"The Bird's Nest" breaks down early injuries

The baseball gods are hardly ever kind.

Over the last few weeks, the Orioles have been hit with significant injuries. We’re not talking 2024 depths of despair level, but important enough to conjure similar emotions. Agony, dread, synonyms.

This week on “The Bird’s Nest,” Annie Klaff and I broke down the injuries and what they mean for Baltimore moving forward. While the topics will be introduced in this article, you can hear more in-depth analysis by watching the full episode here.

Andrew Kittredge 

Let’s start with the devil we know rather than the ones we don’t. Kittredge underwent an arthroscopic debridement procedure last week to repair cartilage in his left knee. The reliever told reporters yesterday that his original timeline was sometime between June and the All-Star break, but that early indications point to the earlier side of that. That’s good! What’s not good is losing one of the best setup men in baseball for multiple months. Kittredge is coming off a season in which he posted a 2.80 ERA, an off-the-charts chase rate and was money in high-leverage situations.

With Félix Bautista’s status up in the air – and the O’s hesitance to overuse him well documented – Kittredge seemed to be the perfect fit to join Seranthony Domínguez and Yennier Cano as high-leverage righties. Instead, the veteran will work to rejoin the club in time for a division race.

Grayson Rodriguez 

Now to the devil we don’t know. Last we’ve heard, Rodriguez was shut down for seven-to-10 days after receiving a cortisone injection in his right elbow to combat inflammation. That was on Sunday. The former top prospect hasn’t pitched since last Wednesday, when the flamethrower had a noticeable dip in velocity. For those drawing comparisons to Kyle Bradish’s injury last year, it is important to note that Brandon Hyde has said that Rodriguez’s discomfort isn’t related to a ligament in the elbow. As Tommy John surgery is the reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament, that’s at least a good sign. We still don’t know the exact timeline for Rodriguez’s recovery, but the expectation is that he will miss some time to begin the regular season.

That leaves a two-man competition for the fifth spot in the rotation between Cade Povich and Albert Suárez. With Kittredge’s injury in the bullpen, it could make sense for Suárez to be a reliever. The righty did have a 3.09 ERA out of the ‘pen last year compared to a 3.76 ERA as a starter. Povich, on the other hand, started all 16 games that he appeared in last year. And in five starts in September, the young lefty tossed a 2.60 ERA. Both have very strong cases to make the rotation. And all things considered, the O’s are in a pretty good spot with their starters, even with the loss of one of their brightest young talents.

Gunnar Henderson 

Our only updates on Henderson over the last few days are that things are progressing very well. The MVP candidate started a hitting progression on Tuesday and was fielding ground balls yesterday. An unfortunate scenario is one in which the superstar isn’t quite ready for Opening Day. A doomsday scenario is one in which the shortstop misses significant time, either now or down the stretch.

As a precaution, Jackson Holliday has been getting some more reps at shortstop. The former top prospect has worked hard to get his footwork switched from shortstop to second base, but short is his natural position. Jordan Westburg is a natural shortstop as well, having played there throughout his minor league career. Most recently, Westburg played two games at shortstop last season and 33 for Triple-A Norfolk in 2023. There are plenty of position players that have flashed in spring training, such as Livan Soto and Emmanuel Rivera. As good as they have looked, Baltimore is, of course, hoping that they won’t be needed come regular season time.

For more on these topics, be sure to check out this week’s edition of the podcast. You can catch “The Bird’s Nest” every Wednesday live at 11 a.m. on MASN’s Facebook and YouTube channels, or after the fact on any of your favorite podcast platforms. If you tune in with us live, we would love to take your questions and comments.