Spring training begins, in part, right now. Pitchers and catchers that will be taking part in the World Baseball Classic have to report to Sarasota today. But odds are that many more Orioles than that will arrive at Ed Smith Stadium early this week to begin work towards a bounce-back campaign.<\/p>\n
There is plenty of intrigue around the Orioles as spring arrives. The roster has a lot to prove after last season. The front office was quite busy, although holes remain throughout the pitching staff. And they are competing, yet again, in what looks like baseball\u2019s toughest division.<\/p>\n
But we can\u2019t talk about EVERYTHING in a single blog post. So instead let\u2019s focus on a trio of storylines that are worth watching as the O\u2019s open up camp for 2026.<\/p>\n
The signing of Pete Alonso, whether you love the actual contract or not, is a big deal for the Orioles. For the first time under Mike Elias, the Orioles went out and did what it took to get a marquee free agent to Baltimore. And this didn\u2019t seem to be a Chris Davis-type of situation where the Orioles were bidding against themselves. The Red Sox were in the hunt as well, and Kyle Schwarber had just signed the previous day for similar money in Philadelphia. It was simply the cost of getting one of the game\u2019s best power hitters.<\/p>\n
There was less fanfare about the new manager, Craig Albernaz. But baseball people lauded the move. He was well-regarded within the Guardians organizations\u2014one of the clubs that Elias has often given high praise\u2014and has experience throughout the league. While some preferred an experienced skipper to get this unproven squad over the hump, the Orioles opted for a long-term play. It could be the most crucial hire of Elias\u2019 career.<\/p>\n
Alonso said during his introductory press conference that Albernaz, and the way he presented his vision for the team, was a key factor in the slugger\u2019s decision to sign with the Orioles. Then in January, speaking at a Birdland Caravan event, he claimed that his intention was to create a refreshed culture around the team. He dubbed it the \u201cNew Oriole Way.\u201d<\/p>\n
That certainly piqued the interest of many in town. The \u201cOriole Way\u201d is what brought the team into its Golden Era in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Apart from occasional returns to relevance since then, the organization has struggled to stay in contention. If Alonso can actually lead the club back to being a perennial juggernaut like it once was, his salary will be a pittance compared to the appreciation of the entire fan base.<\/p>\n
The way in which Alonso, Albernaz, and any of the other new faces impact the Orioles, starts this week in Sarasota. We won\u2019t be able to learn too much, but it will be exciting to feel like a new era is beginning, and with seemingly enough talent around those prominent voices to get the club right back into the postseason.<\/p>\n
For the last few years, Mike Elias has had to drop some unfortunate news on Orioles fans at some point in the spring. Two seasons ago, he kicked the year off with a reveal of elbow injuries for both Kyle Bradish and John Means. Last year, he announced that Grayson Rodriguez would need to be sidelined for an undetermined amount of time due to shoulder issues. Neither of those situations ended up well!<\/p>\n
Nothing that severe has been reported just yet, but that was also the case in prior years. And if you want to be conspiratorial about it, some of the Orioles actions indicate that something could be afoot.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the signing of Zach Eflin to give the team, seemingly, five solid major league caliber starting arms on the roster. But it was immediately followed up with reports that they were still seeking another pitcher. They were connected to Framber Valdez and Ranger Su\u00e1rez before they signed elsewhere, and there continue to be rumors of conversations with a handful of other free agent arms.<\/p>\n
Why? Depth is important, but you can only use so many pitchers at a time. Would that be the best use of financial resources? The Orioles have not actually made another move on that front, so perhaps they don\u2019t actually want another pitcher as bad as they have claimed, but it certainly feels like they don\u2019t believe they will have all five current starters ready to go on Opening Day. That could be as simple as giving Eflin, who had back surgery last year, extra time to get ready, or it could be something else.<\/p>\n
The Blaze Alexander trade also has a waft of concern. Elias gave up a decent haul, including a useful and cheap bullpen piece in Kade Strowd, for a player that looks like a utility type on paper. But the cost seems far more affordable if the team has an immediate need on the infield. Alexander is not a real shortstop solution, but he is capable at second and third, so it could make sense to keep an eye on Jordan Westburg\u2019s and Jackson Holliday\u2019s time on the training table early in spring.<\/p>\n
Losing Strowd in the Alexander trade weakens a bullpen group that was already pretty thin. Outside of new closer Ryan Helsley and returning veteran Andrew Kittredge, the group is a bunch of question marks, and even Helsley is something of an unknown after his finish to the year with the Mets.<\/p>\n
That isn\u2019t totally unique in baseball. Relievers are volatile, and most teams are just hoping they can cobble together enough competent arms at some point in the summer, not necessarily on Opening Day. But this Orioles\u2019 group does feel particularly unproven.<\/p>\n
Colin Selby, Dietrich Enns, and Rico Garcia are all penciled into the Opening Day staff, and none of them have more than two years of MLB experience. They also lack options, with makes the group both unproven and inflexible. Not a great combination. Down in Triple-A is another batch of green arms too, including Chayce McDermott, Grant Wolfram, Yaramil Hiraldo, and others. There\u2019s upside, but also the potential for disaster.<\/p>\n
Odds are that the Orioles will add another veteran to the mix at some point before Opening Day. Those guys aren\u2019t too hard to find, especially as teams make cuts in March. But it is risky to wait so long and to rely on the scraps of your competitors to get reinforcements. If that doesn\u2019t work, you may be holding on until July when the trade market gets going and higher quality arms are available again.<\/p>\n
You can win enough in the regular season with a flimsy bullpen. But it puts more pressure on an offense that has struggled for a year-and-a-half at this point, plus a starting staff that still feels unfinished. At this point, a major bullpen addition is unlikely. So the Orioles will have to hope that their eye for talent and their ability to develop pitchers at the big league level can be relief upon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spring training begins, in part, right now. Pitchers and catchers that will be taking part in the World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,3357,2538,5,4,125],"class_list":["post-562370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore-orioles-analysis","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-orioles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116041073604535851","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}