There are now 81 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. Just a month and five days stand between now and World Baseball Classic-participating pitchers and catchers reporting to Sarasota. It\u2019s getting close.<\/p>\n
Going into the offseason, everyone was wondering if the Orioles would do a big move to fortify the top of their rotation. What they\u2019ve done so far is a couple of big surprise trades that impacted the rotation, dealing Grayson Rodriguez and then trading four prospects and a draft pick for Shane Baz. If you\u2019re optimistic about Baz, that stands to fortify the top of the rotation. If you\u2019re not, you\u2019d probably still like to see another move up at the top.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not top-of-the-rotation optimistic about Baz, so I\u2019m still hoping to see something else done that really moves the needle. The Orioles need to do something that will increase their chances of having a competitive postseason rotation, assuming that the lineup can ever get itself together for them to play more than the minimum number of games in one round of a postseason series.<\/p>\n
Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai turned out to not be much of a market-setter for the remaining high-end pitchers after all. Ranger Su\u00e1rez and Framber Valdez will be measuring against different markers in trying to figure out what kind of contracts they deserve or might realistically receive from MLB teams.<\/p>\n
Some people in the land of Orioles fans on Bluesky are angling for another one-year stop-gap trade with the Brewers, in this case aiming for Freddy Peralta. The 29-year-old doesn\u2019t have the former Cy Young pedigree of Corbin Burnes, but he did just drop a 2.70 ERA while starting 33 games in 2024, and he\u2019s made 30+ starts in each of the past three seasons. One reason it\u2019s easy to think of a trade is it does feel like the Orioles need to do something with the glut of first base\/designated hitter-type players who aren\u2019t named Pete Alonso. Whether the Brewers are a good outlet for that, I have no idea.<\/p>\n
The time to get things settled is drawing closer, but it\u2019s not here yet. As long as both of Su\u00e1rez and Valdez are free agents, the Orioles haven\u2019t missed the boat. Three weeks from now, if I\u2019m sitting down to write something and those pitchers have signed and the Orioles haven\u2019t made another trade, I will probably start to wonder if what they\u2019ve got is what they\u2019re going to have.<\/p>\n
Orioles stuff you might have missed<\/p>\n
New teammates Baz, Rutschman have formed successful battery before<\/a> (Orioles.com)
If \u201cShane Baz pitched to Adley Rutschman in the 2021 Futures Game\u201d is going to get you hype, have at it.<\/p>\n