting and baseball, Grayson Rodriguez is always in season (The Baltimore Sun)
There are a lot of baseball players about whom this is true. This article is mostly about Rodriguez.
The Orioles broke a record last year and almost nobody noticed (Slate)
Apparently, last year’s Orioles grounded into fewer double plays than anybody has ever done in a season before. Bet you probably thought they GIDPed too often!
Meet Riley Cooper, the heavy metal-loving Orioles minor league pitcher (The Baltimore Banner)
If you need to add a new minor league pitcher who’s never pitched above Delmarva before to randomly latch onto, maybe this guy with a Pantera lyric tattooed onto his forearm is the one for you.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1995, all remaining Orioles spring training games were canceled as a result of the team’s decision not to field a scab team.
There is one current Oriole with a birthday today. Happy 25th birthday to Colton Cowser! There are also a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 1992-96 infielder Manny Alexander, 1989-98 catcher Chris Hoiles, 1982-87 outfielder Mike Young, and 1983 three-game pitcher Paul Mirabella. Today is Mirabella’s 71st birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: poet Ovid (43 BC), playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828 AD), author Lois Lowry (1937), writer/director Spike Lee (1957), and Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington (1976).
On this day in history…
In 1815, Napoleon returned to Paris after escaping from his exile at the head of an army of about 300,000 men. This initiated a return to power now known as the Hundred Days.
In 1852, the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe was first published.
In 1916, Albert Einstein’s paper “The Foundation of the Theory of General Relativity” was submitted for publication.
In 1942, General Douglas MacArthur delivered a speech from Australia in which he famously declared, regarding his recent retreat from the Philippines, “I shall return.”
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on March 20. Have a safe Thursday.