Update on Iglesias, tonight's intrasquad and Cobb

Orioles shortstop José Iglesias could be available to play in tonight's intrasquad game at Camden Yards after missing last night's affair.

Manager Brandon Hyde said Iglesias' back has improved and the veteran is a gametime decision. He'll test it later this afternoon before the club determines his status.

Iglesias also sat out Tuesday's workout because of the discomfort.

"We're going to go through all the pregame stuff with him and make a decision," Hyde said in today's Zoom conference call. "He's going to go out there and see how his back feels, but it feels a lot better today."

John Means and Ty Blach are starting tonight. Means will go four or five innings "if all goes well," Hyde said.

The last few innings again will be devoted to live batting practice sessions after Hyde strips the field.

Will there be ghost defenders again in the outfield?

"You're going to see it if we don't have enough players. I'm not sure what else to do," Hyde said.

The Orioles didn't add anyone to their player pool today. Ryan Mountcastle and Mason Williams are working out and could get some at-bats later tonight after the intrasquad game.

Alex Cobb is back with the team after the birth of his second daughter, Everly Pauline, on July 3. He wore a mask today during his Zoom conference call, but said he's felt "comfortable" with the environment provided by the Orioles at Camden Yards.

"Honestly, I'm extremely thankful we have an opportunity to play," Cobb said. "I think obviously it was not too clear to us what we wanted to do. My wife (Kelly) and I early on, the unknowns of how it affected, one, being pregnant and two, young children, but the pediatricians we talked to, her doctors when we just delivered, everybody was on the same page that they feel that we were in a good position. That we would be OK.

"We made the decision together that we felt comfortable doing it. There's just no guarantee that if it we opted out and stayed home that we wouldn't get it, so we feel that this is a great opportunity for me personally, especially because I missed all of last year basically to get out there and get a season in, as much as we can. So I completely understand, I've got some friends who opted out. I completely understand where they're coming from, as well. They feel they can keep their families safer at home. I just didn't know if I could do that, and once I got here I felt really comfortable with the way the Orioles in particular are handling everything. So my mind's at ease with it. I feel like we're making the right decision.

"I think the season is going to be a really fun one to follow. I think it's going to be really interesting to see how the game is going to shift and the way managers manage, players play. You're going to see a lot left out on the field. I think that's going to create some exciting baseball. So I'm looking forward to watching it and being part of it. I really hope we're able to get through it."

None of the Orioles have opted out, though the situation is fluid and anything is possible in 2020.

"I think everybody feels very comfortable," Cobb said. "Early on, the goal has been to stay away from the clubhouse as much as possible, but after getting a sense of what everybody has done to prepare the clubhouse - I mean everything, from the media, what we're doing right now, everything in the food rooms to the locker rooms themselves to the bathrooms - everything had so much thought and care put into it that this seems like the safest place we could possibly be. We're actually probably going to need to talk about spending more time here and less time trying to get food out in town and getting to go at restaurants and stuff.

"I think the anxiety level went way down once everybody saw what we were going to be dealing with. There's definitely obstacles. Minor inconveniences. We've been living our lives 30-plus years a certain way and 20-plus years on a baseball field and doing it a certain way, so there's going to be some adjustments. I forget my mask everywhere I go, I forget my name tag to get into the stadium and the barcode. I forget to take my temperature sometimes in the morning, so there's things I still need to get into a routine of and make sure I stay on top of, but they're all such minor inconveniences to be able to get an opportunity to play this season.

"I was not optimistic for a lot of the time that we were going to get an opportunity to play, so I think everybody has just realized that this opportunity was very close to not happening and they're going to totally not mind dealing with some of the things we're going to deal with. And a lot of the things you're going to want to roll your eyes at we're going to do just to keep everybody accountable and keep everybody in charge pleased with what's going on. There's still some getting used to, but I think all in all we're extremely impressed with what they've done."

Cobb has some strong opinions on the negotiations between owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association and how every detail seemed to play out in front of the public.

It became contentious. He knows that it alienated fans.

"I was disgusted with it, honestly," Cobb said. "I just couldn't understand why this all was getting leaked out to the media. No matter what business you're in, I think that anybody that's had to earn a paycheck, there's been complaints about the bosses and the bosses' complaints about the employees. It just happens in the workforce. This is obviously on a much bigger scale and I just thought it could have been handled a lot better on both sides. I thought that the media should not have been involved in it at all. It seemed almost intentional that the media was brought into it. And I think that there were other things we could have had being talked about in the media with the health protocols and what we were going to do.

"That was such a side note of everything that was going on. And it was just so tone deaf with what's going on in the country right now that we needed some positive news and it just wasn't coming from any angle. And then to throw your hat in the ring as MLB and the union did and contribute to the negativity, it was tough to be a part of. But at the same time, you knew that you had to stay strong and continue to try to fight for the players and everybody coming on behind us and understand that we had to do what the people that we put in charge were recommending. You had to take their advice and we had to listen to what they were saying. They know much better than any player does of how to handle certain situations.

