Cobb on simulated game, Stewart on ankle

SARASOTA, Fla. - Alex Cobb was held back in camp this morning and assigned a simulated game on the Ed Smith Stadium field while left-hander John Means traveled to Clearwater.

The top two starters in the Orioles rotation got in their work on the same day.

Cobb threw a lengthy bullpen session prior to the sim game, with Austin Wynns catching him. The veteran right-hander has gotten over the illness that slowed him in camp and restricted him to one inning in his only exhibition start.

Whatever he had wasn't exactly the flu, but it mimicked some of the symptoms.

"I feel great," he said. "I actually threw probably a little bit more than planned, just because everything was feeling good. I ended up getting three innings in.

"I didn't feel too weak or like I had any effects from the little bug that I had. Got the arm strength built back up. Pitches were doing what I wanted them to do. It was a good day."

A beneficial one even if it didn't include an actual opponent.

"Yeah, just to get back in the swing of things," he said. "I think a lot of it, too, is these days are planned out so far in advance that there's some responsibility to be had on the team's side of showing up to a paid admission game in a stadium and having to cover all those innings. And if there's any question marks, it's best to go ahead and sort that out on a back field or a stay-behind game.

"I think that was the decision that was made a couple days ago to be fair to everybody else. They need to know. So there's a lot of reasons that go into having to do it on the back fields."

Cobb headed back to the clubhouse unsure about his next move. He could return to simulated action or pitch in an exhibition game.

"I don't know if I'm going to jump back in where I was supposed to be or if we're going to stay on this day now every five days going off this," he said. "I'm sure we'll have to talk with Broc (Doug Brocail) and Hyder (Brandon Hyde) and see how the arm's feeling the next day or two after throwing that many.

"It won't be derailed too much off the normal schedule."

Relievers Shawn Armstrong, Richard Bleier and Mychal Givens also threw simulated games. Wynns and Taylor Davis handled the catching duties.

José Iglesias, Anthony Santander and Renato Núñez took turns in the batter's box.

Most of the regulars stayed back in camp this morning. Players are taking batting practice on the Camden Yards replica field. Pitchers are throwing in the bullpen area with the six mounds.

DJ Stewart continues to hit but isn't ready to make his spring debut following ankle surgery in October. He's been able to increase his activity gradually since arriving in camp.

"It's a lot better, definitely," he said. "Some of the bumps and bruises throughout the process have like simmered down a little bit, but it's still a day-to-day process. You wake up the next day and kind of see how you're feeling, how it's reacted to what you did the day before. But the last few days have been pretty good.

"I'm cleared to do hitting, BP-type stuff. I've stepped in for one or two live BPs. I've done baserunner. I haven't finished that entire progression of the baserunning. And that's pretty much it right there."

Hyde mentioned how Stewart could be game-ready by the first or second week of March.

"I don't think it's unrealistic," Stewart said, "but it's kind of how it feels each day and there's still some things that need to be crossed off the list for me and the training staff to know that I'm ready to go. It's just like a clearing the mind type of thing, like I'm not worried about it anymore, but I don't want to be one-dimensional where, oh, I'm cleared to hit.

"I don't just want to be a DH. There's two parts to this game, so you've got to do the defensive stuff, as well, and I don't want there to be any problems with it before I'm out there. I know what it feels like to play hurt and it's worse than playing right now, so I want it 100 percent healed before I'm out there."

The team's initial prognosis had Stewart returning to baseball activities late in spring training, so he's ahead of schedule. But there's never been a firm timetable. It's been flexible and dependent on how his ankle responded.

"During my rehab process before the baseball activity there was never really any soreness," he said, "so it was kind of like, OK, you're kicking this thing's butt. But for me, once we started the baseball activity, it ramps up a little bit more and it's reacting.

"I was immobile for two months, so after moving it around and now doing the baseball activity, it's just trying to retrain it. It's strong, but it's not as strong as it needs to be yet, so just trying to retrain it to be ready to go so I can go through 162 games."

The Orioles hosted an event this morning for Season Plan Members in Sarasota that included brunch, autographs and a 15-minute question-and-answer session with executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias.

When I suggested to Elias that the most common question asked by fans pertained to when the Orioles would be competitive again, a voice cried out, "This year."

It came from Iglesias, who was standing against the backstop waiting to hit.

In an instant he became a crowd favorite.

Elias stated again that catcher Adley Rutschman, who's in Clearwater today, probably would begin the season at high Single-A Frederick. But it isn't definite.

Other topics for Elias to field included whether analytics or trash can banging helped the Astros win the 2017 World Series. Should the Astros give back their rings? Why bunting is a lost art. Whether the Orioles talked to the Cubs last July about Jonathan Villar ("Nothing happened, I can tell you that."). What the rotation would look like if spring training was over today ("Fortunately, spring training isn't over today."). An explanation of PED suspensions. An explanation of marijuana suspensions. Whether there's a rule against the CBD oil that's extracted from marijuana plants ("I don't know what that is."). Whether it's the 25 extra pounds that are responsible for Chris Davis' hot start.

"Got any easy ones?" Elias quipped.

Orioles pitchers today behind starter John Means include Thomas Eshelman, Zac Lowther, Eric Hanhold and Cole Sulser.

Asher Wojciechowski starts Monday versus the Rays in Sarasota. The Orioles haven't listed their starter for Tuesday against the Nationals in West Palm.

For the Phillies
J.T. Realmuto C
Bryce Harper RF
Jean Segura 3B
Rhys Hoskins 1B
Didi Gregorius SS
Logan Forsythe LF
Josh Harrison 2B
Mikie Mahtook DH
Roman Quinn CF

Ranger Suárez LHP

Alex Cobb warms up before a sim game at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla.

Mike Elias answers questions from Season Plan Members at Ed Smith Stadium.