A few quiet days will be replaced soon by more activity.

More deadlines that impact the roster, the Silver Slugger Award and the possibility of breaking news with trades or free-agent signings.

Think of it as the storm before the calm.

Let’s go back into the mailbag for nine questions. A nice, crooked number.

Hey Roch! We saw LHP Luis De León make his major league debut this year out of the Orioles’ bullpen and he did a pretty good job. Joseph Dzierwa and Cade Hunter are another couple of really good lefties who can also be useful in the O’s bullpen – especially Cade Hunter. Bullpen use across baseball is pretty high, so will we see starters in Norfolk shuttled to Baltimore more often to be used in relief? It used to be common for pitchers to start their major league careers in the bullpen, and with the high demand for good left-handed pitching, I think this would benefit the Orioles.
Hey! Good question, and yes, starters in the past got their feet wet in the ‘pen. We can go way back to Scott McGregor making only five starts among 29 appearances in 1977, followed by 32 in 1978, and half of Mike Flanagan’s 20 appearances being in relief 1976 before he made 33 starts in 1977. Dennis Martinez received 13 starts among 42 appearances in 1977 and 38 starts in 1978. Storm Davis made eight starts and 21 relief appearances in 1982 and 29 starts the following year. Just a few examples here. Circumstances will come into play. The Orioles could give some Triple-A starters relief work if the roster calls for it. If they’re needed more in that role, like De León being a lefty with good stuff. Others, like Dzierwa and Hunter, could provide length if that’s an issue. But all of them will continue to be developed as starters. De León is hopping back into Triple-A Norfolk’s rotation if he doesn’t make the team in spring training. We won’t read too much into any bullpen assignments in the majors.

Was signing Rece Hinds to a major league contract some form of retaliation to the fan base?
I’m sure this was posted in jest, but I’ll bite. No. The contract could improve the odds of getting Hinds through waivers and keeping him in the organization if he’s designated for assignment. A depth piece that other teams also collect. President of baseball operations Mike Elias was asked about Hinds at the GM Meetings and said, “He’s a nice player. He was really good in Triple-A last year. Right-handed outfielder, some prospect pedigree and really good tools. I think he’s really quality depth.” So the Orioles aren’t centering their outfield plans around Hinds. I wouldn’t get too worked up about it.

This regime clearly taught their hitters to wait on their specific pitch. What the heck were they thinking? In this age where pitchers have so many weapons, how do you teach them to just wait for a pitch. They should have been taught how to make contact, contact, and more contact.
Without doing a deep dive here, the goal is to make contact on pitches in the hot zone. Don’t chase. Attack what you can hit. A data-drive, damage-oriented approach centered on controlling the strike zone, making hard contact and getting lift. The Orioles drew 586 walks, their highest total since 1999. But they also set the franchise record for strikeouts with 1,518, breaking the previous mark of 1,457 in 2025. The 378 looking strikeouts tied for second most in the majors. So the results are mixed, to say the least.

Did you make one last trip to the Guinness restaurant before it permanently closed? Hopefully a local brewery takes it over.
I live a few minutes down the road but didn’t make a final visit. I only went there a few times, including the Birdland Caravan stop and a Baltimore Sun/News American sports department reunion. I’m more of a cocktail guy.

Why can’t the Orioles draft and develop pitching like the Brewers, Guardians and Rays?
If you’re looking for encouragement, check out MLBPipeline.com’s top 30 Orioles prospects list. It used to be extremely heavy in position players, in part because the organization uses high draft picks on them. But 14 of the current 30 are pitchers, including draft picks and signings like Joseph Dzierwa (third), Caden Hunter (fourth), Luis De León (eighth), Michael Forret (10th), JT Quinn (14th), Trey Gibson (17th), Andri Hidalgo (20th), Nestor German (21st), Braxton Bragg (22nd), Levi Wells (23rd) and Esteban Mejia (27th). Time will tell whether some, many, most or all can become established major leaguers. Trades brought Anthony Eyanson (second), Boston Bateman (11th) and Kyson Witherspoon (12th). I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of this pitching packaged in a trade. That’s one of the incentives in creating this kind of inventory. I also should mention that Brandon Young signed as an undrafted free agent in 2020, after the truncated draft, and he was one of the club’s top starters and worthy of his appearances on MVO ballots. But yeah, development is an area that absolutely warrants scrutiny.

Have you ever witnessed a fight in the press box, verbal or physical?
I’ve almost gotten into a few, but I’ve been on the beat for 30 years, so “a few” doesn’t seem like much. And fortunately, they didn’t escalate. Cooler heads prevailed, as they say. Tensions can run high in this job. Some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends. And at the end, we’re richer for the experience.

When the front office mentions “core players” does it include Mayo? Or hold the Mayo?
An official roster of “core players” isn’t provided, but Mayo was a highly ranked prospect. He should be lumped into the group. The counter argument is that Mayo was a fourth-round pick, which separates him from Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg. The Orioles gave Samuel Basallo a $1.3 million signing bonus in 2021 out of the Dominican Republic, and an eight-year, $67 million extension after he spent five days in the majors. But Mayo feels core-ish to me.

Did you throw up a little in your mouth when Mike Elias mentioned he would be good with Carlos Narváez splitting time with Samuel Basallo?
If so, spitting is recommended. I had a projectile moment in my SUV a few weeks back while only a few feet away from turning into my driveway. I made a game out of it and lost. But this gross story had nothing to do with Narváez. The Orioles will add another catcher to the mix, but Elias likes Narváez’s defense and handling of the pitching staff. He’s also leaning on Narváez’s “track record” that was built in 2025 with a sixth-place finish for American League Rookie of the Year. It’s a small track. Elias is counting on better offensive output. Meanwhile,t he MVP goes to my wife for her cleanup efforts, but let’s move on.

What is your stance on superfluous punctuation marks???
This seems like a good place to stop!!!