SARASOTA, Fla. – Reliever Andrew Kittredge is walking around the Orioles clubhouse without crutches or a brace on his surgically repaired left knee. A black sleeve is the only evidence that something is different.

Kittredge underwent an arthroscopic debridement procedure Friday to repair cartilage in the knee, with Dr. Leigh Ann Curl handling the procedure in Baltimore. He could miss most or all of the first half.

“Not really sure,” he said this morning while sitting at his locker. “It was a broad timeline, I guess. According to the doctor, the real thing that kind of drives the timeline is if the swelling can go down and so far I haven’t had much swelling, so I think that’s really encouraging on that front.

“I know the original timeline was kind of June to All-Star break, so it was kind of broad in that sense, but everything so far is leading to believe that it will be on the earlier side of that. But it’s a little more probably on the trainers and how it’s going as it unfolds, I guess.”

Kittredge said he’s never experienced any issues with his knees, and this year marks his ninth in the majors and 15^th in professional ball. The discomfort became noticeable around the time of the live batting practice sessions.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Charlie Morton worked three scoreless innings today against the Rays with only one hit allowed, a double on a fly ball to left field that Daz Cameron had difficulty tracking in the wind and high sky. Morton hasn’t surrendered a run in six exhibition innings. Everything looks impressive.

That’s the simple surface observation. There’s much more going on with Morton, a veteran entering his 18^th major league season.

“I’ve been working on some pitch shape stuff, maybe trying to understand where I’m at a little bit more with movement and stuff, and how my mixes play together,” said Morton, always ready with a thoughtful and detailed answer. “Like today, it was good. I threw a couple pretty good four-seamers, a couple ones that I think didn’t necessarily play. I think the two-seamer, we’ve been talking about that, maybe mixing that a little bit more, especially to righties, because last year especially, righties were giving me fits. And to see some swing and miss on my breaking ball.”

Morton struck out the side in the first inning on 15 pitches, topping at 95 mph and touching 94 four times. A fourth strikeout ended the second inning, with Morton’s fastball again reaching 95 mph. Josh Lowe’s two-out walk in the third didn’t hurt.

“All in all I feel pretty good, but I think probably another few weeks, even into the regular season, until I’m really, truly and honestly aware of where I’m at,” said Morton, who threw 46 pitches, 26 for strikes.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles reliever Andrew Kittredge underwent left knee debridement surgery yesterday, with Dr. Leigh Ann Curl handling the procedure in Baltimore.

Kittredge made only one appearance this spring, on Feb. 26 in Bradenton, where he allowed two hits and walked a batter but didn’t surrender a run. He warmed in the bullpen last Saturday but didn’t pitch because of the discomfort.

Manager Brandon Hyde said yesterday that Kittredge, who signed a contract that guarantees $10 million and includes a team option for 2026, would be out for a few months.

A debridement removes dead, infected or damaged tissue from a wound, with the intent to promote healing by eliminating obstacles to tissue regeneration.

Bryan Baker could be the in-house replacement for Kittredge on Opening Day, though it's an open competition and there's also the possibility of a trade or free agent signing.

LAKELAND, Fla. – The latest injury updates from the Orioles apparently will keep starter Grayson Rodriguez and reliever Andrew Kittredge away from the Opening Day roster.

A drama-free camp has spun in a bad direction.

Manager Brandon Hyde said the discomfort in Rodriguez’s right arm is located in the back of the elbow, describing it as the point where it connects to the triceps. The Orioles will seek multiple opinions, but their projected No. 1 or 2 starter isn’t going to build up the necessary innings to break camp with the team.

The regular season begins March 27 in Toronto. Rodriguez has made only two exhibition starts totaling three innings.

“It’s not a ligament issue, so we’re not concerned about that, but it’s going to result in some missed time,” Hyde said. “As we get more information, we’ll share it with you, but right now he’s still getting opinions.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde finally could joke about it.

The closing of southbound I-75 due to an accident involving two semis that caused a significant hydraulic oil leak. His arrival in the visiting clubhouse at Hammond Stadium about an hour after first pitch. Sunscreen and a look of aggravation on his face.

