Nothing has changed in the potential Orioles top(ish) of the rotation mix in the last couple of days.
Hello, friends.
There are now three months and eight days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2025. The start of spring training is still not officially announced, but we definitely know the first Grapefruit League Orioles game is two months and one day away. That’s not so far off.
The waiting game continues with the starting pitching market. Nothing substantially changed on Wednesday compared to the day before. Sorry, Griffin Canning, but your one-year contract with the Mets does not move the needle for me. As long as Corbin Burnes is out there, a person can have hope that the Orioles will address their need at the top of the rotation by spending only money.
Okay, fine, you can have hope too about Roki Sasaki, who at this point can’t officially sign with a team until January 15 due to MLB’s rules about players coming over from Japan at his age. He could reach an unofficial agreement before that, which would certainly have a seismic impact on the expected fortunes of whatever team signs him.
Maybe you’re skeptical about Burnes, on the other hand, and concerned that signing him wouldn’t actually address the top of the rotation for more than a year or two. Or even more skeptical than that and not sure he’ll be a top of the rotation guy for even one year. Either of these opinions would certainly make the idea of Burnes signing for $30 million per year for like seven years a grim one.
Many people out there are impatient for Mike Elias to make something happen. Or perhaps for David Rubenstein to make something big happen. I get it. I don’t think that the Orioles rotation is good enough right now to give them the best chance to succeed in 2025. They need a guy at the top. For the second half of the season, maybe Kyle Bradish can be that, if you want to count on him coming back from Tommy John surgery looking like he did in 2023.
The big trade for Burnes broke on February 1, 2024. The picture can change late in the offseason. There are no extra points for having the need filled before Christmas or before the calendar turns to 2025. As long as everyone else doesn’t sign or get traded, there are avenues for possible improvement. So far, a number of choices remain on the market. We all just have to find something else to focus on so that every day of nothing happening isn’t another dagger to the fan heart. Down that path lies madness, and worse, stupid takes.
Around the blogO’sphere
Adley Rutschman’s plan to return to form in 2025 (Orioles.com)
One of the most important ways to improve the 2025 team has nothing to do with the starting rotation.
Orioles will try to help prospects overcome early struggles at MLB level (Steve Melewski)
This one doesn’t either. Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo, and Heston Kjerstad stepping forward will be big too. (Kjerstad’s improvement is needed to a lesser extent when you factor in that his numbers dipped after the Yankees hit him in the head and his concussion recovery was assessed incorrectly.)
After adding Tomoyuki Sugano, Orioles rotation is one big arm away (The Baltimore Sun)
This headline is the correct take in response to this week’s O’s signing, and I’m not only saying that because that was my first reaction and something that I wrote here on this very website on Monday in addition to, you know, today.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1991, the Orioles signed Rick Sutcliffe to a free agent contract. He had complete game shutouts in two of his first three starts as an Oriole, including the first game in Oriole Park at Camden Yards history.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 1998-99 reliever Doug Johns, 1991-93 outfielder Chito Martínez, and 1999 reliever Mike Fetters. Also born on this day was Baltimore-born Hall of Famer Al Kaline, who passed away in 2020 at age 85.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: MLB commissioner Ford Frick (1894). Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (1906), football Hall of Famer Reggie White (1961). actress Alyssa Milano (1972), and author Brandon Sanderson (1975).
On this day in history…
In 1606, the three ships that founded the colony at Jamestown, Virginia set sail from England. The Virginia colony was the first of the eventual thirteen colonies to form the United States.
In 1776, recent arrival in America Thomas Paine published the first of his “The American Crisis” series of pamphlets, with this famous first line: “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
In 1972, astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt’s Apollo 17 mission came to a close as they landed back on Earth. To date, this remains the most recent manned lunar landing mission. NASA’s Artemis program has its third mission scheduled as a crewed lunar landing no earlier than 2027.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on December 19. Have a safe Thursday.