The Orioles closed out the year 2024 by signing super-utility player and former first-round draft pick Nick Gordon to a minor league contract on Tuesday. The month featured three major league deals, bringing a right fielder (Tyler O’Neill), backup catcher (Gary Sánchez) and starting pitcher (Tomoyuki Sugano).

Another starter could arrive in January, though it wasn’t until Feb. 1, 2024 that the Corbin Burnes trade became official. The Orioles could arrange a reunion with right-hander Jack Flaherty, with reported interest on both sides. But it might take a five-year commitment. The Orioles could arrange a reunion with reliever Tanner Scott, since they want to strengthen the bullpen. But it might take a four-year commitment.

I could finally get around to sharing more questions from my mailbag. It dropped like the Times Square ball and the contents spilled out.

You ask, I answer, and we have the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. Also, my mailbag rings in the new year and your mailbag rings doorbells selling magazine subscriptions.

Who is Nick Gordon?
Gordon is a left-handed hitter who plays everywhere except first base and catcher. He was the fifth-overall pick by the Twins in 2014. The Marlins outrighted him in August. Gordon will come to camp competing for a bench role but likely would need a trade or injury to clear room. Having him in Triple-A would come in handy.

The year 2025 is upon us. Break out the resolutions and other promises that will be broken like a hockey player’s front teeth.

I usually avoid them but figured I’d come up with a list and invite everyone here to share their own. They can be personal and professional. They can be Orioles related. They can come back to bite you now that they’re documented.

Don’t be ashamed if the elliptical that you kept talking about before Christmas is used to dry your cotton laundry. Or if a vow to avoid having your favorite team dictate your mood is shattered 10 minutes after pitchers and catchers report. These things happen. You’re in a safe space here.

Here we go. I typed softly in case you’re hungover.

No more whining about travel.

Sure the Orioles, like most teams that don’t have one, could use an ace pitcher. They still hope to add one before the start of the 2025 season. 

But their current rotation has the makings of being a good one.

Here is how it looks today:

Zach Eflin: He is the probable Opening Day starter. After the trade to the Orioles, over nine starts, he went 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA. Only nine pitchers, including the Orioles' Corbin Burnes, that qualified, posted season-long ERAs under 3.00. To do it even for nine starts was impressive.

Eflin finished sixth for the 2023 American League Cy Young Award and has been among the best pitchers in the American League. Over the last two years, while Burnes posted a 3.15 ERA and 1.083 WHIP, Eflin was at 3.54 and 1.085.

We're nearing the Christmas holiday with the Orioles still in the market for a top starter but solidifying the back portion of the rotation with Tomoyuki Sugano. How far he's pushed back depends on whether a new pitcher arrives via trade or free agency.

This much is certain: Sugano won’t be intimidated by pitching in the American League East. He welcomes the challenge and believes he’s prepared for it after spending 12 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants in the Japan Central League.

“I’m very excited to play in such a competitive division against great teams, great franchise and great history,” he said via VC Sports Group agent Shawn Novak. “I’ve also played for a great franchise with a huge history and successful history with the Tokyo Giants, so it's a great fit for me. I’m really looking forward to competing in that division and in the league in general.”

Sugano is eager to sample the Charleston’s soft shell crabs next summer in Harbor East. By then, he’ll already have bonded with catcher Adley Rutschman. Perhaps they can dine together outside of the clubhouse.

“I’m looking forward to competing, looking forward to working with Adley Rutschman, a fantastic catcher,” Sugano said.

Today, it’s another edition, our pre-Holiday edition, of several questions for O’s fans. Per usual, answer one question or all of them. Respond to other readers' answers with your takes on their takes. 

On to the questions:

1) Where does right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano slot into the O’s rotation? And after going 15-3 with a 1.67 ERA in Japan, how well will he do for the 2025 Orioles?

2) Which player will bat leadoff the most next season?

