Ramón Urías didn’t break camp with a regular spot in the Orioles’ lineup. His position wasn’t set. But he received validation this afternoon for his defensive excellence.

Urías, 28, is the recipient of a Gold Glove at third base in the American League, beating out the Blue Jays’ Matt Chapman and the Guardians’ José Ramírez. The announcement was made this afternoon.

No Oriole had won a Gold Glove since Manny Machado in 2015. Urías, Machado and Brooks Robinson are the only Orioles third basemen to be honored.

Eighteen Orioles have received Gold Gloves, with Urías the only one lacking multiple awards. Robinson is tied with pitcher Jim Kaat for second place all-time with 16.

Urias' 14 defensive runs saved led all AL third basemen and ranked third in the majors, and they were the most by an Orioles player at the position since Machado in 2015. His 10.9 ultimate zone rating also led AL third basemen.

Further maneuvering of players on the Orioles’ 40-man roster has created an open spot as they approach a new month and get closer to the start of free agency.

The team announced this afternoon that pitcher Chris Ellis and catcher Aramis Garcia were outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk. Ellis first was reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Ellis made two road starts with the Orioles after they re-signed him to a minor league contract in March, tossing 4 1/3 scoreless innings on April 19 in Oakland and allowing five runs and walking three batters without retiring anyone on April 24 in Anaheim. He went on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation and underwent arthroscopic surgery on May 4.

The Orioles outrighted Ellis off the 40-man roster after the 2021 season and he elected free agency. He had made six starts and registered a 2.49 ERA in 25 1/3 innings. He walked 13 batters.

Garcia was claimed off waivers from the Reds Oct. 14 after appearing in 47 games and batting .213/.248/.259 in 115 plate appearances.

I think The Supremes said it best when they sang, “Reflections of, the way the season used to be.”

Or something close to that.

My reflections are continuing into late October, after the Orioles took their fans on a thrill ride until finally running out of gas.

I’ve already noted how Matt Harvey never had his contract selected from Triple-A Norfolk, Gunnar Henderson earned a promotion despite his age, Yusniel Diaz stayed only for a cup of coffee, Rougned Odor lasted into September, we never saw Robert Neustrom, DJ Stewart didn’t make it back to the Orioles after three games to begin the season, Jorge Mateo was exclusively a shortstop, Bryan Baker stuck for the entire season, Nick Vespi will never give up another Triple-A run, Joey Krehbiel disappeared after almost going wire-to-wire, Terrin Vavra could wear many hats next season, Jacob Nottingham didn’t get back to the majors, César Prieto’s 2022 ceiling was Double-A, we don’t know how the Orioles view Mike Baumann, and Chris Ellis’ second chance with the Orioles was much worse than the first.

Here are two more:

Orioles shortstop Jorge Mateo wasn’t deemed worthy of being a finalist for a Rawlings Gold Glove in the American League, a snub that drew attention inside and outside of the organization. He dazzled and was denied.

If it stung Mateo, he was soothed yesterday with news that he’s receiving a Fielding Bible Award as the best defensive shortstop in the majors.

In either league. One shortstop is selected based on statistical analysis from sabermetrically inclined journalists and other personnel, and it’s Mateo.

The news release from Baseball Info Solutions included this passage on Mateo:

“Jorge Mateo was instrumental to the Orioles resurgence, finishing a close third among shortstops with 14 Defensive Runs Saved and tied for second in Good Fielding Plays with 28. He led all shortstops by converting 72 percent of his double play opportunities. He’s the first Orioles shortstop to win the award.”

The local media doesn’t vote on an award that honors the Most Improved Oriole. Deciding on an MVO can be hard enough, and the field expanded this year. Too many players to fit on a three-man ballot.

Who deserved recognition as the imaginary MIO?

Maybe it was outfielder Anthony Santander, who registered career-best numbers in multiple categories. Or shortstop Jorge Mateo, who led the American League in stolen bases. Or starter Dean Kremer, who lowered his ERA from 7.55 last year to 3.23 and his WHIP from 1.640 to 1.253. Or one of the relievers, with Félix Bautista and Cionel Pérez leading the pack.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias couldn’t single out one player back on Oct. 5 when asked who took the biggest step forward.

