Roch Kubatko

Cobb left waiting for rematch with Twins

Orioles
Cobb left waiting for rematch with Twins
The Orioles are supposed to be in Minnesota today to start a three-game series. They're supposed to be putting last year's failings behind them. In a big pile that could bury them if it toppled. Three games against the Twins at Camden Yards produced three losses. Three games at Target Field produced three losses. All of them coming in April, with a series win against the White Sox nestled in between. Alex Cobb made only three starts in 2019 and the last two came against the Twins before the...
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Roch Kubatko

Losing baseball hasn't been a total loss

Orioles
Losing baseball hasn't been a total loss
The pandemic and absence of sports leaves many of us lamenting losses that, when kept in proper perspective, aren't really that important. They hurt but they don't do irreparable harm. This isn't a lecture. Maybe more of a reality check. I've got my health and my job. Same with my fiancée, sister, daughter and niece. My mother is doing the best that she can in isolation on the Eastern Shore Other people have it much worse and I remind myself of it each time that I look in the mirror and...
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Roch Kubatko

Long on Núñez: "I see a lot of room for growth"

Orioles
Long on Núñez: "I see a lot of room for growth"
If the Orioles are able to play baseball in 2020, no one else on the active roster is going to have more home runs or RBIs from the previous season than designated hitter Renato Núñez. Trey Mancini ranked first in both categories, but is unable to play this year while recovering from colon cancer surgery. His goal is 2021. It was a breakout season for Núñez, who earned the opportunity to appear in 151 games and accumulated 599 plate appearances. His 132 hits, 24 doubles, 31 home...
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Roch Kubatko

Spring shutdown left players like Wynns uncertain of status

Orioles
Spring shutdown left players like Wynns uncertain of status
The spring training shutdown did more than stop the workouts and exhibition games. It also led to the shredding of mock rosters, destroying all of the hard work put into choosing the 26 players who would head north for opening day. If there is a 2020 season, it's going to come with an expansion that might allow teams to carry 30 players and a hefty taxi squad. Those camp competitions that held our interest seem so insignificant under these revisions. The idea of carrying a third catcher seemed...
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Roch Kubatko

Wynns imparts wisdom and advice to young players via Zoom

Orioles
Wynns imparts wisdom and advice to young players via Zoom
The Zoom conference calls have allowed Orioles catcher Austin Wynns to feel more connected to his family, friends and teammates. The club set up a promotion where he could speak with Birdland Members deprived of a season. The images on his screen have been personal in some ways and linked more to his profession on others days. But they touch his heart just the same. Wynns spent last Friday night talking baseball in a manner he hadn't experienced. A catcher-turned-lecturer of sorts, the virtual...
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Roch Kubatko

Still wondering whether there's going to be baseball

Orioles
Still wondering whether there's going to be baseball
Young students should be filing into Camden Yards this morning for the annual "Weather Day" event at the ballpark. A chance to watch baseball after they learn about barometric pressure. Sun is in the forecast with temperatures in the upper 60s. It's been a little chilly for the second week of May, but no one would be complaining. The weather doesn't really matter. We're stuck at home, wondering whether there's going to be a season. So yes, it's "Whether Day." My optimism fluctuates...
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Roch Kubatko

Don Long on his work with Rio Ruiz

Orioles
Don Long on his work with Rio Ruiz
If every at-bat and every swing from Chris Davis in spring training led to a series of dissections, discussions and debates, Rio Ruiz's trips to the plate by comparison seemed to be shrouded in secrecy. The player with the second-highest average on the team and the third-highest on-base and slugging percentages didn't get nearly as much attention. There isn't a dome at Ed Smith Stadium, but it's possible to operate beneath a cone of silence. The spring also was important for Ruiz, who...
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Roch Kubatko

Long on Davis: "He was much more aggressive"

Orioles
Long on Davis: "He was much more aggressive"
One of my more interesting and enlightening conversations in spring training, before the door slammed shut and everyone headed home, came on Feb. 24 with first baseman Chris Davis as we sat in the media workroom following his final round of batting practice. The Orioles were on the road and I stayed back in camp, waiting for Davis to leave the field and wondering if he'd remember that he agreed to an interview. Seizing a chance to get out of the sun, Davis asked whether we could talk at the...
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Roch Kubatko

More players with forgettable ties to the Orioles

Orioles
More players with forgettable ties to the Orioles
My article last week on players who easily could be forgotten for their brief stints in Baltimore, or who attained legendary status elsewhere, sparked a fun discussion in the comments section of the blog. My biggest omission had to be Reggie Jackson, forever linked to the Yankees and Athletics and only a footnote in Orioles history. They traded for him prior to the 1976 season, he reported late and then blasted the city as being so boring, there was nothing to do at night except watch the...
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Roch Kubatko

Long staying connected to his hitters during shutdown

Orioles
Long staying connected to his hitters during shutdown
Don Long took his seat on one of the buses parked at the Ed Smith Stadium complex on March 12, assuming that he wouldn't rise again until arriving in Fort Myers for a night game against the Twins. The trip lasted about as long as it takes to fill out a lineup card. The bus made four left turns and was back in camp. The Orioles were on the verge of a sports-wide shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. "We left and literally got around the corner and somebody got a call and they turned us...
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Roch Kubatko