3) Which player will lead the 2025 O’s in home runs and hit how many?

Before we get to the holiday leftovers and play the game of “does this smell OK,” we should dig a little deeper into the mailbag.

Grab a shovel.

My editing consisted of thinking “maybe I should” and changing it to “absolutely not.”

The bullpen sorely lacked strikeouts in 2024. Was that due more to lousy luck or the arms not having strong "out" pitches? How do they improve on that in 2025?
The Orioles ranked 22^nd in relief strikeouts with 571. They were 14^th in 2023 with 614, and the total would have been higher with a healthy September from Félix Bautista. His return figures to ramp up the Ks. A full season from Seranthony Domínguez, who averages 10.4 per nine innings in his career, also is going to make a difference. You could say the same about Gregory Soto, who averaged 11.2 with the Phillies and 10.7 with the Orioles. Yennier Cano struck out 65 batters to match last year’s total, but he did it in 60 innings compared to 72 2/3 in 2023. Keegan Akin has averaged 10.3 and 11.1 the past two seasons in 23 2/3 and 78 2/3 innings, respectively. Danny Coulombe averaged 9.7, but only in 29 2/3 innings due to his elbow surgery. How was this team 22^nd?

I see that Cedric Mullins is now a member of the Executive Committee for the MLBPA. I'd be interested in knowing what is currently being discussed and how Cedric feels about being part of the inner workings of the Players Association.
That isn’t a question. Me, too, and he’ll be asked about it if he’s at the Birdland Caravan or in spring training.

I’ll be home for Christmas, and with a mailbag that should be a little lighter after another dumping.

You dared to ask and I deemed your questions worthy of my attention. Don’t take the honor lightly.

Also, my mailbag roasts chestnuts on an open fire and your mailbag wrestles squirrels for acorns.

How much of a language barrier will there be for Tomoyuki Sugano in the clubhouse next year? He obviously won't have an interpreter in a mound meeting with Adley Rutschman, pitching coaches and other infielders during a game.
Sugano is allowed to use an interpreter for mound sessions. That isn’t an issue. And I’ve watched teammates in the past welcome foreign-born players and bust down that barrier. Koji Uehara learned some new words that he couldn’t repeat in interviews, and he loved it.

Who was our interpreter for Koji?
I had to look it up. It’s been a while. Jiwon Bang was Koji’s interpreter.

One of the most important questions relating to the Orioles was attached earlier this week. It came out of nowhere.

Well, it’s actually Japan, but still unexpected with the rotation chatter and speculation focusing on trades and the major league free-agent market.  

Will Tomoyuki Sugano’s stuff translate to similar results in the U.S.?

Sugano will be the third Japanese pitcher to appear with the Orioles, an important distinction because Tsuyoshi Wada underwent ligament-reconstructive elbow surgery in May 2012, was released the following year and never made it past Triple-A with them. He doesn’t count. Zero return on the two-year, $8.15 million contract he received.

(Easily forgotten is how the Cubs signed Wada in 2014 and he tossed six hitless innings against the Orioles on Aug. 24 at Wrigley Field. Steve Pearce led off the seventh with a home run.)

Tomoyuki Sugano spent one day in Baltimore and already found his favorite restaurant.

It’s important to get certain tasks out of the way. Going through his first spring training in the United States and making his major league debut are next on his plate.

Sugano, 35, signed a $13 million contract with the Orioles on Monday after 12 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Central League in Japan. He won the league’s Most Valuable Player award this season after going 15-3 with a 1.67 ERA - 29 earned runs in 156 2/3 innings – 0.945 WHIP, 132 hits, 16 walks and 111 strikeouts in 24 starts, including three complete games and one shutout. He surrendered only six home runs.

Known for his impeccable control, Sugano posted a 2.6 percent walk rate and 0.9 walks per nine innings that ranked as the lowest of his career. He led NPB in wins and his ERA was second.

