Looking at what's left to do with Orioles' roster and more (O's and Braves tie 5-5, Bowman contract selected)

NORTH PORT, Fla. – The Orioles aren’t required to set their Opening Day roster until noon Thursday, and a few decisions could bump against the deadline.

Most of mystery has dissolved. Cade Povich is the No. 5 starter, which puts Albert Suárez in a relief role. Félix Bautista had avoided the injured list. Only one spot remains in the bullpen and it could come down to Bryan Baker or Matt Bowman, who had an opt-out in his contract for today. Roansy Contreras is the third in-house consideration.

Jorge Mateo played second base today and will get simulated at-bats Monday and Tuesday before the Orioles determine whether to bring him to Toronto. His availability seems to directly impact Livan Soto, though Luis Vázquez and Vimael Machín also remain on the camp roster.

The shuffling is caused by Gunnar Henderson’s strained right rib cage muscle that is keeping him in Sarasota. Henderson would be eligible to return on April 3 with his IL stint backdated to Monday.

“I mean, it’s unfortunate that he’s going to miss the start of the season, but it is a long season,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We do feel like we have other options. We have a lot of talented infielders. We’re still kind of finalizing the last position there, but Gunnar’s one of the best players in the league, so it’s hard to replace. Hopefully we can pick up the pieces around him a little bit and play well while he’s gone.”

Lost within this morning’s flurry of injury updates and information is how Jackson Holliday made his first Opening Day roster. The Orioles haven’t settled on the 26 players going to Toronto, but Holliday is playing second base or shortstop. Another camp cut controversy will be avoided.

Holliday had to wait until April 10 to make his major league debut. He impressed again in spring training, with two more hits, a walk and an RBI this afternoon, and will be rewarded for it.

“Not directly, I guess,” he replied when asked if he’s been told that he’s on the 26-man roster. “Hyder came up to me and basically was telling me he didn’t really know whether I was going to be playing shortstop or second base, so I don’t really know if that counts. I mean, I know I’m going on the flight, so I guess we’ll find out.

"If I can carry what I've done in spring, I would be very happy. Happy with the low line drives, hard ground balls, double, triple, homer here and there. Very happy with the at-bats."

Besides his work at the plate today, Holliday ranged past second base to backhand a ground ball and get the out at first. Holliday and Mateo switched positions in the middle of the game.

“I can’t wait to see what he does this year,” said executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. “Love the way he ran the bases, played with some confidence out there, hit pretty well. I think it’s a little bit of an unplanned circumstance that he had to spend so much time at shortstop because of the Gunnar injury preparing for some early-season use there. We’ll see what we end up doing, but obviously wanted to make that an option.

“Second base, I think he’s in a really good spot, so hopefully that doesn’t interrupt his second base development too much, because that’s ultimately where we’re gonna have him playing the majority of the year.”

Ramón Urías is a lock to serve in a utility role. He hit a long two-run homer to left-center field today against Atlanta’s Spencer Strider.

* Cade Povich starts Monday’s final exhibition game in D.C., where the Orioles are flying tonight, and he’s in the rotation for the home opener on March 31 against the Red Sox. He allowed five runs in 14 2/3 innings, all of them against the Blue Jays in Dunedin, and tossed five hitless innings in the rematch.

“Not only that, but the way he finished the year last year, too, and the adjustments and improvements he made this offseason,” Hyde said, referencing Povich’s 2.60 ERA in September. “He did pitch very well this spring. But it was good to see the changeup development and him pitch with a lot of confidence this spring.”

Hyde is waiting to reveal the order of the third and fourth starters, Tomoyuki Sugano and Dean Kremer.

“A couple days from now,” he said.

The rotation is missing Grayson Rodriguez, who began a throwing progression on flat ground while recovering from the inflammation behind his right elbow. He made an adjustment with his delivery to remove some of the stress on his lat, but Elias isn’t sure whether it contributed to the elbow irritation.

“That’s kind of unknowable,” Elias said. “He’s had lat and shoulder injuries, and working with him and our pitching staff, they decided to take some stress off of those joints. He didn’t throw enough here to where I would suspect that that was a part of it, but you never know.”

Charlie Morton, who starts Friday’s game in Toronto, closed out his spring training by retiring the Braves in order on three ground balls and 14 pitches in the first inning and allowing three runs and five hits on 32 pitches in the second. His fastball was 94-94 mph.

Dean Kremer retired the first nine batters he faced and struck out five of them. He had four scoreless innings, gave up two runs in the seventh but also struck out three more. He got another up in the eighth and finished with 5 1/3 innings, four hits, two runs, one walk and 10 strikeouts in his finest work of the spring.

* Elias said he read the comments made by Coby Mayo after the No. 2 prospect in the system was optioned to minor league camp, and he understood the frustration and wasn’t bothered by it.

Mayo posted a clarification later on social media, saying his words were taken out of context.

“I don’t mind what he said. I certainly understand he had just gotten some disappointing news and walked into a clubhouse with you guys in there. A lot of us have been there before,” Elias said.

“He’s very determined to get back. We’ve got a very deep position-player group right now. He’s a huge prospect. We don’t want him sitting on the end of the bench, and we thought it made sense for him to start the season in Norfolk and get some at-bats and get going. We’ll get him up here. There’s going to be a lot going on this year, and he’s going to be a big part of it.”

* Adley Rutschman reached twice against Strider with a single in the first inning and a line drive in the third that left fielder Jurickson Profar misplayed. Rutschman scored on Ryan O’Hearn’s single off Jesse Chavez. … Tyler O’Neill singled off Chavez at 111 mph. ... Bautista had a walk and two strikeouts in two-thirds of an inning.

* The game ended 5-5. Matt Bowman pitched a scoreless ninth.

Hyde on Kremer:
"It's kind of been an up-and-down spring for him. I thought his command, the fastball was real good, the split was good. I thought just Profar had a great piece of hitting on a two-strike split there. That's definitely the sharpest he's been this spring."

Hyde on overall opinion of camp:
"I think our guys are ready to go. You never know what kind of injuries you're going to have as spring training starts, and that's just kind of part of the game and everybody's going through it. But I feel like our guys are ready. Our pitchers are stretched out. I think we played pretty good baseball here the last few days, so ready to go."

* The Orioles selected Bowman's contract and moved Tyler Wells to the 60-day injured list.

This could mean that Bowman makes the Opening Day roster, or he could be traded or designated for assignment. He could have opted out of his contract today.