Drake on making the team, Duquette on Tavárez talks and more

A day after Orioles reliever Oliver Drake tossed two scoreless innings in the final Grapefruit League game against the Braves in Lake Buena Vista, the former Naval Academy pitcher was summoned into manager Buck Showalter's office and told that he made the team.

Drake would be part of an eight-man bullpen on his first opening day.

It was far from a safe assumption, considering how much Drake struggled in the spring. But he's got a legitimate minor league track record, he's out of minor league options and the Orioles decided to bring him north.

"I wasn't sure," Drake said before today's workout at Camden Yards. "You never know until you officially get told, so I was just kind of sitting there with my fingers crossed and it was awesome to finally find out I made the club."

Drake posted an 8.78 ERA and 1.95 WHIP in 10 spring appearances, but he more closely resembled in his final outing the pitcher who gave up two earned runs over his last nine games in 2016.

"I started feeling good at the end of spring," he said. "I started locating my fastball, keeping the ball down, and my splitter had a little more bite and a little more finish to it. When I can do that, I know that I induce more ground balls and get some swings and misses and get people out."

Drake's stay could be temporary, depending on other moves that are pending. The Orioles are carrying only three starters and an extra reliever and bench player on opening day.

Showalter didn't lay out a blueprint for Drake.

"He just told me I'm on the team and now the job is to help out whenever I'm called upon," Drake said, "to go out there and get some people out."

Executive vice president Dan Duquette seemed to revel today in the impact of players drafted and developed on the 25-man roster. Drake made it. Kevin Gausman is starting in place of Chris Tillman, who's on the disabled list. Trey Mancini is an extra outfielder, a new position. Cedric Mullins was so good that the Orioles refused to give up too much in order to keep Rule 5 pick Aneury Tavárez, who returned to the Red Sox.

"Oliver Drake has an established track record of success and he's done very, very well," Duquette said. "He was the minor league Pitcher of the Year a year ago in Triple-A. He didn't pitch that well in spring training, but he did have a couple good outings at the end and we thought he earned a spot.

"Good for him. He came through the minors and this is his first opening day. It's an honor to be on a major league roster on opening day, so anybody that's on the roster certainly earned it. Oliver earned it. Good for him.

"Trey Mancini, too. Trey proceeded to hit in spring training like he did last September, so it looks like he's going to be a pretty good hitter. He's worked hard to earn a spot on the major league roster, and frankly we're proud of that. He came through the minors. He was our minor league Player of the Year a year ago and he's shown not only can he hit, but he can hit the ball the other way with power. And he's making some adjustments playing the outfield, so I'm encouraged by him.

"I'm glad that Joey Rickard's back. We missed him the second half of the year. And looking forward to the veteran players on our club to have great years. Manny (Machado) worked hard, Jon Schoop worked hard, Adam Jones looks like he's primed to have a great year. And our bullpen is really strong. We should have another good bullpen. There should be a lot of hope for Orioles fans going into the season.

"We've tried to address the needs of the club and to add to the ballclub to eliminate some of the weaknesses from last year's ballclub. And we're going to find out if we did our job well, and then hopefully we'll get Chris Tillman back soon and the young guys will develop and hold down the fort until he returns."

The Orioles and Red Sox continued trade discussions today that fell flat, and Duquette brought up Mullins as one reason. Mullins had a .321 on-base percentage last summer at low Single-A Delmarva and totaled 37 doubles, 10 triples, 14 home runs and 30 stolen bases in 124 games. The Orioles counted seven home runs this spring, including a B game when he slammed a ball off the batter's eye in center field and games at the minor league complex.

Mullins will start the 2017 season at Double-A Bowie while Tavárez is back in the Red Sox's system.

"We worked hard on that. We exchanged a number of names with the Red Sox," Duquette said. "Obviously, we liked Tavárez. We drafted him. But I can tell you under different circumstances we might have given up more in the trade to acquire him, but we were so impressed with Cedric Mullins, coming into spring training and doing what he did, that we have him in Double-A and we can take a look at him. And he might be able to do the job that we had in mind for Aneury Tavárez later in the season. You never know.

"The really good players who are natural players ... and there's a couple signs that tells us that Mullins is a natural player. Like he's one of five players who had double figures in doubles, triples, homers, stolen bases last year. So that's one of them. But the fact that he can come into big league camp uninvited and hit like seven home runs in spring training this year, that's pretty impressive. Plus, he's probably our fastest runner.

"When we saw what Mullins can do, it wasn't as urgent for us to acquire a player with similar ability. And that's why we tendered Tavárez back to the Red Sox. So that's good for us, right? We found a player that we like, that we already had in the organization."

The Orioles also decided to keep Craig Gentry as a possible platoon player with Seth Smith in right field and a backup at all three outfield positons.

"We like Gentry's defense on the team," Duquette said. "Gentry's a very good defensive outfielder and that's what we were looking for. So based on the number of choices that we had in the spring, we were able to make what I hope were the right decisions. If we didn't make the right decisions, we'll try again. We've got some pretty good depth in Triple-A and Double-A.

"It should be a good year. I like the team, I like the upgrades, I like the depth to the pitching staff and I like that we have more qualified major league pitchers that are going to be available to us at Triple-A, and hopefully a couple of them will develop into starting pitchers."

Gausman, the fourth overall pick in 2012 out of LSU, is the starter on Monday after opening last season on the disabled list with right shoulder tendinitis.

What does it mean to fans to have Gausman on the mound in the opener?

"Well, if he pitches well, they'll be happy," Duquette said with a laugh.

"It's a great honor for Kevin. He earned it based upon how he's pitched and developed over his career. I know he's excited about it. He's going to give it his best. He really matured last year, the second half of the season. Opening day starter is a terrific honor, so I'm sure Kevin will treat it very seriously.

"We're proud that he came through the system, as well, that we identified his talent and helped him develop it so that he could be an opening day starter. We hoped that he would become an opening day starter when we drafted him."