As I watch the National Football League and college teams try to make it through their seasons with the COVID-19 interruptions and rescheduling - Maryland's games against Ohio State and Michigan State have been canceled, for example, as the Terrapins pause all activities - I'm still amazed that Major League Baseball reached the finish line.
I didn't like the chances at the outset and lost the last ounces of faith after the Marlins debacle.
The biggest win recorded at Camden Yards was the...
With the Orioles on the verge of adjusting their 40-man roster, this seems like an opportune time for a final scroll of the current edition.
There are 35 players listed and at least three prospects are expected to join them by today's deadline. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias is likely to make further subtractions later as he attempts to plug holes or increase depth via the free agent and trade markets - though minor league deals would delay the process.
Here are the 15...
The internal discussions in the Orioles organization related to Friday's deadline for setting the 40-man roster expand beyond the prospect lists that are blooming in the fall.
You won't find reliever Isaac Mattson in the top 30 published by MLBPipeline.com.
You could find him among the protected players.
There's room on the bubble for Mattson and, without any inside information, I'm predicting that he goes on the 40-man along with outfielder Yusniel Diaz and pitchers Michael Baumann and Zac...
The Orioles have acquired 18-year-old right-hander Miguel Padilla from the Astros as the player to be named later in the Hector Velázquez trade on July 29.
Padilla signed as an international free agent on Nov. 26, 2018, out of Carora, Venezuela. He appeared in 19 games for the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Astros in 2019, going 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 26 innings.
Padilla allowed six earned runs and 20 hits and surrendered only two home runs in 26 innings. He walked 16...
I wasn't aware of the term "coronavirus pandemic expansion" until reading it last week in an article detailing how Southwest Airlines is adding Sarasota, Fla., to its growing list of destinations.
Finally, the official airline of the Baltimore Orioles is providing flights to the team's spring training home. Always made sense to me.
This is big news to beat writers who have been flying into Tampa and driving an hour.
Trying to avoid the traffic jam heading back to Tampa International Airport...
The business conducted this week by Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias isn't confined to setting the 40-man roster for the Rule 5 draft.
It's more than figuring out which free agents could fit on the active roster for opening day.
It's more than compiling a list of candidates for third base coach and infield instructor.
There's a trade that needs to be completed.
The first trade that's now become the last one to be finalized.
The Orioles are working out the...
By the end of the week, the Orioles will be required to make further adjustments to their 40-man roster in order to protect players in the Rule 5 draft.
Teams now pay $100,000 to select a player in the major league phase, and he can be offered back to his former organization for half the fee.
I remember when it was $50,000 and $25,000, but the last collective bargaining agreement upped the cost.
Could also explain my increased alcohol consumption, unless that's COVID related.
The Orioles have...
We've made it past the awards portion of the offseason. Someone pump the brakes before we slam into the New Year.
Ryan Mountcastle was the only member of the Orioles to receive a vote in the four major awards. For third place in Rookie of the Year.
One point for one of the most important players in the rebuild.
If you have an affinity for early projections, Mountcastle will rank among the favorites for the honor in 2021. He's going to be on the opening day roster. No "late arrival" excuses...
The workouts and positive feelings remain a staple of Trey Mancini's offseason routine. No doubts in his mind whether he'll be ready for spring training. The full expectation of playing on opening day.
The building confidence that he's beaten Stage 3 colon cancer and his body can handle the rigors of his conditioning program and preparation for the regular season.
The Orioles made Mancini available this morning on a Zoom conference call with the media. Here's a sampling, beginning with his...
Ryan Mountcastle stuck his head into the Rookie of the Year voting this summer. Just a quick peek.
Maybe he can take a deep dive in 2021.
Mountcastle received one point via a third-place vote to finish tied for eighth in the American League, as announced tonight on MLB Network. Cal Ripken Jr., who received the honor in 1982, revealed the winner.
The Mariners' Kyle Lewis was a unanimous choice with 30 first-place votes for 150 points, followed by the White Sox's Luis Robert with 83 points and...
Whatever planning is done by the Orioles for 2021 should come with the same asterisk attached to the champion of a 60-game season with numerous rule and travel changes.
(OK, that's the last one. But again, my argument is based on comparing seasons, not the teams who played in a pandemic.)
No decision has been made on the construction of the upcoming season, including the number of games. It's too early. The Orioles need more information as it becomes available.
Some roster battles can't been...
Before AJ Graffanino had the opportunity to join the Orioles, before he received a phone call months earlier from a former Braves employee who prepared him for the news, he began to bond with the organization as a fifth-grader taking ground balls next to a shortstop who would beat him to it by 10 years.
If this sounds a little confusing, just imagine Graffanino accompanying his father, Brewers shortstop Tony Graffanino, to the ballpark in 2007. Imagine the kid on the field for pregame drills...
The beauty of becoming a minor league free agent is the freedom to go back to the organization if given an offer.
It can be "see you later" rather than "goodbye."
Or it can be "no thanks" and the player moves on to the next phase of his professional life.
Baseball America published a complete list of free agents in baseball, including 16 in alphabetical order from the Orioles minor league system:
Cristian Alvarado, Danny Barnes, Malquin Canelo, Martin Cervenka, Brian Gonzalez, Tyler Herb,...
The feel-good story that keeps developing with Trey Mancini - his recovery from Stage 3 colon cancer and resumption of a life that's more recognizable to him - has room for a few baseball-related chapters.
Sports haven't been the main focus for obvious reasons. Playing for the Orioles again was secondary.
Now it seems more imminent. More acceptable to discuss without coming across as insensitive or having priorities out of order.
There's a business side to Mancini's return, including his...
The Orioles revealed the identities of the two players to be named later in the Tommy Milone trade with the Braves.
The team announced this afternoon that it's receiving infielders AJ Graffanino and Greg Cullen to complete the deadline deal.
Graffanino, 23, was chosen by the Braves in the eighth round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Washington and rose to No. 23 among the organization's prospects in the MLBPipeline.com rankings. He's batted .316/.342/.380 in two...
The polls are closed, the votes are counted and the winners are Orioles fans who wanted some news and notes this morning.
For example:
* With Chris Holt moving to the dugout as pitching coach/director of pitching, the Orioles are going to recreate the position of minor league roving pitching coordinator.
It's on the organizational need list, from what I'm told.
That may not be the exact title, but the duties will be similar to what Holt did prior to becoming director of pitching this season....
Trey Mancini has experienced the move from first base to left field and the shift to right. He's taken all the ground balls and shagged flies on back fields and in batting practice. And he's never cared where the Orioles put him.
The indifference is more pronounced, if that makes sense, with Mancini coming back from colon cancer surgery and a six-month period of chemotherapy treatments. He missed the 2020 season, but baseball wasn't a priority.
Mancini was fighting for his life.
Do you think...
Reinstating outfielder Trey Mancini from the 60-day injured list over the weekend was a formality. A procedural move. A paper move.
Except it felt like so much more to the guy who received a cancer diagnosis. Who stood in the middle of a spring training clubhouse in front of teammates and shared the devastating news before leaving them.
Mancini is back home in Nashville with girlfriend Sara Perlman, working out and appreciating every second of his life. And that includes the exact moment that...
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