We tend to poke fun at the Rule 5 draft and the Orioles' past obsessions with it. Selecting three players at the 2017 Winter Meetings. Trying to carry more than one. Allowing it to become the biggest story for beat writers at those sites.
"I attended the Winter Meetings and all I got was this lousy Rule 5 pick"
There have been a few good choices, however, and Tyler Wells is proving to be a steal.
Dice are rolled when a team gambles by trying to carry an inexperienced pitcher in its bullpen,...
Pedro Severino returns to the Orioles lineup this afternoon against the Yankees after a two-game absence.
Severino replaced Austin Wynns behind the plate last night in the 10th inning.
Ryan McKenna is in left field and Austin Hays is in right.
Trey Mancini has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games, batting .320 (16-for-50) with three doubles, a home run, four RBIs, two walks and seven runs scored. He homered and singled last night and is the designated hitter this afternoon.
Hays has hit safely...
The revisiting of the Orioles rotation could have worn a path deeper than the actual pitching staff.
Chris Ellis and Keegan Akin are confirmed to close out the series at Yankee Stadium, and Matt Harvey would stay on turn if he pitches Monday afternoon against the Royals at Camden Yards. John Means won't be ready before Wednesday after starting last night and allowing two runs in five innings.
What the Orioles do for the remaining weeks of the season is one of the more interesting topics to...
The Orioles couldn't carry pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr. as a Rule 5 selection. Tonight, they couldn't break through against him until the sixth inning.
Trey Mancini's first home run since Aug. 14 sent Cortes to the bench with two outs and sliced the deficit in half.
Jorge Mateo was a three-time Top 100 prospect who began his professional career with the Yankees, finally made it to the Bronx tonight and hit a game-tying homer in the seventh.
The redemption angle held up through regulation.
Four...
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde waited until later than usual to post his lineup for tonight's series opener against the Yankees in the Bronx. He had to check on a few players with questionable health statuses.
"We're just waiting on a couple guys and it's that time of year," he said.
Austin Wynns is starting again behind the plate, as he did Wednesday in Toronto. The team was off yesterday.
Ryan Mountcastle is playing first base and Trey Mancini is batting fourth as the designated hitter....
What can we expect from the Orioles in September and those three October games in Toronto that attach to the schedule like skin tags?
Probably more losses than wins, considering their record and the teams awaiting them, though four games at home against the Royals and four against the Rangers will be spun as soft spots.
That's not what I'm talking about. Let's move beyond the schedule and look closer at how the Orioles could use these final weeks. Some players who could really benefit from...
A couple of bases-loaded walks tonight in the second inning gave the Orioles a lead and some evidence that they can work a count and offer their manager the type of at-bats he's been pleading for during the season.
Those walks, by Cedric Mullins and Ryan Mountcastle, weren't intended to provide the bulk of the offense. The Orioles would need to back them with some clutch hitting and hope the bullpen also could step up.
Jorge Mateo led off the sixth with a double against Tayler Saucedo, his...
The Orioles aren't playing tonight. They have an off-day in New York. We should all be so lucky.
"Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to Broadway?"
"Practice, practice, practice."
I've already mastered the art of the mailbag. How to gather questions, provide answers - or at least make the attempt - and exhibit tremendous patience while repeating myself. And also how to make it conversational at times, which ain't easy with the mail.
I implore everyone to be as expansive as you'd like...
The Orioles enter a new month with pitchers Alexander Wells and Dusten Knight added to their expanded roster.
Wells has a 7.71 ERA and a 1.929 WHIP in six games with the Orioles, but he's strung together three consecutive scoreless appearances with Triple-A Norfolk. Knight allowed six earned runs (seven total) and eight hits with four walks and nine strikeouts in his five outings with the Orioles over 7 1/3 innings.
Both pitchers were on the taxi squad during the series against the Blue Jays...
The Orioles can happily push aside August, giving it a hard shove after losing 24 of 28 games, and get down to September business.
There's always something to keep them active and it's usually about the roster.
The difference now is they can expand it rather than just plugging holes.
With the team in Canada and transporting a taxi squad, the logical moves today would be to recall left-hander Alexander Wells and right-hander Dusten Knight since they're already in the visiting clubhouse at...
In a season with so many challenges for the Orioles, testing them seemingly in every way imaginable, the attempt to win a game on a particular night can suddenly become a struggle of a different sort.
