Baltimore Orioles drop spring opener

The Baltimore Orioles had slated Albert Suarez to pitch two innings in this afternoon’s spring opener against Pittsburgh at Ed Smith Stadium. He didn’t quite make it to that threshold, and it’s easy to look at the results and say that it was a poor outing. Needless to say, it wasn’t perfect. Suarez’s line: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 0 K.

In both the first and second innings, Suarez quickly recorded the first two outs. But he struggled with two out, which was a biggish storyline for all Oriole pitchers last season. Heck, it’s been a storyline for years. However in the first spring game, you hang on the positives – he had no issue getting to two outs, and his velocity was strong.

Suárez issued a double, a walk, and uncorked a wild pitch in the first. Stewart’s two-run double then gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead. The O’s would put a couple on in the last of the second, and Ryan Mountcastle would score on a wild pitch. Just another reminder that when you get guys on base, good things can happen.

Ramon Laureano’s run-scoring single would tie the game at two. However Stewart’s return to Ed Smith Stadium wasn’t about to be spoiled – he was a top Oriole draft pick, after all. He smacked a wind-aided homer in the third, putting Pittsburgh back in the lead at 3-2.

Again though, get guys on base and good things can ensue. Dylan Carlson would add a sac fly-RBI in the fourth to the game at three. But Pittsburgh wasn’t about to mess around in this spring opener. Gorski’s two-run homer would give them a 5-3 lead in the sixth. Solak’s RBI-single in the eighth would extend it to 6-5.

However a familiar name from last year would tick the Birds to within one in the eighth. Emmanuel Rivera’s two-run homer cut the Pittsburgh lead to 6-5. Granted, you can’t use the term “clutch” because it’s spring training. But in the grand scheme of a game when you’re down three late, that was a clutch homer.

However Pittsburgh would load the bases in the ninth, bringing Gorski back to the plate. And he haunted the O’s again, launching a grand slam into the left field grandstand, sending the O’s down to defeat, 10-5.

Interestingly, the O’s were almost in a different spot in the inning. They had what would have been a fielder’s choice, but Emmanuel Rivera couldn’t find the bag on a throw. That loaded the bases, resulting in the grand slam. Attention to detail.

I would say it was a “disjointed” performance for the Orioles today. That’s also a good way to describe Suarez’s outing, and we know it begins and ends with starting pitching. One thing I did find curious is how sparingly Brandon Hyde used his regulars. Adley Rutschman didn’t even play today, and the Gunnar Henderson’s and Jordan Westburg’s of the world only had two at-bat’s.

Granted part of the reason why is that it’s an exhibition game. But I suppose I was expecting guys to last longer than two at-bats. However manager Brandon Hyde has a plan. That goes without saying.

The O’s head to Clearwater tomorrow to take on Philadelphia at BayCare Ballpark. Cade Povich gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Philadelphia’s Tyler Phillips. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles open Grapefruit League play

With the hopes and dreams of Birdland riding on their bats, the Baltimore Orioles open Florida Grapefruit League play this afternoon in Sarasota. Their first opponent? Pittsburgh. A team they’ll see this spring more than any other. This of course due to the proximity of the camps.

We’re going to do this almost 30 times before the games actually matter. Remember that – THESE GAMES DO NOT COUNT! That being said, anytime a player dons a uniform, make no mistake he’s playing to win.

We aren’t going to find out if the clutch gene resides in the 2025 Orioles today. Or tomorrow. Or even this month. Remember that if the game’s even close in the later innings, the guys deciding the outcome probably won’t be on the roster come Opening Day.

BUT…despite how things finished, the Birds were a playoff team in 2024. And they have similar aspirations in 2025. We begin the journey towards that potential eventuality this afternoon.

The Birds take on the aforementioned Pittsburgh Pirates today at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. Albert Suarez gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Pittsburgh’s Carmen Mlodzin. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles to start Albert Suarez in Grapefruit League opener

If you had Baltimore Orioles’ manager Brandon Hyde starting Albert Suarez on Saturday against Pittsburgh, you won! Hyde announced earlier today that Suarez would get the starting assignment on Saturday afternoon in the Grapefruit League opener. The Pittsburgh Pirates will be coming to Ed Smith Stadium.