“I think one of the things that I’m most proud of with this year’s team is you can take all 28 guys who are in that room right now and pretty much make the argument that every single one of their careers is in as good or a better place than it was a calendar year ago,” Elias said.

The Orioles are following their first winning season in six years by leaving their coaching staff intact.

According to multiple sources, the only change coming is the addition of Cody Asche as offensive strategy coach. Asche just completed his first season as upper-level hitting coordinator in the minors.

Anthony Villa will now oversee the entire system as minor league hitting coordinator after working at the lower levels in 2022.

Manager Brandon Hyde, whose option already was picked up for next season, will again have Fredi González as his bench coach, Chris Holt as pitching coach/director of pitching, Darren Holmes as assistant pitching coach, Ryan Fuller and Matt Borgschulte as co-hitting coaches, Tim Cossins as major league field coordinator/catching instructor, Anthony Sanders as first base coach/outfield instructor, Tony Mansolino as third base coach/infield instructor, and José Hernández as major league coach.

Holmes moved from the bullpen to the dugout this season, swapping places with Cossins. He previously held the title of “bullpen coach.”

We've entered Day 4 since the Orioles last grabbed the local media's attention by announcing a few transactions, the most notable the signing of backup catcher Anthony Bemboom to a 2023 contract.  

The quiet won't last. 

Let’s do a little more reflecting on 2022, a season that brought so many unexpected highs and unavoidable lows.

I’ve already noted how Matt Harvey never had his contract selected from Triple-A Norfolk, Gunnar Henderson earned a promotion despite his age, Yusniel Diaz stayed only for a cup of coffee, Rougned Odor lasted into September, we never saw Robert Neustrom, DJ Stewart didn’t make it back to the Orioles after three games to begin the season, Jorge Mateo was exclusively a shortstop, Bryan Baker stuck for the entire season, Nick Vespi will never give up another Triple-A run, Joey Krehbiel disappeared after almost going wire-to-wire, Terrin Vavra could wear many hats next season, Jacob Nottingham didn’t get back to the majors, and César Prieto’s 2022 ceiling was Double-A.

Here are two more:

The Orioles used to collect Gold Gloves the way my furniture collects dust. Winners every year between 1960-79. Eddie Murray creating a new streak on his own from 1982-84.

Pitching, defense, and the three-run homer. A box set.

The last streak ran from 2011-15, with third baseman Manny Machado the last Oriole to be honored.

Third baseman Ramón Urías and center fielder Cedric Mullins are finalists this year. Neither one is a favorite, but at least they earned the recognition.

Mullins is expected to lead off again and play center field on opening day, but Urías’ role is a mystery.

I’m old enough to remember when the Orioles didn’t have any catchers on their 40-man roster.

OK, that was earlier this year. But I remember.

Pedro Severino and Nick Ciuffo were the holdovers in November after Austin Wynns had been outrighted and declared for free agency. And then they were gone, too.

Robinson Chirinos agreed to a one-year, $900,000 contract in March. Anthony Bemboom made the club in spring training after signing a minor league deal. And everyone waited until the Orioles selected Adley Rutschman’s contract, which removed Bemboom from the 40-man roster.

Bemboom has returned to it. The Orioles selected his contract on Oct. 6 and signed him to a one-year deal on Wednesday, a split contract like most of them under these circumstances, with his salary based on whether he’s in the majors or minors.

Exactly one month passed before reliever Nick Vespi made his final appearance with the Orioles this season. He left after working two-thirds of an inning in Game 2 of a Sept. 5 doubleheader against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards and returned to work two-thirds of an inning in an Oct. 5 doubleheader against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards.

The symmetry in Vespi’s season was best exemplified at Triple-A Norfolk. The zeros across his earned run average.

Good at the beginning, middle and end.

In a season when some of the Orioles’ most celebrated prospects climbed the organizational ladder to reach the majors or upper levels of the system, Vespi was the grinder who flew under the radar. An 18^th-round draft pick in 2015, three years before the Orioles began to overhaul their front office, who crafted one of the most impressive streaks in recent memory.