Asked after the game about Grayson Rodriguez’s sluggish start, Hyde said, “On the radio, it was …”

He laughed for the first time – a few minutes after sharing the news of Gunnar Henderson’s strained right intercostal muscle. Someone needed to break the tension.

Losing Henderson for any length of time would hurt, and intercostals can bring a lengthy recovery period. But Hyde stressed how the diagnosis was a “very mild” strain, and that Henderson was improving “every single day.”

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The expected 26-man roster for the Orioles on Opening Day is in jeopardy.

Manager Brandon Hyde began today’s post-game media session with negative news regarding shortstop Gunnar Henderson and reliever Andrew Kittredge.

Henderson is bothered by a “very mild” intercostal strain on his right side. The injury occurred in the first inning of Thursday’s game against the Blue Jays at Ed Smith Stadium. Henderson exited with discomfort in his right side after making a leaping catch of Bo Bichette’s line drive and grounding out in his only at-bat.

“He’s feeling a lot better, but we’re just obviously going to slow play it a little bit and make sure that he’s 100 percent. But he’s getting a lot better every single day,” Hyde said following a 5-2 win over the Twins.

The intercostal is a muscle that runs between the ribs in the chest wall and assists in expanding and contracting the chest during breathing.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Jordan Westburg is young by most standards, celebrating his 26^th birthday only last month. However, the soreness in his lower back is making him reconsider.

“I’m getting old,” he said this morning with a smile. “Feeling older by the day.”

Westburg hasn’t played since the Feb. 22 opener due to spasms in his back. He could return to the lineup as early as Thursday in Lakeland.

“Soon, any day now,” he said. “I feel good, back to full workouts.”

Westburg’s ailment isn’t a fresh story in spring training. He’s just the latest player felled by a mattress, in this case at the Airbnb in Sarasota that he’s renting with some teammates.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg said his lower back is feeling much better and he should return to the lineup by Thursday or Friday.

Westburg said he experienced some spasms caused by a soft mattress at his Airbnb.

Reliever Andrew Kittredge remains shut down while working to eliminate the inflammation in his left knee. He doesn’t know when he’ll be available to pitch or whether his status for Opening Day could be impacted.

Jackson Holliday is leading off today against the Twins in Fort Myers.

Also on the trip are Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad, Coby Mayo and Ramón Laureano.

Location, location, location. 

Important in real estate, shooting a "The Lord of the Rings" movie and throwing a slider.   

I’m pretty sure that’s what people say.

Glancing at Andrew Kittredge’s 2024 Statcast page, you’ll find that the reliever only had one advanced metric that ranked in the 75th percentile or better: chase rate. 

In fact, Kittredge’s chase rate ranked in the 100th percentile in baseball last season, with batters swinging at 38.9 percent of pitches that the right-hander threw out of the zone. That ranked as the best in baseball among pitchers with at least 200 plate appearances against. 

The weather is warming this week, which whets the appetite for spring training.

Temperatures might touch 40 today. Be sure to lather on the sunscreen.

There might be some deep burns in today’s mailbag. Only one way to find out.

You ask, I answer, and we have the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. And keep in mind that my mailbag catches two-point conversion passes and your mailbag ... well, you know.

Kyle Bradish ETA?
Any relation to Kyle Bradish CPA? The second half of the season. That’s as far as I can narrow it down. Sorry. Maybe in August? We need to keep tracking his recovery and eventual rehab assignment.

The first workout for pitchers and catchers is in three weeks. Players will take their physicals and head outdoors. The newcomers will get acclimated to a different city, camp and group of teammates.

Fortunately for them, it’s always a welcoming bunch. Foes become family in this organization.

The media will begin building a working relationship with backup catcher Gary Sánchez, who signed for $8.5 million on Dec. 10. The guys throwing to him will do the same.

“I loved the move,” major league field coordinator and catching instructor Tim Cossins said on WBAL-Radio’s Hot Stove Show. “I’ve known Gary from across the field for a long time and I’ve always been looking forward to an opportunity to potentially work with him at one point, and that’s going to happen. I’ve talked to him several times and I think he’s a good player and I think he could help this team, and I can’t wait to get to work with him.”

