Author Archives: Domenic Vadala

Welcome to Birdland Crush! Yes folks, for the record it's a spin off of the popular summer beverage native to the Mid-Atlantic Region - "orange crush." Nevertheless, I've been covering Orioles' baseball since 2009 in some capacity, and it's basically the greatest gig of all time so far as I'm concerned! But for those who aren't familiar with my work or bio, I'm familiar with pretty much every sport out there. But baseball is king - we all know that. So my hope is that you come back and check in after every Orioles' game, and throughout the off-season. I'm always on duty!

Baltimore Orioles’ 2018 season preview

So here we are, on the eve of Opening Day for the Baltimore Orioles and manager Buck Showalter. There are a lot of questions hanging over this roster, and not only limited to the starting pitching. Will the lineup produce? Will the injured but re-tooled Orioles’ bullpen hold as strong as past renditions? All of those questions will be answered…

…come October, that is. I can’t tell you how any of that is going to work. I can’t tell you how the season is going to play out. But I can tell you for what I’d watch as we transition from the off-season into the regular season. And that’s the purpose of any season preview.

As I said, the only question at hand isn’t about starting pitching. But it’s probably the biggest question for this club. Going into camp Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman were the only starters on the roster. That made most experts pick the Orioles to finish last in the division. I said at the time that wasn’t rational, as Tampa has a double-A roster (with Toronto not far behind).

But since camp started, the Birds have re-signed Chris Tillman, and signed the likes of Andrew Cashner and Alex Cobb. The rotation is looking much stronger these days. Cobb we obviously won’t see right away, but soon enough – and I think it’ll be very soon.

The bullpen is a question, mainly because of the absence of Zach Britton. As many close games as teams league-wide play, much of the success or failure of this season may lie with the likes of Darren O’Day and Brad Brach. But don’t sleep on the middle relief either. If a starter can’t go deep into a game, it’s that middle relief that can make or break you.

At the end of the day, this is a power-hitting club first and foremost. Many people point to the likes of Jones, Machado, Trumbo (who’s injured), and Davis, while mentioning that they fell off the map at the end of last year. I think you have to assume that all players are going to revert to the mean. Their career numbers indicate that they’re much better than that.

Keep in mind that last year was taxing on everyone involved with the Orioles – including writers. So those offensive struggles came as a result of fatigue, both physical and mental. But again, I think you have to look to how guys have performed over time, and realize that we aren’t doomed to see last September play out again over an entire season.

Of course everyone wants to know how the Birds will fair this season. They’re certainly in the toughest division in baseball. I’m not going to tell you that they’ll make a run at the post-season. I can’t say that now – nobody can. But as competitive as the division is, they aren’t the worst team in it. Again, the likes of Tampa and possibly Toronto aren’t up to the Orioles’ level.

So will the O’s compete for the division crown? It would be tough for me to say that’s probable. But they won’t be fighting to stay out of the basement, either. As poor as the bottom of the division can look at times, it would be tough for me to say it’s probable that they finish near the bottom. To say so at this point would be doing a disservice to the O’s.

This will be a competitive season from my vantage point. It’ll have it’s toils and snares, but also it’s big moments. Will they be in the post-season? With their rotation having improved leaps and bounds over last year, they have as good a shot as anyone else. But one way or the other, I think they’ll be in contention well into September. Incidentally, the price of admission, you ask? One Buck.

Baltimore Orioles: Parity in MLB must be achieved for the good of the game

As the Baltimore Orioles prepare for Opening Day they aren’t expected to be in the creme de la creme of the league per se. Where do I think they’ll finish up? Tough to say. But I disagree with one national publication who projected them to finish last in the AL East. Teams such as Tampa and Toronto have been gutted – so I just don’t see that happening.

However that aside, MLB should really think twice about the fact that they don’t have a salary cap. The Orioles have spent money on the team this year. Granted much of that spending came late, but the fact is that they’ve given fans a reason to come to the ballpark each day. Do fans in Tampa have that same incentive? Or Miami?

If MLB continues to allow uncapped spending, the rich will continue to get richer. Believe me, in general I’m in favor of earning an honest living. However what I also believe is that the game itself cannot thrive across the country if only fans in certain cities are seeing winning teams. And I’m not talking just now – but in the future as well.

