Mike Elias delivered a number of end of spring training updates on Sunday morning.
As the days have gone by without Gunnar Henderson re-appearing in Orioles spring training lineups, the conclusion has been harder to escape that he will not be ready to start the season on time. The O’s finally made that official on Sunday morning, with GM Mike Elias delivering the news that Henderson will be on the injured list as the season begins.
This update was delivered as part of a larger availability with Orioles reporters in which he touched on a variety of topics dealing with both injury updates and other things to do with the roster. About Henderson in particular, Elias remains hopeful that it will be “days not weeks” that Henderson is on the IL. The rules for back-dating 10-day injured list stays mean he’ll miss at least the first week of the season.
I will be surprised if Henderson is ready on day 8; the team was acting like he might only miss days from the get-go on this intercostal strain and that was nearly a month ago.
In other not particularly good news, Elias said that Grayson Rodriguez is essentially starting back from the beginning of his season build-up. Rodriguez beginning the season on the IL was a certainty as soon as he was shut down for 10 days due to elbow inflammation that required a cortisone shot. The Orioles remain confident that it is not a ligament issue with Rodriguez, for whatever that is worth.
Top prospect Samuel Basallo is also dealing with some elbow inflammation. According to Elias, Basallo will be DH-only for at least the first few weeks of the Triple-A season, which gets under way on Friday. This is the second season in a row where Basallo begins without actually being able to catch. Last year, it was a stress fracture that had him delayed on getting into games as a catcher.
Two rehabbing Orioles may yet still make it onto the Opening Day roster. Félix Bautista and Jorge Mateo have both not been ruled out yet, though for me it’s discouraging about Bautista that he has not been explicitly confirmed to be ready yet either. (UPDATE: Manager Brandon Hyde said later on Sunday that Bautista will be on the Opening Day roster.)
If Mateo goes on the injured list, perhaps that means non-roster invite Vimael Machín gets a chance until either Mateo or Henderson return. Bautista avoiding the injured list closes down a possible spot where an out-of-options pitcher like Roansy Contreras might have made the roster.
Also from Elias on Sunday morning: Cade Povich will be the team’s #5 starting pitcher to begin the season. This seemed like the best choice once Rodriguez got hurt. Hopefully he can show that the results he was getting last September weren’t a fluke. If he doesn’t, then he’ll probably be the guy to be bumped out whenever Rodriguez returns, or when the recently-signed Kyle Gibson, who’s also got to build up from close to zero, is ready for his debut.