There are now 60 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. WBC-participating pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota in just 15 days. I don\u2019t normally derive much excitement out of spring training is approaching milestones but in the midst of the current snow\/ice and with the possibility of not seeing above-freezing temperatures for several days, the idea of approaching baseball does bring a certain mental warmth, if not physical warmth. I hope that if you are in the path of this weather, that it goes by with minimal inconvenience and no harm.<\/p>\n
The aforementioned snow has deprived us of the chance to have any kind of fresh Birdland Caravan-related stuff to talk about today. The team acted with perhaps an excessive amount of caution in canceling the entire Saturday lineup of activities. It seems like at least the first wave of planned things could have gone off. I figure that was driven as much by the players wanting to get out of the area ahead of the arrival of the weather as it was by any safety concerns about having local fans on the road. I can\u2019t really blame them if that\u2019s the case, but anyone who is disappointed to miss out on unique opportunities to see the players outside their uniforms and open to fans is totally fair to feel that way.<\/p>\n
What we\u2019ve got instead is the same leftover stuff that came out at Friday\u2019s round of events, where Pete Alonso talked about setting a \u201cNew Oriole Way\u201d<\/a> and where Gunnar Henderson said he\u2019s healed from the recently-revealed shoulder impingement he was going through last season and is looking forward to a healthy season.<\/a><\/p>\n Henderson further explained that this happened at some point early in the season when diving for a ball and it also caused inflammation, which caused him to use a sub-optimal swing plane for driving the ball. This all remains a plausible story for why Henderson only hit 17 homers last year and why he could be poised for a monster bounce-back. I got burned believing in a coming Adley Rutschman revival this time a year ago. We\u2019ve heard more specifics from Henderson himself than we ever did about Rutschman, so it\u2019s probably not as crazy to believe in that one, but still\u2026 I\u2019ve heard all this before and sometimes it amounted to nothing.<\/p>\n On Friday night, another one of the big top prospect lists released its preseason top 100 for the year. That was MLB Pipeline, freshly updated for 2026 with three Orioles on its top 100<\/a>. They\u2019ve got Samuel Basallo high on the list at #8, Dylan Beavers at #69, and last year\u2019s breakout outfielder Nate George at #93. Those three were also on the recent Baseball America top 100 prospects list<\/a>, with BA also ranking two pitching prospects, Trey Gibson and Luis De Le\u00f3n, who were left off the Pipeline list.<\/p>\n Orioles stuff you might have missed<\/p>\n Pete Alonso says there\u2019s a \u2018New Oriole Way.\u2019 What might that be?<\/a> (The Baltimore Banner) Orioles players have been getting to know the new skipper, and they also know that it\u2019s time to win<\/a> (Steve On Baseball) Albernaz on 2026 Orioles: \u2018I feel good about this club\u2019<\/a> (Baltimore Baseball)
Beat writer Andy Kostka digs into Alonso\u2019s remark. The slugger did not offer any specifics so we are left to guess.<\/p>\n
Steve Melewski observes that the Birdland Caravan events offered some players the chance for face-to-face interaction with new manager Craig Albernaz and what seemed to come out of some of that.<\/p>\n
It might not end up meaning anything that he says this, but I\u2019m reminded again that if Albernaz got a bad vibe about the Orioles, he could have told them to take a hike and that he\u2019d look for open manager\u2019s jobs next year.<\/p>\n