Reliever Andrew Kittredge is signed for a guaranteed $10 million this season. He gives the Orioles a high-leverage reliever for the late innings.

Andrew Kittredge is familiar with many of the Orioles from his seven seasons pitching for the division-rival Tampa Bay Rays. He grew close to new starter Charlie Morton while they were teammates, and they’ll be reunited in Baltimore.

Kittredge signed his one-year contract that guarantees $10 million and includes an option for 2026 after Morton agreed to a one-year deal for $15 million. Ten days separated the transactions.

“Just a fierce competitor,” Kittredge said of Morton during yesterday’s video call with local media. “Charlie is all business when it comes to baseball. I have a really good memory of a Wild Card game that he pitched in in Oakland. I think it was 2019, and just that atmosphere there in Oakland was electric. It was one of the loudest places I had been at that time in my career, and it was just fun to watch him compete and almost seemingly just kind of outcompete his opponent. But that's what he brings.

“He's intense but he’s focused and he's a great guy to have in the clubhouse. He's a little quieter, he's a little reserved, but when he speaks it kind of speaks volumes. So he's a great guy to have around for leadership, but also just someone who's been there and been doing it for a really long time.”

Kittredge was an All-Star in 2021 and finished with a 1.88 ERA and 0.977 WHIP in 57 games before his Tommy John surgery. The Mariners drafted him in the 45^th round in 2008 and couldn’t sign him, but they got him as an amateur free agent three years later. He was traded to the Rays in November 2016, became a free agent and signed with them in December 2020.

Andrew Kittredge thought that he knew the Orioles from the opposite bullpen, each and every flaw that allowed his team to dominate them. Then, they underwent a dramatic change. Tables and fortunes were spun.

Kittredge spent his first seven seasons with the Rays and registered a 3.65 ERA in 181 games. He made the All-Star team in 2021. And through it all, he witnessed the Orioles gradually become contenders again.

“Spending the majority of my career in that division with the exception of last year, I feel like I’m fairly familiar with the organization and how they do things,” Kittredge said this afternoon in a video call with local media. “It’s been cool watching from a distance to see kind of the turnaround that they’ve made in the last couple years.

“I think it was 2021 when I was in Tampa, we won 18 of 19 against the Orioles, and then two years later they’ve got the best record in the American League. Pretty cool to watch the turnaround that the organization has made and just competing for the American League every year, and hopefully this year we’re competing for the American League again and beyond that.”

The Orioles signed Kittredge, 34, to a one-year contract on Jan. 13 that guarantees $10 million and includes a $9 million option for 2026 and $1 million buyout. He made a career-high 74 appearances with the Cardinals last season and posted a 2.80 ERA in 70 2/3 innings.

Before I crank out another mailbag, let’s turn the tables again with me supplying a couple of questions. Give me your feedback.

We’ve pondered whether Zach Eflin or Grayson Rodriguez would be the No. 1 starter as the roster’s currently set, who’s the No. 5 starter, the chances that Jackson Holliday platoons, how much Heston Kjerstad plays, whether the Orioles trade for Luis Castillo, if the Orioles are done making moves for position players, whether Nick Gordon make the team, should Albert Suárez start or relieve, who’s a dark horse candidate, how Tomoyuki Sugano will adapt, which starters go to the bullpen, and whether the Orioles can count on Jorge Mateo on Opening Day.

Here are two more for you to ponder.

Would the Orioles trade Ryan Mountcastle?

Pretty much anything is possible, and here’s one reason why the Orioles could be motivated to do it: They don’t have room for another infielder.

Let’s say, for example, that the Orioles want to carry Coby Mayo or Emmanuel Rivera on Opening Day, or a position player is available who intrigues them. I’d expect Heston Kjerstad to make the club as a fourth outfielder and designated hitter. They’d need to tackle the infield.

Mateo has to prove that he can be ready for Opening Day after his elbow reconstructive surgery. A move to the injured list would solve the problem. Otherwise, Ramón Urías could get bumped, but he’s a valuable utility player and he’s out of options. Perhaps he’s the trade candidate if Mateo is fully recovered and gets sufficient at-bats.

Holliday has two options, but he’s supposed to be a regular presence at second base, with Jordan Westburg the primary starter at third. Holliday would have to play his way off the roster in spring training. I don’t see the Orioles trading him.

