Cobb on a fresh start, the rebuild and his future

SARASOTA, Fla. - More position players arrived in Orioles camp this morning, including infielder Jace Peterson and outfielders Joey Rickard, Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander.

In case I neglected to mention him earlier, third baseman Rio Ruiz also is in camp ahead of Monday's first full-squad workout.

Alex Cobb showed up earlier with the pitchers and catchers, the circumstances so different from those last spring. No late signing, which contributed to a disastrous first half, and no talk of the competitive window closing and making one last run at the playoffs.

Cobb, 31, stands inside a clubhouse and a full rebuild, which isn't what he signed up for last March while accepting the Orioles' four-year offer worth $57 million.

"When I signed here it was under the understanding that we were going to be competing for four years, but obviously took a turn," he said. "I think if you would ask anybody who plays professionally what they want to be a part of, whether it's a World Series team or a rebuild team, everybody's going to say they want to be on a World Series contender. But you're given the opportunity that you're given in this game. All you can do is embrace it and be thankful for it and do it to the best of your ability, whether it's in the clubhouse or on the field.

"Whenever you do the things the right way in this game, it rewards you in the end. That's really all I can do right now is what's in front of me, to the best of my ability.

"Just talking with everybody that's in here that they brought in - front office, coaching staff - they've done everything the right way," Cobb continued. "They nailed it on their hiring so far. It's the beginning of something good here, so it is nice to be a part of that."

Will he remain enthusiastic with three years left on his contract and recovery from a 115-loss season in its infancy stages?

Cobb's name came up in trade talks at the Winter Meetings, with the Orioles willing to absorb some salary. He remains with the club and could start on opening day, but he also could be moved by the non-waiver deadline or beyond as the Orioles peel more veterans off the roster.

"I don't think anybody's guaranteed anything in this game to be in one particular place," he said. "A team values you later on in the year and you're pitching well, then I'm sure that would be up for discussion, but who knows the talks that go on behind closed doors that they have? You get caught up in all that stuff, then you end up sacrificing what you're doing on the field and your performance falls, so I try not to think about any of that too much. I just keep it simple and just do things the right way and compete and pitch well, and good things will happen."

A normal spring training is a blessing to Cobb, who went 2-12 with a 6.41 ERA, 1.576 WHIP and .313 average against in 17 starts before the break. Gaining a better feel for his split-changeup as the season progressed, he went 3-3 with a 2.56 ERA, 1.156 WHIP and .232 average against in 11 games in the second half.

"It's just relaxing right now," he said. "It's like, I've got everything taken care of. Family's good, my place is set up, housing-wise. I know exactly where I'm going, I know exactly what I'm walking into and nothing feels rushed. I'm able to take my time getting my delivery down and not being thrown into competition from Day One, it felt like last year."

There's also more distance from the Tommy John procedure in May 2015.

"Every single year you play this game, you're taking away successes and failures from the previous year and you should be growing and getting better," Cobb said. "The surgery itself was obviously a big step back and difficult to rebound from, but it's getting better. I'm getting more comfortable every year with that as well."

Cobb dealt with recurring blisters last year on his middle and index fingers that eventually brought a premature end to his season. He threw a bullpen session yesterday without any issues, and the situation will be monitored throughout camp and the regular season.

"That was just a mismanagement of the finger, really," he said. "It just kind of was something small and it became something big, but there's nothing I can really do to prevent that. It's just different circumstances, playing in the humidity.

"It turned into more of a cut on the finger than a standard blister. If it was just a standard blister it's really not that big of a deal, but when it starts to open up and act the way it was, there's nothing you can really do except just let it heal and get it right."