What incentive does a fan in Kansas City have to come to games over the years? Or Pittsburgh, Tampa, San Diego – or even Baltimore? And at the end of the day, is MLB really served by having only fans in NY, Boston, Chicago, and LA being interested in the sport? I would submit not.

So a salary cap, as well as a salary basement (forcing teams to be above a certain pay grade) would ensure some sort of parity in the league. It keeps people interested in smaller markets.

Baltimore Orioles: Camp’s a wrap!

The Baltimore Orioles are formally breaking camp this morning, as they leave Sarasota for Baltimore. Of course they’ll stop in Norfolk, VA to play the Tides, which has turned into a tradition of sorts. And let me tell you, that game is a huge deal in the Hampton Roads area. The O’s played the Washington Nationals down there in the final spring game in 2009, and I drove down for the game (seeing that my kid sister went to school in nearby Newport News). The town had been buzzing all week at the prospect of a big league game being played there.

But at the end of the day, that game won’t be covered too much here or on other outlets. As I’ve said ad hoc, it doesn’t even count towards the Grapefruit League standings. Mind you, the Grapefruit League standings themselves don’t count; so this game doesn’t count towards the unofficial standings that don’t count!

That gives the Orioles two full days back in Baltimore to get settled at home before real league play begins. They’ll have a team workout at Camden Yards on Wednesday, and of course the curtain goes up on the 2018 season on Thursday. And the Minnesota Twins will be the opponent – as if the O’s didn’t see enough of them in the spring.

At this time of year I’m always reminded of how thankful I am when camp is over. Covering some of these games are like watching paint dry. And each year as a writer I go through a bit of a dead period during spring training. Since there’s no ebb or flow to the games whatsoever, they’re very hard to cover. So you save your “best stuff” for the regular season. And that’s now on the horizon.

Once teams get into a routine and a groove, the road gets much easier. But the Orioles will open up at home, have a day off, and then close out that weekend series before heading out on the road to Houston. So that presents a bit of a challenge in a sense – you get home and get settled, but not too much because you’re heading back out of town.

There’s also a lot of pomp and circumstance to Opening Day, as well there should be. Not to mention the day off after Opening Day, which in a sense grinds the season to a halt. But you manage as best you can. And as I said, once the O’s get into a groove all of these concerns will cease to exist.

Baltimore Orioles defeat Philadelphia in Grapefruit League finale

The Baltimore Orioles were victorious over Philadelphia in their Florida Grapefruit League finale this afternoon in Clearwater, FL, in a game that most definitely resembled week four of the NFL preseason. Nestor Cortes Jr. got the start, and is still unsure of his status with regard to the final roster. Cortes’ line: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K.

I wouldn’t even know whether the fact that Cortes only went three innings is good or bad in that sense. I know that the Orioles really like him, and in fact he’s had a good spring. Perhaps the Birds saw all they needed to see. But that in theory could go either way. The lone run given up by Cortes was Hoskins’ solo homer in the second as Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead.

The Birds would tie it in the fifth on Anthony Santander‘s RBI-double. The O’s would later take the lead in that fifth inning as Luis Sardinas grounded into a double-play, which netted a run. However as I said, this is a game that resembled week four of the NFL preseason. Lots of guys working hard for roster spots – on both sides. Philadelphia would take the lead back at 3-2 on Franco’s two-run homer.

But if you’re keeping score at home, the Orioles’ young guys scrapping for a roster spot were better than Philadelphia’s at the end. The Birds would tie it at three on Brugman’s RBI-single in the seventh, and then take the lead on a Reyes walk with the bases loaded. The teams would trade runs a couple of other times, but the net result was a 6-5 Orioles’ victory – in an endless affair that didn’t seem to want to end.

The win ran the Orioles’ overall record in Grapefruit League play to 17-12-2. That puts the O’s in the top half of the standings in Florida this year, again for those who pay attention to such things. Now the real work begins for the coaching staff. Time will tell who makes this roster and who doesn’t.