Just trying to get a hit.
Blue Jays left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu allowed two baserunners in the first inning tonight but retired 15 batters in a row and flirted with history until Ryan Mountcastle lined a double into right field with two outs in the sixth in a one-run game.
Austin Hays drove in the...
Keegan Akin will try to build on his last start and the Orioles will try to end a four-game losing streak tonight against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
Akin earned his second major league win Thursday by holding the Angels to one run and three hits in seven innings with six strikeouts and lowering his ERA from 7.92 to 7.26. He faced the Blue Jays on June 26 in Buffalo and allowed six runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette hit home runs.
Akin also faced the Blue...
The first batter of the fourth inning got Chris Ellis again, except he kept going tonight. Kept himself in the Orioles' pitching plans that otherwise are in their familiar unsettled state.
Ellis didn't allow a run against the Blue Jays until Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered to lead off the fourth and tie the game. He went a career-high 4 2/3 innings, allowing just the one run and two hits.
Ryan Mountcastle homered and had an RBI infield hit to drive in both Orioles runs, but Dillon Tate was...
When projecting which players could join the Orioles on their slightly expanded September roster, reliever Paul Fry wasn't supposed to enter the discussion because he wasn't supposed to leave the team.
Fry was the top left-handed reliever on the club. The top reliever, period, for a time. Earning a chance to close. And then the bottom fell out.
The Orioles optioned Fry to Triple-A Norfolk after he allowed four runs Sunday in one-third of an inning - Joey Wendle's grand slam after a single...
Center fielder Cedric Mullins is out of tonight's Orioles lineup for the opener of a three-game series in Toronto. Manager Brandon Hyde is resting him. There isn't an injury situation.
Ryan McKenna, recalled this afternoon, is playing center and batting seventh. Austin Hays is leading off and playing left field.
Jahmai Jones also is counted among the four reserves. Jorge Mateo is the second baseman tonight, with Ramón UrÃas at shortstop.
Ryan Mountcastle is batting second again.
A...
The Orioles are carrying a four-man bench in Toronto today after recalling reliever Zack Burdi and outfielder Ryan McKenna from Triple-A Norfolk.
Spots were opened yesterday with the Orioles optioning pitchers Paul Fry and Spenser Watkins.
Burdi, a former first-round pick out of the University of Louisville, was selected off waivers from the White Sox on Aug. 18. He has an 8.27 ERA and 1.898 WHIP in 14 major league relief appearances covering 16 1/3 innings, but he averages 12.7 strikeouts per...
The freedom to expand their roster by two players on Wednesday also is going to increase the Orioles' level of health. Lowering the chances of the bench running out of available bodies.
Anthony Santander is playing with a sore ankle. Ramón UrÃas is dealing with soreness in his upper right leg and groin area. Jorge Mateo was unavailable for a few days with discomfort in his lower back. DJ Stewart had a sore knee that kept him on the bench. Pedro Severino also was restricted by a sore knee...
The Orioles won't have the Rays to kick them around anymore.
Not this year, at least.
The schedule for the remainder of the season doesn't include another series between the teams, with the Rays' parting shot a 12-8 victory before an announced crowd of 8,353 at Camden Yards.
The three-game sweep, pretty much sealed by Joey Wendle's grand slam off Paul Fry in the seventh, left the Orioles 1-18 against the Rays and 0-9 in Baltimore. They've lost the last 12 games.
This is the club's first...
Alexander Wells worked two innings and threw 26 pitches in last night's start at Triple-A Norfolk, but he's healthy. The Orioles are keeping him available to work in relief this week.
Chris Ellis is starting on Monday in Toronto, but Wells can be a bulk guy behind him if he's added to the active roster. He's making the trip.
The 26-man roster expands to 28 on Wednesday.
Last night's outing was the equivalent of a side session for Wells, who hasn't allowed a run in his last three...
Cole Sulser thought it was a pretty good pitch. Manager Brandon Hyde described it as OK. Neither one expected that it was going to land on the flag court in right field, as close as possible without striking the top of the out-of-town scoreboard.
The Orioles lost again to the Rays last night 4-3 after Randy Arozarena hit his eighth home run against them this season and increased his RBI total to 18. He entered the game slashing .469/.500/.980 versus a team that can't figure out how to stop...
