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The incumbent at the hot corner could face internal competition throughout the 2020 season.
The Orioles and Rio Ruiz needed each other in 2019. The former was without a third baseman, and the latter had run out of chances with his previous club. It was a marriage of convenience. One that didn’t bear much fruit for either in their first year together.
Ruiz was manager Brandon Hyde’s preferred option at the hot corner for most of last summer. The...
It is an easy area to mark for improvement in the 2020 season: the Orioles bullpen. The 'pen pitchers posted a 5.63 ERA to rank 15th in the American League last year. The year before that, their ERA ranked 14th, but it was much better at 4.78. The bullpen WHIP ... Read More
The days keep melting away until pitchers and catchers report to the spring training complex in Sarasota, Fla. The Orioles have filled some of their needs, but they aren't done. While the media keeps making predictions on the rotation, the guesswork aimed at the backend of it, the club has ... Read More
If you think you know the Orioles, let’s look back and see how well you do in this 30 question Orioles quiz. The answers will be revealed on Tuesday. 1983 World Series winners 1.) Who was Rick Dempsey’s backup catcher? 2.) Last season, the Orioles used a team-record 58 players. How many players did they use in 1983? • A-42 • B-31 • C-37 • D-44 3.) Name the seven Hall of Famers who played in the 1983 World Series. 4.) Who were the winning and losing pitchers in the first game...
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If Orioles minor leaguers showing up on top prospect lists excites you, we have good news.
Hello, friends.
There are now 66 days left until Orioles Opening Day. The 1966 season must have been a fun one to be an O’s fan, what with newly-acquired slugger Frank Robinson winning the Triple Crown and an MVP award as the team put up a 97-63 regular season record and then swept the Dodgers in the World Series. This was the team’s first championship. Hopefully...
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It’s still quiet in Birdland this weekend, but excitement is on its way
Happy Sunday, Camden Chatters. Have you had a nice weekend so far? I purposely made no plans for yesterday because I thought it would snow, but then we got 20 minutes of flurries and a few hours of very cold rain. What a bust! I did get to watch some TV, at least.
We are now just three weeks and a couple days from the start of spring training. It’s not the first year that we’re...
The articles posted in the offseason list him among the projected starting pitchers. People with a tremendous amount of influence in the Orioles organization expect him to make it, as if it would take some bizarre occurrence to deviate from the plan. So why won't right-hander Asher Wojciechowski believe it? ... Read More
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In today’s links: Wojo is unsure of his spot, the infield is boring and Mountcastle makes a top 10 list.
Good morning, Birdland!
It is actually starting to feel like winter in the Baltimore area and I am personally over it. As far as I can tell, the Orioles are pretty much done making moves this off-season. Maybe they will add a few players via spring invites, but the “major” deals are done.
I say we just start spring training right now. Give me...
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Among the litany of Orioles pitchers that failed to get outs, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest David Hess failed the hardest. Spending the offseason in a performance lab, where can we hope Hess improves the most?
If you’re able to take a step back and look at it with a realistic lens, this Orioles offseason has pretty much gone according to plan.
Likely the most significant addition of the winter, Jose Iglesias immediately gives the Orioles credibility...
While wondering if I should jump off the baseball beat and cover something more believable, like World Wrestling Entertainment ... What are the Orioles doing at third base? Mark it down as another storyline heading into spring training. Rio Ruiz made 89 starts at third to lead the club, but ... Read More
The Orioles got some nice prospect recognition this week when three of their young players were noted as among the best in the game by MLBPipeline.com. Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez was rated as the No. 10 right-handed pitching prospect in the sport. A nice honor, since the prospects lists always seem ... Read More
Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
No higher-ups knew about the cheating scheme, apparently, and no players got punished for it. Should we feel weird about that?
The news broke last November in an article by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich: on the way to being crowned World Series champions in 2017, the Houston Astros had been in the habit of stealing signs. The scheme, which was cooked up early in the 2017 season by a struggling Astros hitter and a coach, was pretty...
This week, the Orioles added veteran Bryan Holaday to their catching mix. Of all the positions on the team, there’s less intrigue about catching than with any other. That’s because their catcher of the future, Adley Rutschman, is looming in the not-too-distant future. At last month’s Winter Meetings in San Diego, general manager Mike Elias said that Rutschman would be participating in major league spring training. Invitations to non-roster players have yet to be announced, but...
Buck Showalter had seemingly missed out on all of this winter’s managerial jobs. Not so fast, my friends. | Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images
All of a sudden there are three MLB manager jobs available, including a newly vacant spot in New York. Buck Showalter, anyone?
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
Three months ago, former O’s manager Buck Showalter was a hot name among teams looking for new skippers for 2020. He interviewed for both the Phillies and Angels openings and publicly discussed...
The competition for a utility job with the Orioles has grown thinner. The Diamondbacks claimed Pat Valaika off waivers this afternoon after the Orioles designated him for assignment on Friday while selecting Richard Ureña off waivers from the Blue Jays. Ureña is poised to break camp with the team as ... Read More
Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
Like everyone else in baseball, the Orioles were affected by the Astros’ cheating scheme. But the question of how much is up for interpretation.
Some forms of cheating are just part of baseball. Like a pitcher subtly, or not so subtly, applying a foreign substance to the ball on the mound between every pitch. Yet someone with a blob of pine tar on their arm or neck or glove will get inspected and ejected from the game every once and a while.
Even more,...
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When your analytics-heavy front office gets in big trouble, maybe you want to turn to a guy who doesn’t like analytics.
Where is a team that chooses to fire its manager in mid-January after he receives a one-season suspension to turn for its new dugout leader? The Astros have to answer that question now. One of their first possibilities is a familiar name for Orioles fans: Buck Showalter. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Brittany Ghiroli reported on...
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Four years ago, the Chris Davis contract came into existence, unofficially. It was probably never a good idea.
Hello, friends.
There are now 70 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. The 1970 season, as we all know, was quite a good one for the O’s, who won 108 games in the regular season and then won the World Series too. Jim Palmer led all Orioles with 6.4 bWAR, with Paul Blair’s 5.9 topping the position players, though it was Boog Powell (5.1...
Thanks to everyone who submitted a question for this month’s mailbag. I’ll have another right before the start of spring training. Some questions have been edited for clarity and brevity. Question: If Chris Davis performs poorly during spring training, do you think they will let him go and just eat his contract?-Kay Hoffman from Facebook Answer: Kay was one of many readers with similar questions about Davis. Beginning the 2020 season, Davis is owed $93 million on his seven-year, $161...
We haven't done this since before Thanksgiving, so it's probably past time for another Orioles question-and-answer session here on the blog. Time for readers to throw out O's questions and/or comments - anything on the majors or minors, draft, whatever - and we'll take shots at providing some answers and ... Read More