Admittedly I didn’t see Suarez getting the starting nod. But keep in mind that this means nothing. Often times who starts and/or who comes in and when is just a matter of guys getting their work in. Brandon Hyde spoke to the news and gave his reasons for the decision (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

Just lining things up, honestly. Albert’s ready to go and we’re just kind of going in order a little bit. Like I said, don’t read anything into it. Big Al is ready and you work back from the first day of the season and do the best you can, and things change all the way through that. You shuffle some things around. But we’re stretching Al as a starter and we’ll see how it goes.

I would also take this opportunity to caution fans as I do every year in that there can be no rhyme or reason as to who pitches, when, and how in spring training. Many times the pitches are scripted. So don’t put too much stock in anything. All we can say for sure is that Albert Suarez will be starting on Saturday afternoon against Pittsburgh.

Baltimore Orioles: The people’s pitch

Today is President’s Day, which means I get to pen one of my favorite “annual columns” for the Baltimore Orioles. Just a reminder, the Birds open Grapefruit League play this coming Saturday against Pittsburgh at 1 PM in Sarasota. The game will be shown on MASN.

Baseball has a relationship with the wheels of government unlike any other sport. This is a tip of the cap to its status as “America’s pastime,” due in part to how old the game itself is. But also due to how beloved it is. President Lincoln allegedly made reference to the game of “base” as far back as the 1860’s. However in 1910 President William Howard Taft began what’s become one of the game’s grand traditions when he threw out the first pitch at a game between the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics.

President Taft was a baseball fan. He enjoyed the game, and sportswriters of the day apparently were immediately drawn to him in the wake of this event due to his knowledge of the game. What nobody knew is that he began a tradition with what at the time seemed like an innocent gesture, bordering on a photo op.

Through the early part of the 20th century, almost every President did the honors. Some better than others. Some more willingly than others. President Calvin Coolidge didn’t particularly care for baseball. But his wife, Grace, loved it. Silent Cal went and did the deed. Odds are to keep peace in his home.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt once hit a Washington Post camera with his first pitch one Opening Day. It’s important to note that most of these first pitches took place at Griffith Stadium, home of the Washington Senators. President Wilson however became the first President to do it outside of DC when he did it at the 1915 World Series in Philadelphia.

Several Vice-Presidents also subbed for their boss, starting with Richard Nixon in 1959. Nixon was perhaps the biggest baseball fan (and overall sports fan) who’s ever occupied the White House. President Kennedy did the honors in 1961, his first year as President. He would also open up the new “DC Stadium” on Opening Day with a first pitch, a stadium which still stands (technically…), but is more famously known as RFK Stadium – bearing the name of his slain brother.

Baseball was absent from DC from 1972-2005, and in that span the “Presidential Opener” was at times moved to Baltimore. Memorial Stadium saw the likes of Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Bush do the honors. For the record, it was President Reagan who became the first to throw out the first ball from the mound – previously it was done with the President sitting in the front row.

President Bill Clinton was the last POTUS to do it at Camden Yards. But the park was opened in 1992 with the aforementioned President George Herbert Walker Bush throwing out the first pitch on Opening Day. Bush later appeared on the HTS telecast. I remember Chuck Thompson commenting that the ball was in the dirt. The former Yale first baseman didn’t skip a beat; he said the catcher called for a slider low-and-away, and he felt he executed the pitch perfectly. Well said, Mr. President!

Following the return of baseball to our Nation’s Capital in the form of the Washington Nationals, Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have done the honors at RFK Stadium and Nationals Park. President Obama is the last sitting President to throw a Presidential opening pitch. (Joe Biden did it at Oriole Park as Vice-President as well.) I can’t speak as to why the tradition has fallen away…

…but I think it should continue. I’m a history buff; I can name the Presidents in order from Washington to Trump, and I can probably tell you an anecdote or two about most of them as well – some more than others of course (some of those early guys were fascinating characters, while the Millard Fillmore’s of the world were fairly drab). Of all the annual recurring columns I write, this one is my favorite. It allows me to combine my love of history and the Presidency with baseball as a whole. And I always end it the same way, in pointing squarely at the current President:

I think the President of the United States should throw out the first ball on Opening Day in Washington DC every year.

Baltimore Orioles: And so it begins…

The curtain on the 2025 Baltimore Orioles inches ever-so-slightly towards raising up today. On this, the twelfth of February in the year of our Lord, 2025, we get to utter perhaps one of the most beautiful phrases in America: pitchers and catchers report today.

It’s just a milestone. The first in quite a few. Make no mistake, the offseason isn’t over yet. And it won’t be over next Saturday afternoon when the Birds begin Grapefruit League play against Pittsburgh at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. But the long march begins towards Opening Day, right now.