"I didn't like how it all transpired. My dad's a diehard baseball fan and when I hear him being disgusted by what's going on, I really understand the fan perspective. I just hope that once we do start playing that that thought and that taste is out of everybody's mouth and they're just excited to watch baseball again. Because truly, every single player just wants to play the game. We love playing the game. But there is a business side to it and we tried to handle it as best we could, but obviously we fell short of that and so did MLB."

Cobb will pitch a simulated game on Friday. He was doing the same at the Ed Smith Stadium complex back on March 12 when baseball shut down, his last scheduled start nixed due to a blister on his right hand.

"I feel great," said Cobb, who threw three innings in live batting practice at the summer training camp. "Physically, I feel like I built up my innings as much as I could. Everybody was in kind of a different position. I tried to maintain sort of a late January kind of a workload through most of the shutdown. Just knowing that once we got a sense of things that were going to get ramped up pretty soon that I could kind of shoot up and build my innings up a little bit.

"I got three or four up-downs on bullpen mounds at my offseason workout facility and wasn't able to face any hitters, which, there were a lot of guys who went to their complexes that I work out with, so I wasn't able to face them. Seems like a lot of guys on our team were able to find college guys or something like that, but I wasn't able to, so I faced hitters for the first time once I got here. Still felt pretty comfortable with that."

Speeding the process of getting ready for a season is nothing new to Cobb, who underwent a similar process during free agency and signing late with the Orioles in March 2018. Different circumstances, of course, but a hectic pace that failed him the first time.

"There's a lot of similarities," Cobb said. "I think the key difference from the last time I went through it to this time is going to be the fact that we're all on the same page. Last time, I was coming into a situation where everybody was ramped up, ready to go, and I just always felt a step behind. Also during that time, I feel like where I was at in my career and the situation I had in front of me, I was doing everything I could to not get hurt. I'll be honest with that.

"When I was ramping up for the season and going through all the contract talks, the last thing I wanted to do was get hurt and miss my opportunity to sign with a team, so that really prevented me from ramping up to the point where I needed to be and that hurt a lot when I was trying to make that jump into the season. This one, we're all on the same page, we all got a little bit of a taste of spring training. I think most guys got two or three outings and were able to take that and go back to our homes and be able to sit on that for a little bit. And then there was that three-month gap where we had to maintain.

"It's going to come quick. The 21 days or however many days we've got left, the season's going to come really quick. I think most people have that sense and realized it and they're doing everything they can, especially our organization. The way we're going about this spring training that we have is intense and we're jumping right into games and having them at night and there's going to be some friendly competitions going on between teams and that's all great. We're going to get that feeling of competition back. I think you'll see for the most part that people took care of their business when they went home and stayed prepared and stayed sharp."

The Orioles signed Cobb to a four-year, $57 million contract, a franchise record for a pitcher, and he's gone 5-17 with a 5.36 ERA and 1.445 WHIP in 31 starts. He underwent hip and knee surgeries last summer after making only three appearances.

The inability to give the Orioles a return on their investment gnaws at him.

"I've got a whole lot to prove," he said. "I've pitched one year out of this four-year deal, really. That one year didn't go too well. And it's very difficult to come back from surgery, so I've got a lot to prove, not only to the fan base and the people watching, but to myself. I really want to show myself that I can continue to come back from these injuries.

"I love pitching, and I was pitching at a really high level early on in my career coming into this organization and I want really badly to get back to that. It's really tough when you know your abilities and you're not reaching them constantly, so if I can get back to that this season, that would be tremendous. If I could just get to a good level where I feel comfortable going into next year, that would be great. I just need to see a lot of improvement, I need to see that all the work I've been putting in is going to pay off.

"Once I get to that point, I'll be happy with the work that I've done. But I definitely need to have some quality results here, just for myself and the organization that gave me such a great opportunity to be here."

The Orioles increased their offer to Cobb while courting him and believing that they could contend following a dramatic September collapse in 2017. What followed was a complete teardown, new management and the painful early steps in a rebuild.

"I was so bummed out when the season got canceled this year because our locker room has been one of the most fun locker rooms that I've been a part of," Cobb said. "Every single guy is so fun to be around. We had a great group going in spring training. One of the quicker teams to gel, I felt like. It usually takes about a week or two into the season. I noticed where guys really start feeling comfortable around each other. And we have a lot of young guys. I hope they all feel comfortable being in the locker room and that their personalities can come out.

"I feel like that's the kind of group we have going. It is fun to be a part of. Obviously, winning is the main goal whenever you're wearing a uniform and just because we don't have the big contracts and the big names doesn't mean that every single guy is not trying to win. Obviously, all 30 teams right now think they're going to have an opportunity to make a sprint into the postseason and we're no different. You can feel that energy. You just have to believe that you have a chance and I think with the 60-game schedule that guys believe we have a chance. So it's going to be fun to be part of.

"We've got some guys that I think can really turn some heads, really surprise some people, so as these games continue to go on it's going to be fun to watch and see how people are looking and how our team's going to perform."