As spring training nears, a number of players, including John Means, remain unsigned by anyone.
Hello, friends.
There are now two months and one day left to go until Orioles Opening Day. It’s just 17 days remaining before pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota and O’s spring training will begin.
Time is really getting short before the baseball offseason moves into spring training mode. Signings and trades can still happen once camps open, but for most teams, what they’ve got when camp starts is mostly going to be what they’ve got when camp ends. It’s just a matter of how what they’ve got gets organized into an Opening Day roster.
Not much free agent action remains to be settled. That’s not to say there are no big or big-ish names remaining out there. Three qualifying offer-attached free agents remain unsigned, with recent Astro Alex Bregman and recent Met Pete Alonso at the top of the leftover position player market, and recent Red Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta headlining the hurlers.
For Bregman and Alonso, there’s at least some sign of interest, but no one really seems to care that Pivetta is out there. Among non-QO guys, Jack Flaherty is unsigned as well. If they don’t want to take their chances on what happens with signing after camp opens – which went very poorly for Jordan Montgomery last year, for instance – they’re really running out of time.
The Orioles are almost certainly not going to end up as players for these guys. They’re pretty well set in the infield, although I certainly don’t blame anyone who believes that Alonso might bring more to the table than the first base duo of Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn. They’ve signed enough middle- or back-of-the-rotation pitchers for the offseason. I wouldn’t see the point to getting any more, unless at this moment there are secret Orioles rotation injuries that Mike Elias knows about but not the public.
This time a year ago, that was precisely the case. Elias knew about an injury to Kyle Bradish and about John Means being behind schedule, two things that fans did not know. Those guys eventually had season-ending UCL surgery after not pitching very much. I hope there’s nothing like that waiting to be revealed in mid-February after players report for 2025.
Means remains unsigned too. At this point, I think his path to a contract is probably going to involve waiting to sign until after teams are able to stash him on the 60-day injured list. There’s a decent case to be made to sign Means to a modest two-year deal (something like 2/$7 million with a third year team option at like $6 million) in March. Will anyone beat Elias to doing this? Does Elias even want to do it? I guess we’ll find out over the next few weeks.
Around the blogO’sphere
Where do Orioles rank among AL East teams this offseason? (Orioles.com)
No one will be surprised to scroll through this summary and be reminded that the Orioles were not the team in the division making the highest-end talent additions this offseason – or even the second-highest.
Prospects Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo, enter 2025 with promising yet uncertain outlooks (The Baltimore Sun)
The Sun’s observation is that there’s no certain path for when or how Mayo and Basallo will end up as regulars in the Orioles lineup. I think that’s also true about Heston Kjerstad, who is still inexperienced as a major leaguer though he doesn’t count as a prospect any more.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2014 three-game infielder Jemile Weeks, 1988-89 infielder Rick Schu, and 1956-59 outfielder Bob Nieman.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: WWII general Douglas MacArthur (1880), singer Maria von Trapp (1905), actor Paul Newman (1925), baseball player and broadcaster Bob Uecker (1934), film critic Gene Siskel (1946), and guitarist Eddie Van Halen (1955).
On this day in history…
In 1837, the state of Michigan was admitted to the United States, becoming the 26th state.
In 1905, a diamond weighing over 3,000 carats was found at a mine near Pretoria in South Africa. The Cullinan diamond is recognized as the largest ever discovered; it was eventually gifted to the British monarch of the time, Edward VII, and the smaller diamonds cut from it are still largely owned by the royals.
In 1950, the constitution of India officially went into effect, marking the formal transition from what had been the British-governed Dominion of India into an independent republic. The constitution, still in effect today, contains nearly 150,000 words and is recognized as the longest constitution of any sovereign nation.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on January 26. Have a safe Sunday.