Where does this season end for the Orange & Black? That we don’t know. But it all starts on this day in February. So let us begin…

Baltimore Orioles: Super Bowl Sunday

With today being Super Bowl Sunday, it also means that pitchers and catchers will soon be reporting for the Baltimore Orioles. That, and the fact that Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander are gone, is all we know. But I would caution fans into thinking that all is lost.

Tyler O’Neil was a good pickup. And the likes of Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Grayson Rodriguez, Colton Cowser, Jackson Holliday, and others still happen to be with the orange & black. Not to mention, there are still some names out there.

But that’s another story for another day. Today’s Super Bowl Sunday, and the Philadelphia Eagles will be taking on the Kansas City Chiefs tonight. On national television. In the Super Bowl.

While the Ravens didn’t make it, mind you that the city of Baltimore has a rich history when it comes to football and championships. The greatest game ever played begins and ends that conversation – the 1958 NFL Championship game. John Unitas drawing the play in the dirt and inventing the two-minute drill. Perhaps similar to what fans have now in Gunnar Henderson and Lamar Jackson, Baltimore fans were spoiled at the same time by the likes of Brooks Robinson and John Unitas.

Unitas of course went onto help the (Baltimore) Colts win Super Bowl V, the first for the city in the Super Bowl era. Baltimore has also seen two Super Bowls of course with the Ravens. Needless to say, some cities would kill for championship pedigree like Baltimore has – including that city to the north which is part of today’s game.

Super Bowl Sunday is also somewhat of a transformational day, as pitchers & catchers report later this week. It’s the end of one sport, and the beginning of another. As much as I personally love football (and I do…), baseball’s a first amongst equals.

It’ll be a hard fought game tonight. But Kansas City wins in the end. That’s my prediction. Call it 41-38 or something like that. Close and high-scoring. Taylor Swift will get MVP honors – interpret as you wish. Enjoy the game!

Baltimore Orioles: Former pitcher Brian Matusz passes away

Late last night the Baltimore Orioles announced that former LHP Brian Matusz passed away yesterday morning. Matusz, 37, was drafted by the Orioles in 2005, rose to the big leagues in 2009, and pitched for the O’s through the 2016 season. He later briefly pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Whatever you thought about Matusz during his tenure in Baltimore, this is tragic. 37 years old. My deepest of condolences to all who knew and loved him.

Baltimore Orioles signing Tyler O’Neill

According to multiple reports, the Baltimore Orioles appear to be signing free agent outfielder Tyler O’Neill. The deal is reportedly for three years, $49.5 million. Again reportedly, there’s an opt-out after the first year. The deal is of course pending a physical.

The preliminary thought of course is that this spells the end for Anthony Santander in Baltimore. That of course isn’t set in stone yet. But it’s easy to see O’Neill and his 31 home runs in 2024 sliding into right field.

Jon Herman of MLB Network reported this first. It’ll be interesting to see how this affects the other holes the team needs to fill. Is this a less-expensive version of Santander, which allows them to look into more pitching options? Time will tell.

Another interesting point is that O’Neill was in Boston this past season, so barring anything else this removes a bat from a division rival. But again pending a physical, it appears that Tyler O’Neill is coming to the Orioles.

Baltimore Orioles’ Anthony Santander wins Silver Slugger

Anthony Santander of the Baltimore Orioles was announced as a Silver Slugger Award winner this evening. Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg were finalists but didn’t win. Santander and his 44 Home Runs in 2024 is a free agent this off season.

No pressure there for Mike Elias and company. Needless to say however, if Santander flies elsewhere, the Orioles know that they’ll need to replace him. And 44 homers aren’t easy to replicate.

Baltimore Orioles: Changes to the coaching staff

The Baltimore Orioles are making two changes to the coaching staff for next year. Two of which we know, that is. Bench coach Fredi Gonzalez and co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller will not be back, this according to multiple sources.

And that’s all we know. Not the circumstances of why they won’t be back. Just that they won’t be back in 2025.

Fuller isn’t necessarily a surprise, given the Orioles’ hitting woes down the stretch. It stood to reason that at least one of the two hitting coaches would cease to be there. Gonzalez on the other hand is a bit of a surprise, given how close he and manager Brandon Hyde are. Having said that, we obviously don’t know the circumstances. This may be his decision, or it might be mutual. He could have another job offer in hand. I guess we’ll find out.