A son's appreciation of the sports talk that has been silenced

Orioles
A son's appreciation of the sports talk that has been silenced
My father would have turned 80 today, but Stage 4 esophageal cancer took him away from his family and friends in January 2019, leaving us heartbroken that he's gone but also relieved that he didn't suffer. The sentence is harder to type than I imagined. I had to pause in the middle of it. We wouldn't have been able to talk baseball this year, at least in the traditional sense. Every conversation over the phone included a mention of the Orioles. Same with every visit, which on a few occasions...
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Roch Kubatko

A roll call of legends and others who also played for the Orioles

Orioles
A roll call of legends and others who also played for the Orioles
The boredom and mind-numbing, stay-at-home routine during the pandemic has led to some interesting and amusing entertainment ideas on Twitter, a place that often should be shut down or rationed in visits to avoid breathing in the pollution. The idea of wearing a mask should have started there. A recent thread was created with baseball players, famous for their years with a specific team, referred to in jest as another organization's legend. Players that fans might have forgotten actually wore...
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Roch Kubatko

Dwight Smith Jr. staying ready while waiting for baseball to return

Orioles
Dwight Smith Jr. staying ready while waiting for baseball to return
Orioles outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. no longer has MLB The Show to distract him from baseball's lengthy shutdown and uncertain future. He had a blast guiding his video team to a fifth-place finish and a playoff berth as the organization's representative and earning top honors as manager with the current roster. Now he's back to full-on pandemic life like everyone else. Smith isn't ready to offer advice to Orioles manager Brandon Hyde or think about the next phase of his professional life....
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Roch Kubatko

More on the baseball stoppage

Orioles
More on the baseball stoppage
The Orioles would have been wrapping up a three-game series this afternoon in Toronto if the coronavirus pandemic hadn't short-circuited the season. Thirty-six games already would be in the books, assuming there were no postponements. The Orioles would enjoy an off-day Thursday, along with the rest of us, and host the Angels for a weekend series. This is how it's supposed to be playing out. The baseball world stopped spinning on March 12 with spring training camps shut down and players in...
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Roch Kubatko

More questions that linger during the shutdown

Orioles
More questions that linger during the shutdown
As a young boy growing up in Severn, I used to believe that I'd have all the answers as soon as I reached adulthood. No more confusion and anxiety. Life would be much simpler. If my parents were so smart, I'd naturally become wiser over the years. Boy, was I dumb. Part of my job at MASN and MASNsports.com is to field questions, but I've got plenty of my own. And the coronavirus pandemic won't lighten the load. For instance: * Would the team that wins the World Series this year celebrate it...
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Roch Kubatko

Castro facing hitters this week while increasing workouts back home

Orioles
Castro facing hitters this week while increasing workouts back home
The last trip to the mound by Miguel Castro in an exhibition game resulted in three batters faced and three strikeouts. He left on such a high note that it should have come with a safety net. There's no real momentum in baseball. It's been described as the next day's starting pitcher. And any drops of it would have evaporated since Castro received his congratulatory handshakes and hugs in the visiting dugout at the Yankees complex in Tampa. Castro blew through the Yankees on March 6, learned...
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Roch Kubatko

Powell "just trying to stay healthy and not do anything stupid"

Orioles
Powell "just trying to stay healthy and not do anything stupid"
Players stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic are adapting to life away from baseball. A shock to the system. They've been playing the sport since they were kids. For fun and later as a profession. Their body clocks are wired to it. The shutdown can challenge them both mentally and physically. "It just reminds me of a lockout or a strike, but with more consequences," said former outfielder Eric Davis, in his 12th season as a Reds special assistant. "When you have a lockout or a...
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Roch Kubatko

Castro helping back home during baseball's shutdown

Orioles
Castro helping back home during baseball's shutdown
Miguel Castro vowed back in February to return home to the Dominican Republic following the 2020 season, with no fears or trepidations created from the previous month's robbery that almost cost him more than just a couple of gold chains. The Orioles reliever made the trip much sooner than he expected with sports shutting down due to the coronavirus pandemic. And he's using the time to help people who are less fortunate, still immersed in his community rather than hiding out or keeping a lower...
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Roch Kubatko

Powell also a cancer survivor in Orioles family

Orioles
Powell also a cancer survivor in Orioles family
While Eric Davis was undergoing colon cancer surgery and chemotherapy treatments in 1997, one of the most popular players in franchise history - a member of its Hall of Fame and satisfier of pit beef cravings - would be subjected to a similar procedure and regimen in the exact same summer. Davis was diagnosed in June during the first of his two seasons in Baltimore. Former first baseman Boog Powell, who played in four World Series with the Orioles and was voted Most Valuable Player in the...
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Roch Kubatko

Remembering Eric Davis' comeback from colon cancer

Orioles
Remembering Eric Davis' comeback from colon cancer
Trey Mancini is finding strength during his health crisis from family, friends and teammates who keep offering their love and support. Who have been propping him up without violating orders for social distancing. His girlfriend, Sara, held his hand as the doctor in Baltimore passed along the diagnosis of Stage 3 colon cancer. "Squeezing it, actually," he wrote in The Players' Tribune. Inspiration also comes from former Orioles outfielder Eric Davis, who learned in June 1997 that the...
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