Sugano has gone 136-74 with a 2.43 ERA, 1.031 WHIP and 1,585 strikeouts in 276 career games over 1,857 innings, and he’s a three-time Central League Most Valuable Player, three-time Central League Golden Glove winner, eight-time All-Star and two-time winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award, presented to the top pitcher in NPB.

The holiday week is right around the corner, when baseball doesn’t have to shut down but often gets quiet.

The Orioles traded for pitcher Jonathan Heasley on Dec. 18, 2023 and didn’t announce another move until signing free-agent catchers David Bañuelos and Michael Pérez on the 30^th. Their only transactions in December 2021 were minor league deals due to the lockout, the last on the 15^th. But they made an exception in 2022 with a flurry that included the James McCann trade and Mychal Givens signing on the 21st and sending first baseman Lewin Díaz to the Braves on the 23^rd.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias got agreements on two major league contracts right before this year’s Winter Meetings, securing outfielder Tyler O’Neill and catcher Gary Sánchez, and Japanese right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano signed with the club on Monday.

The roster probably isn’t done undergoing changes. Elias seems intent on finding at least one more reliever and he could continue his pursuit of a starter despite Sugano’s $13 million contract. Sugano isn’t a No. 1, which either keeps the search alive or leaves the Orioles choosing between Grayson Rodriguez and Zach Eflin and being satisfied with bolstering the middle of the rotation.

The 40-man roster is full and a 13-man pitching staff unexpectedly includes Sugano at $13 million. Per the Associated Press, he also can earn an additional $50,000 for an All-Star selection, $100,000 for winning the Cy Young Award, $75,000 for finishing in second place, $50,000 for finishing in third, $50,000 for winning a Gold Glove; $100,000 for being World Series Most Valuable Player, and $50,000 for being Championship Series MVP.

With 13 international players ranked among the O’s top 30 prospects by MLBPipeline.com, the club’s international program keeps humming along.

It’s big for the Orioles to have both quantity and quality coming from the international prospects. Not only are players like Samuel Basallo getting close now to the majors, but the high number of ranked international prospects will help the O’s mainly a highly-ranked and fertile farm system.

Basallo remains the shining star, having played his age 19 season in 2024. He ends the year ranked as the No. 13 top 100 prospect by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.

Over 127 games between Double-A Bowie (now Chesapeake) and Triple-A Norfolk, Basallo who turned 20 on Aug. 13, hit .278/.341/.449/.790 with 25 doubles, 19 homers and 65 RBIs.

Basallo produced an .820 OPS with Bowie with 16 homers, 55 RBIs. He hit just .222 with the Tides but batted .297 with an .810 OPS his last 11 games, after going 7-for-44 his first 10 games.

The Orioles went the international route to find a starting pitcher.

The team announced this evening that it signed Japanese right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano, 35, to a one-year major league contract. ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported that the deal pays $13 million.

Sugano has spent his entire 12-year professional career with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Central League in Japan, and his numbers and accolades are impressive. He won the Central League’s Most Valuable Player this season after going 15-3 with a 1.67 ERA - 29 earned runs in 156 2/3 innings – 0.945 WHIP, 132 hits, 16 walks and 111 strikeouts in 24 starts, including three complete games and one shutout. He surrendered only six home runs.

Still strong as he ages, Sugano posted a 2.6 percent walk rate and 0.9 walks per nine innings that ranked as the lowest of his career. He led NPB in wins and his ERA was second – and the second-lowest of his career.

Sugano has gone 136-74 with a 2.43 ERA, 1.031 WHIP and 1,585 strikeouts in 276 career games over 1,857 innings with the Giants. He’s a three-time Central League Most Valuable Player, three-time Central League Golden Glove winner, eight-time All-Star, two-time Eiji Sawamura Award honoree - presented to the top pitcher in NPB - and MVP of the 2013 Central League Climax Series that’s the playoff format in NPB.