The Orioles will return to Sarasota this evening and formally break camp tomorrow morning. They’ll fly to Norfolk, VA where they’ll take on the Norfolk Tides tomorrow at Harbor Park at 3 PM, after which they’ll return to Baltimore. The game with the Tides amounts to a glorified intrasquad scrimmage, and it won’t count towards the Grapefruit League standings – for what that’s worth. They’ll work out at Camden Yards on Wednesday, before Thursday’s Opening Day game against the Minnesota Twins.

Baltimore Orioles: Caleb Joseph shines in Birds’ loss

It was an otherwise forgetful final home game in Sarasota for the Baltimore Orioles this evening. When you lose 12-4 it tends to be a game you’d rather forget. However the exception to that is Caleb Joseph, who’s going to be the Orioles’ Opening Day catcher on Thursday (against these same Minnesota Twins). Joseph went two-for-four with two doubles and an RBI.

Chris Tillman had what one might term a so-so start. Tillman’s line: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 3 K. Those numbers don’t look too good, however in reality Tillman struggled in one inning. The rest of the time he was actually fairly effective. Obviously you’d rather not have that one bad inning. However the fact that Tillman battled back and pitched into the sixth is a positive sign.

With Minnesota already leading 1-0, they put a barrage of runs on the board in the second. That’s what can happen when you load the bases. And the lesson in this game is that while one inning a game doesn’t make, it can make things a lot tougher on a team. Following multiple RBI-singles and doubles, the Birds trailed 6-0 by the time the smoke cleared.

However Joseph’s RBI-double in the last of the second got the Orioles on the scoreboard. Manny Machado would add an RBI-single before the inning ended, cutting the lead to 6-2. Danny Valencia added an RBI-single in the fifth, and Machado scored one inning later on a throwing error. For a short period of time, it looked like the Birds were trying to make a game of it as they closed to 6-4.

However Minnesota would smack four more home runs, totaling six additional runs, in the later innings. And again, the lesson there is that insurance runs are “a thing.” The O’s had started to threaten in the middle innings, and Minnesota closed the door. Mind you folks, this game is in no way indicative of what’s to come in the regular season. This game may have been a late spring game with the players ready to head north, but it was still a spring training game.

However the Orioles have to find ways to put teams away this year, similar to how Minnesota did with them tonight. When they get a lead, they need to ensure that not only does their bullpen not surrender it, but that their offense perhaps gets an additional run or two. If they had done that in a few games last year, they would have gone from a team with a losing record to one who contested for a playoff spot.

And here we are folks, at the penultimate game of the spring. It seems like just yesterday the Orioles were preparing for that first game at Ed Smith Stadium against Tampa. The team’s grown a lot since then, and that’s a good thing. But remember that while in fact this is the end – of spring, it’s also just the beginning. The beginning of the really good stuff.

The Orioles will close their Grapefruit League schedule tomorrow afternoon by heading to Clearwater to take on the Philadelphia Phillies. Nestor Cortes gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Philadelphia’s Nick Pivetta. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Derailed early by injuries?

I would submit that April is a supremely important month for the Baltimore Orioles. I say that with wins and losses in mind, but through one specific lense: injuries. You can’t win a division pennant in April. But you sure can lose one.

Mark Trumbo will start the season on the DL. Chris Davis has missed time this spring. Tim Beckham tweaked a groin late this past week. It all adds up.

Davis of course has since returned to the lineup, and there’s a rumor that Beckham’s going to play tomorrow. Trumbo, as I said, will begin the year on the disabled list. So the Orioles are looking at perhaps getting him back mid-way through the month.

But is there a greater story to these injuries? I’d point to Chris Tillman last season, who ended up beginning the season on the DL, only to end up having a lackluster year with the O’s. Could that end up happening again?

And the answer is that the jury’s still out. Plenty of players end up on the DL for various reasons over the course of any season. And they come back and still play great. The key is to catching an injury in time and getting the player the rest and rehab that he needs before returning to the lineup.

And the hope is that the Orioles did just that. Trumbo obviously will be shelved for the first couple of weeks, during which he’ll be rehabbing his injury per the specs given by the Orioles’ training staff. He’ll then go out to a minor league affiliate on a rehab assignment, after which he’ll join the team.