The Orioles stalled it a few times, beginning on May 17 when his contract was selected, but it didn’t break. Vespi appeared in 26 games with Norfolk, one more than his major league total, logged 28 2/3 innings and allowed only three unearned runs and 12 hits, with five walks and 36 strikeouts.

Austin Hays doesn’t believe that the Orioles spent the entire 2022 season or even the bulk of it sneaking up on opponents. He’s convinced that teams knew much earlier just how good the Orioles had become simply by paying attention. The results were spread out in front of them. Many more wins, much tighter games. The late comebacks, whether completed or missing by inches.

“I don’t think we were sneaking up on teams in July and August of this year,” he said in New York, “after we had already played over 100 games and we were playing a lot of the same teams over again.”

Players headed home after the Oct. 5 doubleheader understanding that expectations will rise in spring training. The national media and parade of prognosticators will cast them in a more favorable light. They aren’t blind to it.

Division winners? An unlikely prediction in the American League East. No matter what they do in the offseason. That’s just a sad reality.

Thinking outside the box still has its boundaries.  

The Orioles are stockpiling catchers in the early days of their offseason.

Two more arrived today, with the Orioles claiming Aramis Garcia and Mark Kolozsvary off waivers from the Reds.

A full 40-man roster required two corresponding moves, and the Orioles designated relievers Louis Head and Beau Sulser for assignment.

Garcia, who turns 30 in January, is a right-handed hitter and second-round pick of the Giants in the 2014 draft out of Florida International University. He appeared in 47 games with the Reds this summer and batted .213/.248/.259 with two doubles, one home run, three walks and 34 strikeouts in 115 plate appearances.

The Reds were Garcia’s third major league team. He played in 37 games with the Giants in 2018-19 and 32 with the Athletics in 2021 and is a career .216/.253/.332 hitter with five doubles, 10 home runs, 25 RBIs, 10 walks and 114 strikeouts in 320 plate appearances. He’s thrown out 12 of 43 runners attempting to steal.

The Orioles got a lot of mileage out of moving back the left field wall about 30 feet.

Every fly ball that approached the warning track would elicit references to previous seasons and how another batter was robbed of a home run by the new dimensions rather than an outfielder.

It got a little tired for me, to be honest, but I understood the obsession. And the importance of balancing the playing field.

The cheap home runs became a joke, except no one with the Orioles was laughing.

An article from CBS Sports in late August noted how the ballpark was averaging 1.87 home runs per game this season compared to 3.36 from 2019-21. Only 8.8 percent of fly balls and line drives found the left field seats compared to 13.5 from 2019-21. 

The Orioles made their second roster move since ending the 2022 season, claiming outfielder Jake Cave off waivers from the Twins today and designating reliever Jake Reed for assignment.

An industry source confirmed the waiver claim, which appeared on the major league transactions page.

Cave, 29, appeared in 54 games with the Twins and batted .213/.260/.384 with seven doubles, three triples, five home runs and 20 RBIs in 177 plate appearances. He’s a career .235/.297/.411 hitter in parts of five major league seasons.

The Yankees selected Cave in the sixth round of the 2011 draft out of Kecoughtan High School in Hampton, Va. The Reds chose him in the 2015 Rule 5 draft and returned him on April 5, 2016. The Yankees traded Cave to the Twins on March 16, 2018 for pitcher Luis Gil.

As a rookie in 2018, Cave batted .265/.313/.473 with 16 doubles, two triples, 13 home runs and 45 RBIs in 91 games. He hasn’t played a full season in the majors, with those 91 games representing his career high.

The Orioles made an adjustment to their 40-man roster on the first day of their offseason.

Catcher Anthony Bemboom’s contract was selected this afternoon from Triple-A Norfolk, and right-hander Anthony Castro was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Bemboom didn’t play for the Orioles after No. 1 prospect Adley Rutschman arrived on May 21. He cleared waivers and was outrighted to Norfolk six days later.

The Orioles signed Bemboom to a minor league contract and he broke camp with the team, beating out Jacob Nottingham as the backup to veteran Robinson Chirinos. He appeared in 22 games and went 6-for-52 (.115) with two doubles and a home run.

