Some unanswered longer-range questions as Orioles prepare for Opening Day

Opening Day is getting closer. The Orioles are in Toronto and will work out this afternoon at Rogers Centre. First pitch is right around the corner.

We don’t know the exact composition of the roster and whether it’s really just down to Jorge Mateo vs. Livan Soto for the last position spot and Bryan Baker vs. Matt Bowman for the last bullpen spot.

There are other questions that require more time before they can be answered. For instance:

When will Grayson Rodriguez return to the rotation?

Rodriguez wasn’t available to the local media after his injury was revealed in Sarasota, offering a daily, very polite, “not today, sorry” at his locker. But he appeared again on Foul Territory yesterday and confirmed that he’s throwing a bullpen session in a few days as part of his ramp-up.

“The thing for me is spring training basically starts over, so kind of getting a fresh start with that,” he said. “Hopefully, we don’t miss too much time, but got to make sure I’m healthy and ready to get back out there and make starts.”

Rodriguez’s injury was described as elbow inflammation, but he pinpointed it as more of a triceps issue. We were told previously that it was in the area that connects the two, so that makes sense. Not that any of us are doctors. We’ll pretty much believe anything.

“I’ve had something I’ve been dealing with the last three or four years,” he said. “It kind of flared up on me. Triceps flared up a little bit, I had a little bit of tendinitis in the triceps, so we had to make sure that kind of calmed down and make sure it didn’t get a lot worse.

“Had to get some checkups and some scans on the elbow and it was all good, it was all healthy, so really fortunate with that news.”

When will Kyle Gibson join the rotation?

The goal is around May 1, according to manager Brandon Hyde.

Gibson is starting his spring training a lot later than usual, but he’s been throwing bullpen sessions at home and facing some hitters, so his arm should be in pretty good shape. He isn’t slumped on the couch watching bowling and eating a bag of pork rinds.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

I’m wondering who leaves the rotation when he’s ready. Zach Eflin starts Opening Day, followed by Charlie Morton. The Orioles will tell us soon whether Dean Kremer or Tomoyuki Sugano is the No. 3. We know left-hander Cade Povich is No. 5 and gets the homer opener on March 31.

Unless the Orioles go with a six-man rotation, and it seems too early for that, a spot has to be created for Gibson. And then another one for Rodriguez when he’s ready.

What’s happening with Heston Kjerstad?

We’re assuming that he’s on the Opening Day roster, though a few of us jokingly ran with the observation yesterday that his likeness didn’t appear on any of the banners hanging from poles along Eutaw Street and around the ballpark. We found Jackson Holliday. Didn’t see a Kjerstad banner. But what we lack in medical knowledge, we make up for in silly conspiracy theories.

My question is more about playing time. The Orioles aren’t expected to see a left-handed starter until the Red Sox’s Garrett Crochet in the first home series. That leaves plenty of chances for the left-handed hitting Kjerstad to get into the lineup, but how much is Tyler O’Neill going to sit early in the season? Maybe it’s Ryan O’Hearn who sacrifices at-bats. Someone has to step aside.

Part II of the Kjerstad curiosity is whether he’s immune to a roster move that would happen at some point if Gunnar Henderson and Jorge Mateo are on the roster together and the Orioles carry seven infielders. You know the math. They’d have four outfielders, and the current roster holds O’Neill, Kjerstad, Colton Cowser, Cedric Mullins and Ramón Laureano.

Kjerstad is supposed to receive a lot of plate appearances in 2025. The hope is that he gets them in the majors. Crowds are forming at every position.

Is the bullpen the biggest weakness?

The lineup is the strength in my humble opinion, so it’s between rotation, bullpen and defense. The defense should be good, with another reminder that O’Neill has won two Gold Gloves and that Jackson Holliday is expected to be more comfortable at second when he’s done filling in at shortstop.

The rotation doesn’t have Corbin Burnes, in case 20 minutes passed and you forgot, but it’s a deeper unit and eventually will get back Kyle Bradish in the second half. Tyler Wells, too, but he could be used in relief.

That leaves the bullpen, which gets back closer Félix Bautista but not necessarily the 2023 version. He won’t pitch on consecutive days for a while. He won’t be exclusive holder of the job title. His fastball is expected to tick up once the games count and the adrenaline is flowing, but that’s more theory than proven fact.

It isn’t like he’s lobbing the ball up there at 70 mph, but 100-plus was a devastating weapon.

The Henderson and Rodriguez injuries make it easy to overlook the impact of losing Andrew Kittredge. He was supposed to be one of the set-up men and a backup closer after posting a 2.80 ERA in 74 games with the Cardinals last season. Baker or Bowman are the in-house options to replace him. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, but teams learn to pivot and hope they don’t tumble.

At the risk of sounding like I’m picking on Seranthony Domínguez, which I’m not, his spring stats didn’t instill much confidence. He’s got to prove that they really don’t matter, as people say, and be a strong bridge to the closer on days he isn’t doing it. Anything less really puts this team in a bind.

* The Padres returned Rule 5 pitcher Juan Nuñez to the Orioles, who assigned him to minor league camp.

Nuñez, 24, was the Orioles’ No. 8 prospect who hadn’t pitched above High-A ball and appeared in only seven games last summer due to a shoulder injury. The Orioles acquired him from the Twins as part of the four-pitcher package for Jorge López on Aug. 2, 2022.

Yennier Cano, Cade Povich and Juan Rojas also were included in that deal.

Nuñez had a 2.45 ERA in 29 1/3 innings last summer with the Aberdeen IronBirds and owns a 3.32 ERA with 288 strikeouts in 230 2/3.