However Beckham and Davis’ injuries weren’t harsh enough to put them on the DL. Will they be ready? Will the injuries re-surface? The Orioles certainly hope not.

The Birds will close out the home portion of their spring schedule this evening at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota against the Minnesota Twins – also their Opening Day opponent next week. Chris Tillman will be on the bump for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Minnesota’s Gabriel Moya. Game time is set for just after 6 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Dylan Bundy named Opening Day starter

Baltimore Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter has named an Opening Day starter. And it’s going to be Dylan Bundy. Mind you that Opening Day is only one game. However it’s certainly an honor for Bundy, and one that’s well deserved.

Bundy said that it wasn’t something that he expected, however he’s looking forward to the opportunity (quote courtesy of Britt Ghiroli, mlb.com):

Obviously I’m honored and humbled by it. Very excited. Going to have to control the emotions a little bit and just pitch my game.

Bundy was by far the Birds’ most consistent starter last year, joining the rotation for the first time in his career. He finished the season at 13-9, with an ERA of 4.24. If you look at the spring numbers this year, they indicate that Bundy has struggled – as an example, he has an ERA of 9.00. But Showalter doesn’t pay too much attention to spring stats, and ultimately it’s an honor that Bundy earned.

Tim Beckham left yesterday’s 10-7 victory over Boston after tweaking his groin. Buck Showalter said after the game that it was in essence done as a precaution, however the hope is that Beckham returns before the Orioles even break camp. Which incidentally is Monday morning – following their Grapefruit League finale against Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon in Clearwater.

The Birds of course will stop in Norfolk to play the Tides in a non-Grapefruit League exhibition game on Monday afternoon, and head back to Baltimore after that. Even though you want to continue the momentum of the spring immediately into Opening Day, I think that the couple of days off that they’ll have before Thursday’s opener is a good thing. It allows guys to get settled at home before going back out onto the field. And yes folks, we’re under a week before the opener!

Baltimore Orioles lifted on six run sixth inning over Boston

The Baltimore Orioles didn’t look at first like a team destined to win this afternoon in spring training. Mike Wright struggled in what could have been his final opportunity to wow the coaching staff, and Boston was scoring left and right. Wright’s line: 4.1 IP, 10 H, 7 R (6 earned), 2 BB, 4 K.

The odds of Wright making the roster as a starter weren’t good after the O’s signed Cobb, however he still had/has a shot as a reliever. Now that said, nothing is set in stone as of yet. And in fact, the O’s will need to break camp with a fifth starter penciled in, because Cobb won’t be ready.

Wright surrendered four runs in the second inning to a Boston lineup that seemed ready to play from the opening bell this afternoon. But the O’s got themselves on the board in the last of that second inning on a two-run homer to cut the lead to 4-2. Boston would add a run back in the third, and two more in the fifth. That would end Wright’s day.

However the last of the fifth brought a foreshadowing of the rest of the game. Chance Sisco smacked a two-RBI double that cut the lead to 7-4. Sisco would come up to bat again an inning later, beginning what ended up being the inning that decided the game. His two-RBI double brought the Birds to within 7-6. They would later tie the game on a Santander RBI-single, and take the lead on a fielder’s choice-RBI.

Manny Machado‘s RBI-double and Jonathan Schoop‘s sac fly-RBI would round out the Orioles’ scoring on the afternoon. As lackluster as Wright looked, fans should take promise in the fact that the offense sprang to life in that manner. That’s exactly what the O’s will need to do consistently if they’re going to do anything this season.

Going back to Wright and that fifth rotation spot, they won’t need a fifth starter in theory until the second weekend of the season – Saturday afternoon in New York (due to the off day after Opening Day). That could change depending on the weather, but that’s how it stacks up now. So whomever the “fifth starter” is, might only make one start. It could also end up being a spot start out of the bullpen.