Bemboom threw out three of eight runners attempting to steal.

Jorge Mateo slapped a ground ball to the right side of the infield in the ninth inning, from mitt to first base to the final out of the 2022 season.

Fans stood and cheered the Orioles after a 5-1 loss to the Blue Jays in Game 2 of the doubleheader. The team came back out of the dugout with caps held high in the air. Some players waved and others returned the applause.

Manager Brandon Hyde intended to play everyone today. No one would be left on the bench on the last day, with a makeup doubleheader carrying them to their 162^nd game.

A winning record was intact. Stats could be padded before players scattered for the winter. Go home, rest, and get ready to make a stronger run within the division in 2023.

But first, an emotional send-off.

The Orioles and Blue Jays are taking contrasting approaches to today’s doubleheader, an understandable development considering how only one team is preparing for the wild card round that begins on Friday.

Mike Baumann started Game 1 for the Orioles and worked into the sixth inning. The Jays used five relievers within the first five innings, including closer Jordan Romano, who stranded a pair of runners in the fourth.

No one likes a doubleheader on the final day of the regular season. It’s especially distasteful for Toronto, which led until the eighth inning.

Until rookie Terrin Vavra lined a two-out fastball from Mitch White onto the flag court in right field, his first major league homer a three-run shot that gave the Orioles a 5-4 win in the opener at Camden Yards.

One team suddenly felt a lot better about the doubleheader.

The Orioles were saddled with two games on the final day of the 2022 season, an inconvenient doubleheader born from the club’s fifth rainout. A final jab from the baseball gods.

Nothing really hurt the Orioles this summer beyond their official elimination from the wild card chase. Being in it after national projections of 100-plus losses felt like a huge win.

Many more are expected in the coming years.

“Looking at the entire organization, I think we’re very pleased with everything that happened up and down the organization this year,” executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said this morning. “First and foremost, the way that this team played and competed at the major league level is something that I think rightfully our players and coaches deserve a lot of credit for. We’re not where we want to be or need to be in the division. It’s very daunting looking at these other four, not only teams but organizations in our division, picturing having to beat them to make it to the playoffs next year, but that’s our goal and we feel that the organization is in a position now to realistically pursue that goal for next year. So that’s going to be my focus this offseason, and I think the focus of our squad when we meet in Sarasota next year.

“It’s not going to be easy, given who we have to compete against and who we have to play against, but as I said in the summer, I feel like this team is officially in the fight in the American League East, and that’s a big achievement. It doesn’t mean we’re going to be complacent about it. We know that we had some relatively good health this season. We had some guys have good seasons. It’s tough to repeat in this league. Players make adjustments against you, we’ve got a lot of young guys. We may have some individual steps back, but we plan to hopefully reinforce this group, keep helping the players improve, and hope that we can take another step forward next season and get into the playoffs that we narrowly missed out on this year.”

The Orioles can’t get away clean. They must play a doubleheader against the Blue Jays today before scattering for the offseason.

Mike Baumann starts Game 1 after yesterday’s rainout. So, to review:

Baumann is making his fourth start and 13^th appearance. He’s completed four innings in his two starts since being plugged into the rotation on Sept. 24, throwing 58 and 74 pitches.

Baumann also started Game 1 of a Sept. 5 doubleheader against the Jays and allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings. He tossed two scoreless relief innings on Sept. 16 in Toronto.

Gunnar Henderson is playing third base and batting fifth. Terrin Vavra is the second baseman and Ryan McKenna is in left field.

The Orioles will close out the 2022 season by playing a doubleheader on Wednesday.

Tonight’s game with the Blue Jays was postponed due to rain. A traditional, single-admission doubleheader has been announced, with the opener set for 12:35 p.m. Game 2 begins approximately 30 minutes after the final out.

Just one more oddity after the lockout delayed spring training and opening day and forced an adjustment to the schedule, which tagged this series at the end of it.

Mike Baumann starts Game 1 and Spenser Watkins starts Game 2.

The Blue Jays are sending Mitch White to the mound for Game 1. Game 2 is undecided.