At his offseason home in Florida last Thursday night, while it was very cold in Baltimore, O’s manager Brandon Hyde joined us from a much warmer climate. When Brett Hollander and I hosted the season debut edition of the "Hot Stove" radio show on WBAL Radio, Hyde was a guest.

Not to rub it in, but when asked how the weather was in his neighborhood at that time, he told us he was in shorts and getting ready to cookout.

Yeah, that could work.

On matters relating to his baseball team, Hyde provided a few other thoughts.

Please note this interview took place before the O's weekend agreements with Tyler O'Neill and Gary Sanchez. And he cannot publicly talk about that pair anyway until the O's make those signings official. That seems likely to come this week during the Winters Meetings in Dallas. 

The Orioles have agreed to a contract with a right-handed hitter with thump, filling one key need on their offseason wish list. They came to terms with free agent outfielder Tyler O’Neill on a three-year deal for $49.5 million. The deal has yet to be officially announced.

O’Neill is the first free agent the O’s acquired with a multi-year deal since Mike Elias took over as general manager. He can opt out after the 2025 season, which would essentially make this a one-year deal.

O’Neill, who turns 30 on June 22, last year for Boston made 56 starts in left field, 34 in right field and 17 as the DH. His addition seems to make it quite unlikely now that the O’s will re-sign free agent outfielder Anthony Santander.

O'Neill was named the Red Sox Comeback Player of the Year by the Baseball Writers' Association of America's Boston chapter. O’Neill missed 27 games due to three stints on the injured list. He went to the seven-day concussion IL on April 18 and also went on the IL May 29 with right knee inflammation and Aug. 7 with a lower leg infection.

Over 113 games and 473 plate appearances with Boston, he hit .241/.336/.511/.847 with a 132 OPS+ that was just below Santander’s 134.

For Orioles lefty Trevor Rogers, the key to getting some velocity back and hopefully his previous big league form with it could come from his legs.

During this previous interview here with Rogers, he said weight room work will be big for him this winter. And that he learned via trips to Driveline Baseball in Phoenix, that his lower body strength was not what was needed. 

“The Orioles and Driveline, we’ve been in constant communication, just making sure we are all on the same page,” said Rogers, 27. “We looked at the numbers and my lower body strength was far below average. So, it correlates with velocity.

“To be honest I was happy to see that. If everything was right in the middle or average, we might have a bigger question. But knowing that was lacking and it contributed to my lower velocity, I was excited to know there is an answer. And I can work to attain the goal of getting stronger.”

Last year Rogers was traded from Miami to the Orioles on July 30^th for Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers. He had a 7.11 ERA in four O’s starts before being sent to the minors where he finished the year at Triple-A Norfolk. He made one terrible start for the Tides (pitching when he was ill), but had an ERA of 2.96 his last four Tides starts.

We got more evidence last night that while the Orioles are very aware that their offense fell off big late last season, they still see an overall good offense and one that does not need a major change or overhaul.

We are talking about individuals working to make their own improvements, helping the team improve.

A Baltimore offense that ranked fourth in the majors in 2024 scoring 4.85 runs per game is not going to undergo massive alterations.

On the first edition for this winter of the Orioles “Hot Stove Radio Show” last night on WBAL Radio in Baltimore, O’s hitting coach Cody Asche was a guest.

He knows the offense was part of the blame for the team going 26-27 from Aug. 1 on. The Orioles scored one run in two playoff games.

It has been a somewhat slow Hot Stove season thus far in terms of signings. But the stove may be really about to get hot.

The biggest free agent prize – outfielder Juan Soto – may be close to signing and it could happen during the Winter Meetings that begin on Monday. He has been the most talked about player this offseason and that will hold up until he signs.

Will the dam burst after that?

This is what many in the industry seem to believe. Once Soto is off the market, teams may pivot to outfielders Anthony Santander and Teoscar Hernández and really kick off the pursuit of position players. Big dollar teams that miss out on Soto, could move back to the high-end starting pitcher market chasing the likes of Corbin Burnes and Max Fried.

Where does this leave the Orioles?

With Grayson Rodriguez returning next year after what turned out to be a season-ending injury in 2024 and with Corbin Burnes possibly leaving via free agency, the one man standing alone atop the Baltimore rotation right now is 30-year-old right-hander Zach Eflin, a veteran of nine seasons with three teams who has made 174 career starts.

Eflin, under contract next year for $18 million, is easily the O’s current highest-paid player. That could change but right now he’s No. 1.

The O’s picked up that tab for next season on July 26 last summer when they completed the trade with Tampa Bay to acquire Eflin and gave up three top 30 prospects in Jackson Baumeister, and position players Mac Horvath and Matthew Etzel.

In 28 starts between the Rays and Orioles in 2024, he went 10-9 with a 3.59 ERA over 165 1/3 innings. He had a 1.149 WHIP allowing just 1.3 walks per nine with 7.3 strikeouts. His 3.5 percent walk rate ranked in the top two percent of MLB.

