A few Orioles questions that can't be answered

If the baseball season begins in its altered state, and in whichever states are deemed acceptable for hosting teams, we're still going to be left wondering what would have happened under the usual circumstances.

It's impossible to simulate normal with spring training shut down on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic and months lost past the anticipated opening day.

For example, no matter how many games are salvaged - and this is assuming that health risks are reduced and the travel and mass gathering restrictions lifted - we'll never truly know:

* Just how good John Means could have been in 2020.

Means made his second and final exhibition start on March 1 against the Phillies in Clearwater and retired all nine batters that he faced. He struck out two and induced two ground balls, three popups and two fly balls while becoming the first starter to complete three frames.

The opposing lineup included Bryce Harper, Jean Segura, J.T. Realmuto, Rhys Hoskins and Didi Gregorius. This wasn't the lightweight division. Means plowed through a team that began the day leading the majors in batting average at .300 and OPS at .866 and had scored 60 runs in its first nine games.

Means has been lined up to start the opener and is going to do so if the season begins. A reward for his All-Star campaign in 2019 and a nod toward the sharp outings, side sessions and simulated games down in Florida.

Nothing happened with Means that dented the trust placed in him, but we've slipped into an experimental phase in baseball. We're going to find out what happens to a pitcher when he's shut down, moves his workouts to his home and has to ramp back up in a second edition of spring training.

If he struggles, blame will be placed on a wrecked routine. If he's really good, it's going to be a natural reaction to obsess over how much a truncated season deprived him of something special.

* Whether Chris Davis, if he falls back into old and unproductive habits, could have carried a hot spring into the regular season.

You'd have to be living under a rock, which might be a safe way to go right now, if you missed how Davis was 7-for-15 with three home runs, nine RBIs, nine walks and only three strikeouts in nine games.

How he found renewed confidence with the extra weight and muscle.

How he seemed to become more aggressive at the plate, even while drawing those walks.

Davis has been busy during the shutdown gathering information and updates on various conference calls with other Major League Baseball Player Association representatives. He's working out at home, saying he has a "very modest setup." And he's being a dad to his three young daughters, including 2-year-old twins.

The shutdown was necessary. It also seemed crueler to certain players who were having good camps and seeking redemption.

Davis' body and approach underwent some changes, but not his luck.

* Whether Alex Cobb could have given the Orioles a full season.

Cobb was bothered by blisters on his pitching hand during his first season with the Orioles in 2018, forcing him out of starts or to miss them. He made only two appearances after Sept. 4 and totaled two innings.

The 2019 season was much, much worse. Cobb lost his chance to start the opener due to a groin injury and made only three starts before undergoing surgery on his hip and knee.

Determined to make it through the spring and 2020 season without any health issues, Cobb worked only one inning in his Grapefruit League debut in Clearwater because of flu-like symptoms. Manager Brandon Hyde slow-played Cobb and withheld him from starts against division opponents, confining him to the back fields, and the veteran was scratched from a March 12 assignment against the Twins in Fort Myers due to a blister.

You know what happened. Cobb pitched in a simulated game and baseball was put on ice, with two team buses returning to the complex after circling it.

Cobb and the Orioles will be thrilled if he can take the ball every fifth day, likely as the No. 2 starter behind Means.

* Whether Hunter Harvey could have given the Orioles a full season.

I'm working on the assumption that Harvey makes the opening day roster. I'm also assuming that the sun is going to rise and set.

Harvey was shut down in September because Hyde didn't like how long it took for his arm to bounce back and there was no reason to push him. The innings were piling up. He had nothing else to prove.

A very smart decision.

While media and fans keep placing the closer's job at Harvey's feet, it's important to note that he hasn't worked a full season and therefore still has something to prove.

An abbreviated season under non-pandemic circumstances would be fine for Harvey. And in the grand scheme, it really doesn't matter whether he would have gone the distance. He'll just need to reach the finish line and pitch to the level expected of him.

But we're still going to wonder.