The offseason for the Orioles has officially begun, with Mike Elias once again making grand proclamations about Baltimore’s commitment to winning and how that will shape the O’s offseason. Atop Elias’ offseason wishlist, once again, is a “front-line starting pitcher.” Two years ago, the Orioles’ GM filled that need with the biggest move of his […]
2 months ago | 3 reads
Good morning, Camden Chatters. MLB’s hot stove has yet to start cooking. There have been no major trades or free agent signings of note in the less than two weeks since the World Series ended. This week’s just-concluded GM meetings in Las Vegas failed to produce any kind of news, but since The Baltimore Banner’s […]
2 months ago | 3 reads
Replacing Félix Bautista is no easy feat. The Orioles’ mountainous All-Star closer — who is likely to miss the entire 2026 season, just as he missed all of 2024 — has gigantic shoes that are hard to fill. Just ask Craig Kimbrel, whose 2024 experience in Baltimore turned into a boondoggle. Or Keegan Akin, who […]
2 months ago | 3 reads
Hello, friends. There are now 133 days until Orioles Opening Day 2026. The start of spring training is much closer, as we’re now less than three months away from when World Baseball Classic-participating pitchers and catchers are set to report. The offseason is kicking off with president of baseball operations Mike Elias saying a variety […]
2 months ago | 1 read
The story of the 2025 Orioles is as much about who didn’t play because they were hurt as much as it is about how well players played when healthy. Grayson Rodriguez represents this idea taken to its most extreme. He is a pitcher who the Orioles and fans were counting on to at least be […]
2 months ago | 3 reads
The Orioles are in a position where they must improve the top of their starting rotation. If they aren’t willing to trade prospects or young players to do it, spending money is the only way. That’s a bad place to be. High-end free agent starting pitchers are expensive and risky bets. They might get hurt. […]
2 months ago | 2 reads
Good Morning Birdland, No one would ever describe the pace of MLB’s offseason as “break neck.” Teams take their time assembling their rosters, and there is no single time period where moves happen in a flurry. Pre-Thanksgiving tends to be particularly slow. However, this lull in actual moves does give us all the potential to […]
2 months ago | 1 read
The story of Trevor Rogers in 2025 is so incredible that it requires us as fans to overcome disbelief in a way we’ve never been asked to before. In his relatively short time with the Orioles, he had always been terrible. It was hard to imagine a world where he wouldn’t be terrible. And then, […]
2 months ago | 6 reads
Good morning, Camden Chatters. MLB awards season has arrived, and the disappointing Orioles, of course, will not be involved. The top three vote-getters for each award were announced a week ago and included no Orioles. And don’t expect to see any Orioles receive even a single down-ballot vote for any award, other than AL Cy […]
2 months ago | 2 reads
How spoiled are we that a season in which Gunnar Henderson posted a 121 OPS+, stole 30 bases, and was worth 5.3 bWAR, it feels like a disappointment. That is simply the result of the standard he created with his MVP-caliber 2024 effort, a bar he fell well short of this past summer. Henderson had […]
3 months ago | 0 reads
Adam Jones played center field for almost all of his time in Baltimore, but the Orioles Hall of Famer moved to right field on August 10, 2018 to make room for Cedric Mullins. Jones encouraged Mullins to lead the team out of the dugout, and O’s skipper Buck Showalter praised Mullins as the right guy […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! I hope you had a nice weekend. When it wasn’t raining, the weather was quite lovely which I will always take in November. In baseball news, the Arizona Fall League is chugging along. It will finish up on Saturday with a championship game. Over the weekend, they had the Fall Stars […]
3 months ago | 1 read
Hello, friends. There are now 137 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. If you prefer a shorter countdown, today marks three months until WBC-participating pitchers and catchers (if any Orioles are doing so) report to Sarasota for the start of spring training. We’ve gotten a bit of minor Orioles-related news over this weekend, minor because […]
3 months ago | 0 reads
Good morning Birdland, Orioles fans now have a new person to get mad at when Adley Rutschman slumps. His name is Dustin Lind, and he is set to become the Orioles hitting coach. The 37-year-old was the assistant hitting coach with the Phillies the last two seasons. Prior to that, he was director of hitting […]
3 months ago | 4 reads
When Jeremiah Jackson arrived in the Orioles organization as a minor league signing around this time last year, there was not much fanfare. At that point, he was a 24-year-old who had never made it above the Double-A level and his most recent season with the Mets did not suggest he was on the way […]
3 months ago | 4 reads
When a reliever makes you hold your breath every time he enters a game, but still somehow records outs, is it still “relief” pitching? Ha. Ha. OK, but how should we estimate the value of a flamethrowing lefty who hits 98 on the radar gun, strikes out hitters in bunches, and also has an ERA […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
Good morning, Camden Chatters. The MLB offseason is starting to take off. Yesterday marked the fifth day since the end of the World Series, which is the deadline for teams to exercise or decline options on players who have them, and the first day in which they’re allowed to sign free agents from other teams. […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
The Orioles announced their 2026 season schedule for promotions and giveaway items on Thursday afternoon. This is getting a much earlier start on the schedule compared to what the team has done recently. Each of the last two seasons, they did not do the announcement until January. The initial announcement about these items and dates […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
As the Orioles set out to reshape their bullpen this offseason, one veteran lefty seems to have a spot sewn up. The O’s just need to make sure they don’t move him out of his comfort zone. Nearly 10 years after he was drafted, Keegan Akin is the longest tenured pitcher in the Orioles organization, […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
If a player on a losing team gets traded at the deadline, but is then reacquired three months later, were they ever really traded at all? Well, yeah, but getting them back makes the whole deal look like an absolute steal. It seemed as though the Andrew Kittredge era with the Orioles had ended back […]
3 months ago | 1 read
Hello, friends. There are now 140 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2026. We will get a bit more clarity today on the shape of the free agent market, as today is the deadline for teams and players with contract options to make decisions about those options. It’s also the deadline for teams to extend […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
For this writer, the lowest point of the 2024 season was hearing the news that Kyle Bradish needed Tommy John surgery and would be out for the rest of the season. It took him 14 months to recover from the elbow surgery, but when he finally toed the rubber again in black and orange, Bradish […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
It was no surprise when the Orioles began trading off their assets at the trade deadline this year. Out of contention and with a fair number of players approaching free agency, it only made sense. But when news broke that they had traded Ramón Urías to the Astros, it was a little confusing. For one, […]
3 months ago | 4 reads
Good Morning Birdland, The offseason is just getting started, but O’s GM Mike Elias has already been active. Tuesday was a busy one. The team officially introduced Craig Albernaz as their new manager, they reacquired reliever Andrew Kittredge from the Cubs, and it was reported that two of their coaches from 2025 had found jobs […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
The offseason is just days old and Mike Elias has just done the first real notable move to the Orioles roster. The team announced on Tuesday afternoon that they have acquired reliever Andrew Kittredge from the Cubs. That would be the same Kittredge the Orioles traded to the Cubs in July. In July, Kittredge cost […]
3 months ago | 2 reads