As we are now just a few weeks away from the start of spring training and the new season, today let’s take a look at the O’s roster in terms of four components.

They are the offense and defense and the pitching – starting pitching and the bullpen.

We don’t know the Opening Day roster yet, obviously, or the final roster that will start camp, but at this point it’s pretty set. Yes, we could get a change or a few of them, but today we're going with what they have right now to assess how it all looks.

If you break those four down, I see all four as solid units for the team heading into the season. I will rank them as they look today, from strongest to weakest:

Offense

Major League Baseball’s best shortstop, right now, is the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson. So says MLB Network during its Top Ten Right Now series that has been airing in recent days.

Well not everyone at the network feels that way but the “shredder” does which is MLB Network’s model that I presume takes all the stats and data and provides a formula for ranking the players.

It’s quite an honor when you consider who Henderson is up against.

Here is their official top 10:

1) Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles.

I was the first writer hired to work at MASNsports.com. It was, I think, late in 2007 or maybe early in 2008. It all runs together now. But there I was writing articles called blogs about the Orioles at a place that most people didn’t know even existed back then.

But I put in the time and effort then and now, too, and here I am about 17 years later still writing for MASN.

Well, at least for a few more days.

Over the years, I have gained experience and knowledge on how to write game stories and also how to re-write game stories in the last of the ninth. To write about the minors and the majors. To write about the draft, trades, waiver claims, injuries and anything and everything about the Orioles.

Even about those we lost along the way like Brooks Robinson and Mike Flanagan.

When Japanese right-handed pitcher Roki Sasaki signed as an international amateur with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball’s defending World Series winners got a top pitcher for a very modest signing amount.

The rich got richer.

That angered some fans who speculated that the Dodgers had some sort of handshake agreement to add Sasaki all along. I don’t know about that, but the industry seemed to expect the Dodgers to get him months ago and they did.

What troubled me about the team recruitment of Sasaki was his “homework assignment” for various clubs during the recruiting process. What he asked teams to do before meeting with him. And that was to assess why his fastball lost some velocity in Japan during the 2024 season and how they would fix that.

I don’t know how many teams completed their homework assignment, but clearly some teams went deep into possibly helping the pitcher fix his fastball and did not even get him on their team. That sounds to me like Sasaki and his camp crossed a line here or pushed an envelope a step or two too far. Tell me how I can be better so I can take that to my new team and stay good, he seemed to be saying.

After trading numerous prospects over the last year or two and graduating others to the big leagues to help a team contend for the last two seasons, the O’s farm system has, predictably, taken a bit of a hit.

They no longer are the No. 1 ranked farm after a long run at the top and for now it seems, their days of populating top 100 lists up and down the rankings, may be limited for now.

In the latest initial release of the Baseball America top 100 prospects poll – the 2025 version of the ranking which first came out in 1990 – the Orioles have three players ranked in the top 100.

Catcher Samuel Basallo, who was No. 10 this time last year, is ranked No. 14. Coby Mayo, No. 25 this time last year, is ranked No. 29 and Heston Kjerstad, No. 41 on the list last January, is now No. 81. Basallo, age 20, is the highest-rated catcher on the BA top 100.

There was a time when three top 100 ranked players was an upgrade for the Orioles, who had two players ranked in 2015, none in 2016 and one in 2017.

Sure, there are durability questions about Orioles outfielder Tyler O’Neill, a player they signed via free agency in December. But last year he took 473 plate appearances to rank fifth-most on the Boston Red Sox and the O’s would probably take that and run with it right now.

Especially with his 2024 stats.

Over 113 games – his most since 2021 – O’Neill hit .241/.336/.511/.847 with 18 doubles, 31 homers, 74 runs and 61 RBIs. He posted an 11.2 walk percentage and 33.6 strikeout percentage.

Among the 2024 Orioles, only Anthony Santander and Gunnar Henderson out-homered him. Among 2024 O’s with 100 or more plate appearances, only Henderson (.893) topped him in OPS. Only Santander and Henderson exceeded his OPS+ of 132.

After he produced a .700 OPS in 2022 and .715 in 2023, O’Neill put up his best numbers since 2021 last year. That season, when he finished eighth for the NL MVP with St. Louis, he hit 34 homers, had a .912 OPS and produced 6.1 Wins Above Replacement per baseball-reference.com that was fifth among all NL position players.

