Hyde unsure of corresponding roster move

Alex Cobb is staying with the Orioles beyond today's start, his status as the 29th man more of a procedural move.

How the Orioles make room for him on the active roster is going to be decided after the second game tonight.

Manager Brandon Hyde could check pitch counts after the doubleheader and gauge the availability of his relievers. Carson Fulmer, claimed off waivers from the Pirates, is out of minor league options. Cole Sulser still had three options when the Orioles claimed him from the Rays last summer.

Mason Williams is an extra outfielder who may be deemed a necessity.

The active roster doesn't hold an obvious choice - someone who arrived as a temporary fill-in or as insurance.

The shuttle already has dropped off Evan Phillips, Cody Carroll, Branden Kline and David Hess at the alternate camp site in Bowie.

"It's not going to be easy," Hyde said in today's Zoom conference call with the media. "We all know that we're a little bit banged up and that we need the depth right now. We need healthy bodies just because we have some nagging injuries and things like that. So, to lose a player is going to be a challenge.

"With the (end of) the season being two and a half weeks away, you lose somebody, you option somebody down, you lose them for 10 days unless there's an injury. That's never easy, either. It's going to be a tough decision after the second game today."

Cobb hasn't pitched since Aug. 29 but there are no restrictions on him today.

"He's been able to throw, so he's gotten a pre-start side in and he feels good, he's ready," Hyde said. "So no limitations."

The Orioles are back to being a national story, one of the biggest surprise teams of 2020.

What has most surprised Hyde about it?

"I just think the amount of young players playing well," he said. "It's so hard to play in the big leagues, and the amount of players that have improved from last year. Usually, you have a couple or a few. I just feel like all of our guys have gotten better, all of our young players that either got experience in the big leagues last year or maybe saw in big league camp and now I'm seeing them. Just the improvement in our players. That's a credit to a lot of people, themselves and the people who have helped them along the way this last year.

"The young guys on our roster, how everybody's really taken a step forward and gotten better, has been impressive."

The Orioles are in New York exactly 19 years after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Timing that brings back emotions and memories that elicit conversations among players and staff.

Images have been replayed today and remain just as painful 19 years later.

"I don't think any of us will forget where we were on that morning," Hyde said. "We were talking about that on the bus here, where we were that day, and being in New York today is extra special. Watching the news this morning.

"I visited the 9/11 site last year when we were here in New York, took my family there, just because I wanted them to see that and experience it. So being here today is extra special and it's a day that we never forget."