More questions pertaining to Orioles roster

We'll reach a point, if the 2020 season is to be played, when rosters no longer will be frozen. The Orioles can chip away at their 50.

How much chipping is the question.

Take a 30-man roster with a 20-man taxi squad and you've got 50. The math is indisputable. But the taxi squad could include pitchers and position players who were optioned prior to camp shutting down or shortly after it happened. We are waiting for the rules and the plan to be explained to us.

People in the organization don't know on this date or, if they do, aren't talking about it publicly.

The roster still includes outfielder Trey Mancini, who won't play this season. He must be replaced and DJ Stewart became a candidate due to the long layoff. His surgically repaired ankle has healed.

Reliever Evan Phillips, recovering from an elbow injury, also is on the roster. The Orioles would have to decide whether he goes on the taxi squad or the injured list.

Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann was expected to be reassigned to minor league camp and begin pitching for Norfolk. He isn't on the 40-man roster.

Maybe he's on the taxi squad with the minor league season likely to be canceled. What else is a pitching prospect at the highest level of the farm system going to do?

The Orioles made four moves after returning home, the announcement coming on March 19. That's how they got down to 50.

Pitcher David Hess, infielder/outfielder Ryan Mountcastle, outfielder Cedric Mullins and infielder Ramón Urías were optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. No cuts had been made since left-hander Keegan Akin was optioned to the Tides back on March 10.

Most or all could be on the taxi squad. They'd make sense, especially with Mountcastle, one of the top prospects, needing at-bats and however the competition is set up to continue his development. His major league debut is supposed to come in 2020. The service clock is supposed to start ticking.

I couldn't recite the camp roster without cheating and grabbing my copy of it. And by "grabbing," I mean calling up a story from late March with the updated version.

Otherwise, I'd never remember that infielder Dilson Herrera is counted among the 50.

Herrera went 6-for-28 (.214) with three doubles and a triple in spring training. He's still in the utility mix, and the expansion to 30 players on the active roster keeps his hopes alive. Otherwise, he probably would have been cut.

I still think he's more likely to wind up on the taxi squad, but he hasn't been eliminated.

Herrera can play multiple positions in the infield and also move to the outfield, but he was the designated hitter in the final exhibition game on March 11 in Dunedin. He was the first baseman against the Rays on March 7 and the second baseman against the Twins two days earlier. He started in right field against the Phillies on March 1 and the Braves on Feb. 26.

Other utility candidates include Pat Valaika, Andrew Velazquez, Stevie Wilkerson, José Rondón, Richard Ureña and Richie Martin. Martin was expected to play shortstop at Norfolk rather than sit on the bench in the majors, backing up the middle infield positions, but more 2020 plans go into the shredder.