Teams inquired about Mountcastle at the trade deadline and the Orioles were willing to listen, but they’d have to trust Mayo to share first with Ryan O’Hearn or give Rivera, who signed for $1 million to avoid arbitration and is out of options, a more regular role. Mountcastle received a $6.787 million contract last Thursday in his second year of arbitration eligibility.

Now, here are a few reasons why the Orioles might not be motivated to trade him:

They slanted too far left offensively, which led to the signings of right-handed hitting outfielder Tyler O’Neill and backup catcher Gary Sánchez. Mountcastle provides power from the right side and the wall is moving in, which should increase his home run total. He was robbed 11 times after the Orioles pushed it back, the most in the majors.

Also, Mountcastle is a back-to-back Gold Glove finalist and the Orioles put a lot of emphasis on their defense. This isn’t a minor consideration.

To get a No. 1 starter in a trade could require peeling a player off the major league roster rather than just moving a few prospects. The Mariners look like a match. They have the pitching and could use a corner infielder.

Outfielder Anthony Santander reportedly would be willing to accept a shorter-term free-agent contract after initially wanting five years, but the Orioles intend to play O’Neill on a regular basis, they want to give Kjerstad more consistent at-bats, and roster space currently is lacking. The Orioles would need to switch to five outfielders and six infielders.

How good is this bullpen?

It may not be finished, but the current group looks impressive.

Andrew Kittredge signed a one-year deal that guarantees $10 million and really strengthens the bridge to Félix Bautista. He also gives the Orioles another reliever with some closing experience, which is important with Bautista returning from Tommy John surgery and missing the 2024 season.

Kittredge made a career-high 74 appearances last season with the Cardinals and posted a 2.80 ERA. His 1.5 bWAR was the second-best of his career. He’s a swing-and-miss guy – an example is his 41.3 percent whiff rate with his slider – and he doesn’t walk many hitters. He has extensive experience pitching in the division. And the Orioles hold a $9 million option on his contract if they want to keep him.

This signing covers for Jacob Webb being non-tendered. The ‘pen also is without left-hander Danny Coulombe, and the Orioles could make another move before Opening Day. Otherwise, Bautista and Kittredge could be joined by Yennier Cano, Seranthony Domínguez, Cionel Pérez, Gregory Soto, Keegan Akin and Suárez, who looks like he will be squeezed from the rotation.

Suárez is out of options. What happens to him if another reliever receives a major league deal with every intention of breaking camp with the team and the Orioles resist a six-man rotation?

The questions just don't stop.

Orioles' relievers ranked 23rd in the majors last season with a 4.22 ERA after being fifth in 2023 at 3.55. Adding Bautista and Kittredge, along with full seasons from Domínguez and Soto, could get them closer to

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.

Are the Orioles finished with their roster retooling? Is it safe to post a mock and avoid jumping back into it for revisions?

Camp doesn’t open for about five weeks. Stretch the hamstrings and be prepared to jump.

The Orioles aren’t guaranteeing another free agent signing or a trade before pitchers and catchers report. However, they aren’t shut down. Pitching is always desired, whether it’s starters or relievers. Business and minds are open.

“We like the strength of the team right now,” said executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. “We think we’ve got a really great defense, an offense that has proven what it can do and I think still has a lot of ceiling to it as these young players continue to grow, hopefully, and a right-handed bat like Tyler O’Neill in the mix and Gary Sánchez in the backup catcher spot. We really like the look of the offense and defense, and the rotation has a lot of depth, a lot of options, a lot of experience. And then there’s also youth in the rotation options that we have. So we think it’s a very strong group that’s going to have us very competitive in the American League East.

“I think the bullpen is also going to be a big strength of this team with a lot of experience and also upside and just all-around talent there and a lot of hard throwers. So we feel the team is in a really good spot, but we’re very happy that we’ve got a ton offseason left, and we will be searching every day for deals and upgrades where we can find them, whether that’s the remaining free-agent market or trade possibilities. And we’ve seen that sometimes those things can happen late close to camp. We’re going to stay in the mode of looking for ways to upgrade the team.”