Everyone is hurt, some of them are serious, and the Grapefruit League schedule keeps on coming.
Good Morning Birdland!
It has been a bad week of injury news at Orioles camp, particularly on the pitching front. We learned on Friday evening that both Grayson Rodriguez and Andrew Kittredge would begin the season on the IL, and their return timelines are unclear.
Rodriguez is dealing with discomfort in the “back of his elbow.” However, manager Brandon Hyde confirmed that it was not a ligament issue. Instead, the concern is with Rodriguez’s right triceps, but the exact problem has not been reported.
Injuries have become a regular occurrence for Rodriguez. In 2022, he missed half of the season with a right lat strain. Last year, he had two IL stints, one for right shoulder discomfort and another for discomfort in his lat. The latter one caused him to miss the final two months of the season as well as the playoffs. Now you can add the triceps to his list of arm-related troubles.
A short IL stint for Rodriguez is not a huge deal. While the Orioles did not add an “ace” this offseason, they do have a decent amount of depth on the starting staff. My guess would be that Cade Povich moves into a back-end starting role to begin the year at this point. The lefty has looked quite good this spring (five innings, seven strikeouts, no earned runs), and had finished up 2024 in impressive fashion (2.60 ERA in September). Regardless, there is enough there for the Orioles to weather a brief Rodriguez absence.
The bigger concern would come with Rodriguez sitting on the shelf for an extended time. The homegrown righty is the ceiling-raiser of the group. He has all of the potential to become an ace, and that breakthrough could be due anytime now. But it won’t happen if he’s hurt.
We know slightly more about when to expect Kittredge back. The 34-year-old had been dealing with knee soreness and was seeking other opinions. Ultimately it was decided that he would need arthroscopic surgery on the cartilage. That’s going to cost him “multiple months”
Kittredge was expected to help serve as the team’s bridge to Félix Bautista, potentially sharing set-up duties with Yennier Cano. Maybe that will still happen, but we will have to wait until midsummer, at least, to find out.
For now, it looks like the Orioles will have an open competition for the vacant bullpen spot. But this could just as easily be an area were the team looks outside the organization for help. Oodles of players get DFA’d at the conclusion of spring training due to being out of options. That seems like a logical place for the O’s to hunt for talent in a couple of weeks.
Kittredge could still prove to be a worthwhile signing if he gets healthy and produces later in the year. For now, it’s a bummer and something that the team will just have to absorb.
Oh yeah, and Gunnar Henderson still hasn’t returned to game action yet. He is getting treatment (mild right intercostal strain), and the team is giving Jordan Westburg and Jackson Holliday more reps at shortstop…just in case.
Things are great!
Links
Orioles announce multi-year exhibition series against Washington Nationals | MLB.com
The two teams used to do this years ago, but the ongoing MASN dispute seemed to put an end to it. With that in the rearview—plus new ownership on the Orioles side—it seems like the relationship has warmed back up.
Fighting the urge to worry about the Orioles’ spring injuries | The Baltimore Banner
It’s OK, Jon Meoli. You can worry. Granted, nothing catastrophic has happened yet, but it certainly isn’t good! The team was already going to be counting on their offense a lot in the season ahead. Losing Rodriguez and Kittredge will increase that reliance. Pair that with Henderson and Tyler O’Neill currently in doubt, and you start to get a little antsy.
Notes on Kremer’s start, Bautista’s second relief appearance and more from Orioles-Tigers exhibition | Roch Kubatko
The outcomes here were not ideal. But nobody got hurt. For this team right now, that’s a positive!
Orioles birthdays
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
- Mark Worrell is 42 years old. He pitched in four games for the 2011 Orioles.
- Chris Lambert also turns 42 today. In 2009 he pitched in four games for the O’s.
- Mike Moriarty celebrates his 51st birthday. He got into eight games with the Orioles as a backup infielder in 2002.
- The late Ryan Freel (b. 1976, d. 2012) was born on this day. A longtime utility-man in MLB, he played just nine games with the Orioles, all of which came in 2009.
- It is also a posthumous birthday for Marv Breeding (b. 1934, d. 2006). The infielder began his career in Baltimore, where he spent three seasons from 1960-62 as a glove-first option at second base.
This day in history
2001 – The Orioles announce that their outfielder Albert Belle is “unable to perform as a Major League baseball player” due to a degenerative hip. The slugger will go on the 60-day IL as a procedural move, but his MLB career is over.
2016 – Pedro Alvarez signs a one-year, $5.75 million deal with the Orioles to be their primary DH in the season ahead.