Juan Soto signed with the New York Mets, not only leaving the Orioles' division, but their league too. Corbin Burnes signed with Arizona and Roki Sasaki is a Los Angeles Dodger.

But the O’s on Monday saw one of their own sign with another club and also stay in the American League East when outfielder Anthony Santander agreed to a five-year deal worth $92.5 million with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Jays didn’t sign but tried to get Shohei Ohtani, Sasaki, Soto, Burnes and Max Fried. But they finally did get one, with Santander coming off a 44-homer season that ranked third-best in the majors.

He also drove in 102 runs last year – the first Oriole with 100 or more since Jonathan Schoop with 105 in 2017 – and produced an OPS of .814 and OPS+ of 134. Santander, who turned 30 in October, finished 2024 ninth in the AL in RBIs, 11^th in slugging and 13^th in OPS.

And his payday came Monday. I guess all that talk of his on-base percentage and defense didn’t keep him from getting some big dollars.

Hey at least they didn’t get Juan Soto. Somehow the Los Angeles Dodgers, who did get pitchers Roki Sasaki and Tanner Scott in their latest star additions, will have to try and repeat their World Series title without Soto. He went to the New York Mets.

But the Dodgers still had a pretty good weekend, getting Sasaki Friday and Scott, the former Oriole reliever, on Sunday. They were pretty quiet on Saturday.

But even when it came time to get a player who could only sign as an international amateur and would not necessarily go to the highest bidder and was, theoretically available to all 30 teams, the Dodgers got him too in adding Sasaki.

And keep this in mind. Sasaki, who is rookie eligible, could very likely bring the Dodgers a draft pick by winning National League Rookie of the Year or with a top three MVP finish. He is expected to be a Prospect Performance Incentive eligible player.

For this now great team, this all seemed to truly start rolling in December of 2023 when the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani for $700 million. And then we found out about $680 million was deferred. Say what?

It's getting closer and closer with each day that goes by. The start of the 2025 baseball season. We can now say spring training begins next month. The first spring game is set for Feb. 22 and Opening Day is March 27 at 3:07 p.m. at Rogers Centre, where the O's will play the Toronto Blue Jays. 

With the Blue Jays for now projecting an all right-handed rotation and the O's possibly to face Kevin Gausman or José Berríos in that opener, I took a look recently in this space at a possible O's lineup for Game 1.

This is what I came up with:

SS – Gunnar Henderson
3B – Jordan Westburg
DH – Ryan O’Hearn
RF – Tyler O’Neill
1B – Ryan Mountcastle
LF – Colton Cowser
C – Adley Rutschman
CF – Cedric Mullins
2B – Jackson Holliday

For now I don't see anyone better to put in the top spot than Henderson. At some point in his career he will probably move more into the middle of the order. But I don't think we are there yet. Readers, many of you, seemed to like Westburg being moved up to the No. 2 spot. He batted mostly fifth last year and could hit just about anywhere. He had an .808 OPS last season versus righty pitching.

The Orioles emerging international program, a program that can now boast of 13 ranked players on the MLBPipeline.com Orioles’ top 30 prospects list, added more talent this week.

On Wednesday, the first day to sign international amateurs this signing period – a period that runs through Dec. 15, 2025 – the O’s added 22 players.

By signing bonus, the most prominent of the group signed was shortstop José Peña, who got a $1 million bonus. He was ranked No. 42 by Baseball America (which ranks players by bonus amounts) and No. 47 by MLBPipeline.

He gives the Orioles now six players signed to bonuses of $1 million or more since 2021.

He is now added to this group of players:

Whether you know him from his broadcasting work in Major League Baseball, through his appearances back in the day on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, as a television actor, for his role in Miller Lite commercials or as Harry Doyle from the movie Major League, you probably know about Bob Uecker.

A former player, a Ford C. Frick winner in the Hall of Fame as broadcaster, accomplished funny man and actor, he was all of that and yet so much more.

One of the wonderful all-time characters in the game, Uecker led a full and amazing life. A life that ended when he passed away yesterday at age 90.