The O’s will remain in Sarasota tomorrow as they take their last turn at the Tampa Rays this spring. Dylan Bundy gets the start for the Orioles, and Tampa is yet to announce a starter. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Another Jonathan Schoop homer in Birds’ loss

Jonathan Schoop should be worried about what happens when the Baltimore Orioles break camp next week. The O’s finish up Grapefruit League play on Sunday afternoon, make a pit stop in Norfolk to play the Tides (a game that does not count towards Grapefruit League standings – for what that’s worth), and then don’t play again until Opening Day at Camden Yards on Thursday. Schoop’s had a great spring; this evening he was 1-for-2 with his fourth home run of spring training. He’s hitting .405…in the games that don’t count.

So the challenge of course is for Schoop to bring that into the regular season. And that gap won’t help – but that’s the challenge of being a professional athlete. With the acquisition of Alex Cobb yesterday, a guy who’s now battling for a bullpen spot is this evening’s starter, Miguel Castro. And his hope is that he can convince the coaching staff that this evening’s results were simply a blip in the radar. Castro’s line: 3.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R (4 earned), 3 BB, 2 K.

Schoop’s aforementioned solo homer gave the O’s a 1-0 lead in the first inning. However that would be the only time during the game that they would lead. In the last of the first Gregorious’ two-RBI single gave New York a 2-1 lead. One inning later Bird would add a two-RBI single, and an additional run would score on an E5 to run the lead to 5-1. (For Castro’s sake and for the sake of clarity in scoring, that fifth run was unearned.)

The O’s would battle back just a bit, however. They’d get to within 5-2 on Danny Valencia‘s sac fly-RBI in the fourth, and Austin Hays would dump a bloop RBI-single in right field to but the lead to 5-3. However in the bottom of that fourth inning Judge would do what he does, and homer (with nobody on base). He would also homer again with two runners on in the last of the eighth. Sandwiched in between those Judge homers was a Luis Sardinas RBI-double. All of this ran the final to 9-4, in favor of New York.

Speaking of the aforementioned Alex Cobb, Buck Showalter confirmed before the game that Cobb won’t start the season in the Orioles’ rotation (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

Roger (McDowell) and I are going to sit down with him. He had a pretty whirlwind day today. Roger talked to him a little bit. But we’re going to sit down with him tomorrow and map out the schedule we’re thinking about and get his input and see what he thinks.

Word on the street is that he’ll head to extended spring training after the Birds break camp. From there he’ll accept an assignment to an affiliate so he can get into games. How long he’s in the minors remains to be seen. But the only reason for that is so he can get into game shape. He was signed as a big league pitcher – and that’s where he’ll be.

The Orioles return to Ed Smith Stadium tomorrow afternoon for their final turn at bat against the Boston Red Sox this spring. Mike Wright gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Boston’s Hector Velazquez. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Alex Cobb is coming to Baltimore

The Baltimore Orioles finally made their big splash when it comes to free agent pitchers. Alex Cobb‘s deal is signed, sealed, and delivered – pending a physical. That’s always an important part when it comes to the Orioles. (And just to be clear, the Orioles do tend to scrutinize physicals more than do other teams; but the caution of their doctors has also proven to be right over time.) But the O’s aren’t anticipating any issues popping up.

This is an incredibly late signing for sure. But the fact is that lots of free agents are still out there given the inactivity of the league as a whole. Cobb’s deal is for four years and approximately $56 million. Some of that money is also to be deferred. The Orioles tended to not want to offer a deal that long, however the fact is that they got their man.

Cobb does have a minor league option remaining, however due to his amount of service time he has the option of refusing a minor league option. However it’s believed that there’s a clause in the contract whereby he’ll go to the minors for a short period to begin the year. After all, he’s coming in at the very tail end of camp and has to get game ready.

So what does this do to the rotation and the guys already in camp? Needless to say, the likes of Bundy, Gausman, Tillman, and Cashner are going to be starters. Once Cobb takes his spot on the roster, that will even out the five starters. So that means that the work done by the likes of Castro, Cortes, and others thus far in camp is now even more important. They’re battling for spots in the bullpen, which is how that work will be viewed.

Having a starter such as Cobb will also take pressure off of the bullpen, given that they presumably won’t be as taxed in terms of having to work more innings. And that’s a good thing for everyone involved. Does this move put the Birds in a spot whereby they’re guaranteed a division crown? No. But does it make them more competitive and does it put them in the thick of the wild card race (on paper)? I believe that it does.