More of this, that and the other

The Orioles haven’t found their starting pitcher in Dallas and they aren’t done with the bullpen. The work continues today and through the offseason. The last day of the Winter Meetings isn’t a deadline to finish the roster.

Is there anything else to do with position players?

The club appears set barring a trade, though it’s Dec. 10 and a lot can happen. The 13 non-pitchers right now are easy to identify.

We know the catchers - Adley Rutschman and Gary Sánchez. We know that Colton Cowser, Cedric Mullins, Heston Kjerstad and Tyler O’Neill are expected to be the four outfielders. And we know that it leaves room for seven infielders, which on paper read as Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday, Ryan Mountcastle, Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Urías and Jorge Mateo.

Top prospect Coby Mayo and Emmanuel Rivera, who signed a one-year contract for $1 million and is out of minor league options, appear to be on the outside. To get either one of them in the picture might require dealing an infielder.

Mateo brings speed and defense, and he can be an extra right-handed hitting outfielder, which seems to be a component of the Orioles’ plan for him. He’d need to be ready for Opening Day after undergoing reconstructive elbow surgery on Aug. 28. It will come down to how he’s feeling and how many at-bats he accumulates.

Urías is the better hitter and he can play anywhere in the infield. There’s value that should keep him on the roster. It’s conceivable that Holliday has a poor camp and is optioned, but the Orioles expect him to exhibit plenty of improvement in 2025. They already saw the signs.

“I just think being a young hitter in this game, breaking in, is one of the hardest things to do,” manager Brandon Hyde said yesterday. “Jackson was learning a new position, came in with really, really difficult expectations, especially at 20 years old, and I think he’s gonna be better next year because of it. How he handled everything, that was unbelievably impressive. I thought the way he was swinging the bat the last couple weeks of the year and some of the swing adjustments he made, I see that carrying into next season. But it’s still a really, really challenging game and pitching’s only getting better.

“Coby only had a handful of at-bats and he’s still a really young player, also, so I’m looking forward to seeing both of those guys in spring training and seeing some adjustments that they made.”

We don’t talk much about Liván Soto, but he could be a 40-man bubble guy if the Orioles need more room. They have one opening after the O’Neill and Sánchez deals are official.

* Corbin Burnes and Max Fried, the latter costing a draft pick, remain on the board for teams searching for an ace. The choices in the next tier include Nathan Eovaldi, Jack Flaherty and Sean Manaea, and it’s possible that executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias attempts to sign or trade for a second starter.

“I think that’s very important if you want starting pitching depth,” Hyde said. “Look at what happened to us last year. You want to go into camp with a minimum eight or more, but you’re looking for 10 starters because of the amount of injuries going around the league. These things happen. We were really fortunate the prior few years, and last year it caught up to us a little bit. I think that’s more the norm. If you look around, you see you’re going to lose starters throughout the year, so to have quality rotation depth is extremely important.”

Hyde is operating under the assumption that Tyler Wells and Kyle Bradish eventually will return from their respective elbow surgeries, but he can’t be certain of it.

“I think you go in hoping that they’re going to come back at some point in the summer, but you’re not sure what exactly it’s going to look like,” he said.

“People come off Tommy John a little bit differently. I’m expecting for it to go well, I’m expecting them to be back this summer. I think that we’re going to have to be able to manage them a little bit, and I don’t want to have huge expectations for them coming off not pitching for over a year to really help us down the stretch. Even though it would be awesome, I don’t think we can just rely on them.”

* Closer Félix Bautista had his Tommy John procedure in October 2023 and he’s progressed to a normal offseason. The Orioles expect him to be full-go in camp, but they must be cautious with him.

Bautista hasn’t pitched since two months prior to his surgery. Elias is expected to acquire at least one reliever, and past closing experience would be beneficial.

“Félix is more than a year off Tommy John,” Hyde said. “Now, that being said, it’s a lot of effort and energy in every pitch, so I think that we’re just gonna have to monitor him almost daily. I’m seeing myself going into the season as being conservative with him early and kind of seeing how he responds after outings. Not push him at all early on. And then kind of just being in constant communication with him, with the pitching coaches, with the athletic training staff and what his workload is going to be like.”

* Bautista and the other pitchers will be working in a home ballpark with its left field wall moved in and lowered, modifications made to dimensions that changed in 2022.

Has Hyde heard from any of his hitters who have been robbed of home runs?   

“Believe it or not, they’re really happy about it,” he said, laughing.

“I’m happy about it, also. Even our left-handed hitters for me, some of them would do everything right on a ball and you fly out to that 398 area in left-center, it can make you dejected. You can feel like, ‘Oh my God, what else can I do?’ I felt that a lot this last year. I think our guys are gonna be rewarded for good hitting now. And I think it’s still an extremely fair park and probably more pitcher friendly, but it allows guys to be rewarded for really good swings and driving the baseball.”