Carson once held up a picture of Uecker drinking out of a bottle during what looked like a victory celebration and ask about what they were celebrating then?

“No, that was me getting ready for a game,” Uecker deadpanned and Carson, as usual, was rolling with laughter. When he first appeared on his show, Carson once asked sidekick Ed McMahon, “did that guy really play?”

With Cedric Mullins set as the O’s center fielder, what do the outfield corners look like? Tyler O’Neill, who signed a free agent deal for three years for $49.5 million that included an opt out after one season, is expected to get many of the starts in right field. Young Heston Kjerstad is also part of that right-field mix no doubt with Colton Cowser, who finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting, mostly in left field.

O’Neill, who turns 30 on June 22, last year for Boston made 56 starts in left field, 34 in right field and 17 as the DH. He was named the Red Sox Comeback Player of the Year by the Baseball Writers' Association of America's Boston chapter. O’Neill missed 27 games due to three stints on the injured list.

But over 113 games and 473 plate appearances with Boston, he hit .241/.336/.511/.847 with a 132 OPS+ that was just below Anthony Santander’s 134. Santander is still available in free agency.

O’Neill was a prolific batter versus lefty pitching last season, hitting .313/.430/.750/1.180 with a wRC+ of 215 off southpaws. Against right-handers he batted .209/.290/.403/.693 for a wRC+ of 91. Now he can take aim at the closer fences in left-field and left-center at Oriole Park. 

A Gold Glover in the outfield in 2020 and 2021, O’Neill has made 36 career starts in center field and could spell Mullins there at times as Mullins hit just .196 with a .506 OPS in 2024 versus left-handed pitching.

As the Orioles wonder what their 2025 season might look like, they may also ponder what a full year with Jordan Westburg in the lineup could look like?

Westburg played 68 games in 2023 with an OPS of .715 and played 107 last season with an OPS of .792 when he was an American League All-Star.

If we combine those two years he has played in 175 games as an Oriole, taking 675 plate appearances. That is about a full season’s worth, for instance Gunnar Henderson took 719 plate appearances in 2024.

So over those 675 PAs, Westburg has hit .263/.312/.455/.767 and all four seem easily within reach for him or better during a full and healthy year. In those PAs he has hit 43 doubles, seven triples, 21 homers, scored 83 runs, stole 10 bases and drove in 86 runs.

All those numbers also seem within reach and maybe better for Westburg over a full year. It could be production to really help an already good lineup. 

Here is one man’s hope that the projected chaos with pitcher Roki Sasaki signing with a big league club as soon as this week could be minimal. 

Because he has to be signed as an international amateur, he can sign officially with any of the 30 clubs starting on Wednesday. But he won’t be getting the big free agent money like Corbin Burnes or Max Fried got as he signs as an international amateur. The new signing period begins this Wednesday.

Each team gets a limited pool amount to sign these players and it’s essentially a hard salary cap. A team could trade for up to 60 percent of its original pool. The teams with the largest pools, as of this Wednesday at $7.555 million are Cincinnati, Detroit, Miami, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle and Tampa Bay.

There are six teams in the next tier with $6.9 million available in their pools and that group includes the Orioles along with Arizona, Cleveland, Colorado, Kansas City and Pittsburgh.

The Orioles have not been linked by any report I have seen in any way to Sasaki. And to likely confirm that he is not signing with the Orioles, or one of 26 other teams, ESPN last night reported that he has a final group of three teams - the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays.

The Orioles will play a game, a spring training game, for the first time on February 22^nd at home versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. How their lineup will look that day is not important. Can’t read anything into a spring training lineup, especially not the first one of spring.

But how might that lineup look on Opening Day, March 27^th at 3:07 p.m. at Rogers Centre against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Rather than wait for that big day, we could make a guess today. Doesn’t cost anything and no matter what we project, no one will get hurt. Unless it’s a player’s feelings that we leave out. But that’s rather unlikely too, so let’s proceed.

First the Blue Jays project to have five righties in their rotation possibly starting with Kevin Gausman or Jose Berrios. So we know it’s likely going to be a right-hander versus the Orioles that day and we’ll go with that.

Everyone’s lineup might be different for different reasons. Here is mine as of Jan. 13.

