Orioles moving on to finalization of roster for opening day

The Orioles must turn in their opening day roster by noon Thursday and decide whether anyone else is headed for the injured list. They must sort through the pile of ailing players and figure out if it's smarter to just remove guys from the pool and send them to the alternate camp in Bowie.

It's a job so big, they should hire interns.

Infielder Richie Martin underwent wrist surgery and is on the 60-day injured list, pitcher Ty Blach had a ligament reconstructed in his left elbow and utility man Stevie Wilkerson sustained a fracture in his left ring finger. Only Martin is on the 40-man roster.

Outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. is on the COVID-19 injury list, which gives manager Brandon Hyde the freedom to place him on the roster if deemed ready. Outfielder Trey Mancini already has been placed on the 60-day injured list while undergoing chemotherapy treatments.

Starter John Means should be able to avoid the 10-day IL, with Hyde saying yesterday that "he'll just probably miss a few days and be back out there." But reliever Hunter Harvey might hop aboard unless there's improvement in his tired arm or a projection that it's coming.

Harvey was excited about the prospect of plowing through a 60-game season with no restrictions. Turn him loose. Let him pitch on back-to-back nights. But he hasn't been on the mound in a while and his absence became noticeable to the media.

Hyde was asked yesterday whether he'd carry a player who might not be ready until perhaps the beginning of next week.

"I think so, yeah," Hyde replied. "We would consider it. But also you can backdate the IL, I think it's the 20th you can go back to, which puts you at the 30th, the day that you can activate anybody off the IL. So you're really missing six games if you do go on the IL if you need to backdate it."

Hold that thought.

Reliever Dillon Tate won't make the club because he remains shut down with a sore elbow. He could just be yanked out of the player pool and sent to Bowie.

Catcher Chance Sisco did some throwing yesterday to test his sore triceps muscle and he's been able to hit without discomfort. He should be able to stay away from the IL, but assuming anything at this point is a risky game.

The Orioles will have a catcher on their taxi squad for the first five games - three in Boston and two in Miami.

Forty-three players are swimming in the Camden Yards end of the pool. Blach, Wilkerson and Tate will be leaving it based on their health.

Smith also will be subtracted if he isn't ready for opening day, and Harvey is vulnerable.

Outfielder/infielder Ryan Mountcastle will move his workouts to Bowie. At least one of the four catchers must go and it could be two.

Cedric Mullins and Mason Williams could be competing for one outfield spot or none. Does Hyde choose between left-handers Paul Fry and Tanner Scott or keep both? Rob Zastryzny likely is behind them.

Travis Lakins Sr. and Evan Phillips are trying to hang on, but could be ticketed for Prince George's Stadium. At least Phillips got healthy during the shutdown and is able to join the discussion.

Pitcher David Hess had a poor showing Monday night against the Nationals and César Valdez didn't appear to do himself any favors last night, though Hyde felt better about the outing than the box score indicated.

Valdez stranded two runners, with Dilson Herrera saving him by making a diving catch in left field, but he allowed two runs and three hits in 2 2/3 innings.

"I wanted to see him come out of the 'pen. I just haven't seen it much," Hyde said. "We just haven't seen him a ton, and the times that we've started him in intrasquad games he goes three or four innings of not a whole lot of action and really low pitch counts.

"If he is in the bullpen in a long type of role or whatever role he's in, it was nice to see him go in there with a first-and-third situation with kind of the meat of their order coming up. It kind of worked out for the best for me in that I wanted to see him with traffic because I just hadn't seen it before. And he gets a soft lineout, he gets two balls off the end of the bat. His next inning, more balls off the end of the bat. And then that third inning that he went out there, still throwing the ball well. Out in front, but just caught a couple on the barrel on him.

"But I think what you're going to get from him is a guy that's ultra-mature, knows how to pitch, he's going to throw strikes, he's got multiple pitches he can throw strikes with, and works down in the zone. And I think he could do a variety of things, whether it be rotation or in the bullpen."

The Orioles made it through the workouts, scrimmages and exhibitions. And however the roster shakes out, Hyde is satisfied with the preparation under these crazy circumstances.

"I think we're as ready as we could be in this short sprint of a summer camp," he said. "Only three exhibition games, quite a few intrasquads. I think that we are in a good place. I was really worried about soft-tissue injuries early, I was worried about keeping guys healthy, worried about their legs. And credit to them is that they came in shape. We've had some freak injuries where we've had some broken bones and things like that, but I feel like our guys came in ready, they performed well."

"I think we've crushed It, man," said third baseman Rio Ruiz. "I think the work we've done has put us in the position to be ready for opening day. And I really believe that we'll be ready to go from the get-go.

"I think everybody's kind of gotten the confidence and they're ready to go. The experience that everybody's gained last year carried into spring. We played really well in the spring and we've kind of carried it over here. You guys have seen it since Day One. Pitchers were ready, hitters were ready, everybody came ready to go and that goes to show how excited we were to get going again."