Andrew Stetka: O's opener marks start of strangest possible season

The Orioles embark on the 2016 season following what is quite possibly one of the strangest offseasons in recent memory. There were more ups and downs over the last five months than on a roller coaster.

Entering the offseason, no one expected the O's to bring back their free agents. There was no chance they were paying Matt Wieters, Chris Davis and Darren O'Day. Yet, here we are and all three remain on the roster.

After an offseason where the franchise spent more money than ever, we're left wondering how it happened and why. It was a weird winter, but just think about how much weirder it got after all that money was spent on returning players. It would have been unusual already, but then things took an even bigger turn. The O's went out and spent even more money on a free agent pitcher, Yovani Gallardo. The deal was done, but then it wasn't. A hiccup in his physical left the pact in limbo. We'd all heard that story before. When all looked lost, a renegotiation took place and Gallardo agreed. Those were bizarre, and unsettling times.

During that same week, the Orioles had a deal with outfielder Dexter Fowler. It seemed like the perfect match; with his ability to get on base, hit leadoff and play any outfield spot. Fowler appeared to be the missing puzzle piece in the lineup at the time. Then he showed up in Mesa, Ariz., having re-signed with the Cubs. This was the pinnacle of what had already been an odd offseason. The O's had a deal with the player, and then they didn't. He was stretching at the spring training complex of another team. It felt like that time when you were an 8-year-old kid and got that shiny new red bike for Christmas, but then someone came and told you that the bike wasn't yours and was going to the snotty kid that lives down the street.

But once the wounds had healed, there were more to deal with. The weirdness of the offseason took yet another turn with injuries to Kevin Gausman and Brian Matusz. Gausman is expected to be a large part of the rotation this year, and while some may shrug off the loss of Matusz, he's an important part of one of the best bullpens in the game.

There was also the unexpected release of Miguel Gonzalez, who was expected to be a member of the rotation at the start of the winter. Gonzalez surely struggled this spring, but there was no real indication that he was in danger of being left off the club until he simply was.

All of these things happened along with possibly the most obscure moment of the offseason, the saga surrounding Hyun Soo Kim. This one is not only unique, but shocking when you consider that Kim was basically thought to be the starting left fielder when he was signed out of the Korean Baseball Organization. The fact that he was told he wasn't going to make the roster, then said he wouldn't accept a minor league assignment, then made the roster anyhow, simply shows how no one really had any clue how things would shake out.

The strangest part is that I still don't think we know. Kim surely isn't going to get any better by sitting on the bench with the big club, and the team isn't going to eat his salary. The one thing that has stood out to me about the way the O's have handled Kim is that there must be a problem with scouting. If when he was signed, it was assumed he'd be the starter in left field, but then there was a realization that he couldn't catch up to a major league fastball, why wasn't something like that discovered sooner? This entire situation likely isn't even over. Something more will likely come of it.

Before any of these events transpired, I thought the Orioles were entering what might be a peculiar season. The fact that they slipped back to the .500 mark last year after three winning seasons makes the 2016 campaign crucial. The franchise could be at an interesting turning point, for better or worse.

Either way, I can't remember a stranger set of events taking place in an offseason. The Orioles are in my mind, the weirdest team in baseball. But perhaps that's what makes them so enjoyable to watch. You never know what will happen next.

Andrew Stetka blogs about the Orioles for Eutaw Street Report. Follow him on Twitter: @AStetka. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.