This is a bit random today and not related to any recent signings or O’s news at all. But today, just for the heck of it, I take a look at some random individual stats from the 2024 season.

Some may be surprising, many will probably not.

But in a game filled with stats - traditional, advanced and otherwise - here are a few more today.

In most cases the numbers are for only O’s players that had enough plate appearances last year to qualify for league leaders, and in most cases I left out players who during the year had only a couple of dozen plate appearances.

O’s 2024 leaders, pitches per plate appearance:

The Orioles one-year agreement with a club option with right-handed pitcher Andrew Kittredge made the team's strength a bit stronger. The bullpen looks pretty good with a clear eight you would project today to start the year in the bullpen.

That eight includes the club welcoming back All-Star closer Félix Bautista. From the right side, there is also Kittredge, Yennier Cano, Seranthony Domínguez and a long man in Albert Suárez, who right now projects more in the ‘pen than rotation.

From the left side the O’s have Keegan Akin, coming off his big 2024 year, along with Gregory Soto and Cionel Pérez.

The club will clearly be careful and cautious early on with Bautista coming back from Tommy John surgery. If he returns to previous form that would be huge for this team. Remember the guy has a 1.85 ERA, 0.924 WHIP with 14.1 strikeouts per nine in two MLB seasons. At his best, he is among the best closers in the game, a 2023 All-Star when he finished 11^th for the American League Cy Young Award.

But as they work him in slowly and perhaps are wary of using him back-to-back games to start the year, they now have many other options for the late innings.

Having a big season for an MLB player can be a blessing or a curse. Not really a curse, like selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees cursed the Red Sox all those years, but maybe burden is the right word. Now fans and perhaps even team management expect more of the same.

For Orioles center field Cedric Mullins, his magical 2021 season now looks like an outlier. He has not produced similar stats since. He started the All-Star game that year – his only All-Star appearance – won a Silver Slugger and finished ninth in the AL MVP race.

Over 159 games he hit .291/.360/.518/.878 and produced the first season of 30 homers and steals in O’s history with exactly 30 homers and 30 stolen bases.

Mullins’ .878 OPS that year ranked eighth-best in the American League in a season when only five players in the league topped .900. His OPS for the year topped several prominent players, a list that includes Yordan Álvarez, Marcus Semien, Teoscar Hernández, J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, Salvador Pérez and Carlos Correa.

But since 2022, his OPS numbers, while consistent, have been well behind that one great year. He was at .721 in 2022, .721 in 2023 and .710 last year, producing OPS+ totals of 107, 101 and 107 after putting up 137 for 2021.

To hear new O’s pitcher Charlie Morton tell it, he has essentially had two different careers. One as a pitch-to-contact pitcher and one going for and getting many more strikeouts.

The second stage of this career, which began with his age 33 season with Houston in 2017, was a real turning point.

It has led to more durability, more swing and miss, two All-Star appearances and at age 41, to his sixth team in Baltimore. He signed a one-year deal to join the club’s rotation for $15 million.

Life begins at 33?

He had Tommy John surgery in 2012 and two hip procedures along the way. When he made just four starts due to a torn hamstring that required surgery in 2016 with the Phillies, pitching only four games and 17 innings, he thought he might be done.

Even after making 30 or more starts the last six full seasons and even after having thrown over 2,100 big league innings, before the Orioles could sign him to a one-year contract, right-handed starting pitcher Charlie Morton had to decide if he wanted to sign with any team.

In his first interview with O’s reporters today, via a team Zoom call, he said this was not the first time he had pondered retirement. But he also explained that as last season ended, he seemed to want to keep going.

Morton, 41, went 8-10 with a 4.19 ERA for the Braves and now has signed a one-year deal for $15 million with the Orioles. Over the past two years, he’s thrown 328 2/3 innings to an ERA of 3.92 and a .248 batting average against with 24 quality starts.

“I think I’ve been debating that decision every offseason for the past four or five years frankly,” Morton told the media today. “It was definitely toward the end of last year. We were in a tight race for the Wild Card spot and I felt my year hadn’t gone as I hoped.

“I really wasn’t thinking about it a whole lot. I was thinking more about trying to take it all in because I thought that might be my last year.