Eflin sure showed his strong command and control during his first eight of nine regular season starts for the Orioles, allowing no walks or one. He then walked five in 4 2/3 in his last regular season outing versus the Yankees.

It is a slow trend down in baseball. It is pitcher strikeout rates per every nine innings. In the shortened 2020 season, pitchers in MLB averaged 9.1 strikeout per every nine innings. The year after the mark was 8.9. Last season it was down to 8.6 per nine.

It is nothing too significant at this point and there is still plenty of swing and miss in the game. But at some point, contact skills and players that don’t strike out that much may be valued again.

Ironically it was a pitcher somewhat known for strikeouts that brought this trend to my attention. It was right-hander Corbin Burnes during an interview this year in May. Burnes began the 2024 season pitching Opening Day for the Orioles and he fanned 11 Los Angeles Angels in a dominant outing. But over his next eight starts he never fanned more than six in a game. On May 13 at home versus Toronto, Burnes fanned just two batters. 

It was a day or two after that start that I asked Burnes about the Toronto hitters’ approach that night and I asked him where all his strikeouts had gone?

“We are seeing a different approach against me,” Burnes said during that interview. “It was easy to see what that Blue Jays lineup approach was - if they got to two strikes, they were doing all that they can to put the ball in play. I think that is kind of how the game is changing. You are seeing lineups change to more of a contact approach. Things tend to happen more when the ball is put in play.

For Orioles lefty pitcher Trevor Rogers, things were moving fast. Spiraling on him a bit. On July 30 he was traded from Miami to the Orioles, who gave up Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers to get him. Less than a month later – after four mostly ineffective starts for his new club – he was sent to Triple-A.

This was not going the right direction.

He had pitched to an ERA of 3.17 in his last nine Miami starts before the trade but had an ERA of 7.11 in four O’s outings.

A National League All-Star as a rookie in 2021, a season that ended with his second-place Rookie of the Year finish, he could not get it done for his new club. Not only would he not help Baltimore get back to the postseason, now he was going back to the minors.

But on his way out of Baltimore, where he had a WHIP of 1.842 in four games, he had a conversation that was encouraging.

For someone who covers the minor leagues as I do it is a question to ponder: When referring to the Baysox moving forward, do I go with Chesapeake, their new name, or in some cases is Bowie still acceptable?

A case like when I refer to a player who spent time in 2024 with the Baysox. They were still Bowie then, so do I say this player hit such and such at High-A Aberdeen and this number at Double-A Bowie? Or just use Chesapeake?

There is no handbook and there are no right or wrong answers.

But in noting some recent stories in this space, I did report on the name change to the Chesapeake Baysox.

“I think when we looked at where our fans are coming from, we wanted to be inclusive of the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed,” said Brian Shallcross, in his 20^th year as Baysox general manager. “We saw people coming from the Eastern Shore, west of the Potomac. We were surprised when we dug into the stats of just how far and ranging our fanbase was. We wanted to be inclusive of all those fans without forgetting our roots.”

As the search for starting pitching goes on throughout MLB, all teams, including the Orioles, might be taking note of free-agent right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.

The right-hander is a remarkably consistent pitcher in recent seasons, who at his age will not command a long-term deal or the major dollars of the top-tier pitchers.

Eovaldi is also known as a big-game pitcher who had an outstanding postseason run as his Texas Rangers won the 2023 World Series.

He will turn 35 on Feb. 13, but there is still a lot to like here about both his talent and expected price tag.

Since 2020, his ERA has been between 3.63 and 3.87 each year. For the Rangers, he pitched 144 innings during the 2023 season and then another 36 2/3 in six postseason starts. Last year he pitched 170 2/3 innings, going 12-8 with a 3.80 ERA for Texas. He allowed just 147 hits with a 1.107 WHIP, 2.2 walks per nine and 8.8 strikeouts.

For Orioles top 30 catching prospect Creed Willems, some mental skills work this year help his physical talents play and show more often.

One can help the other and for Willems in 2024, it did.

The lefty-hitting catcher, who turned 21 in June, played 98 games this past season, the first 82 with High-A Aberdeen and the last 16 with Double-A Chesapeake. He missed about a month starting July 9 due to a left hamstring issue. He then played well for Surprise in the Arizona Fall League. It was a solid season that sets him up to make a run at Triple-A maybe in the second half of next year if he can handle Double-A pitchers and his own hurlers when back behind the plate.

He is ranked as the club’s No. 22 prospect by MLBPipeline.com and No. 25 via Baseball America.

“I thought it went really well. Other than the month of May, had a really tough month (with a .612 OPS),” he said in a recent phone interview. “But, worked on what I needed to work on. Pushing through the highs and lows and just keep a steady head. I was really proud of what I did this past year.

A new Baseball America O’s top 10 prospects list dropped this week. Before or even after you get to your Turkey today, take a look at the list and a few thoughts on each player.

1 – Catcher Samuel Basallo: The big man with the big bat ascends to the top spot. Now it’s a matter of time before he makes his MLB debut. A shining star for the O’s international program, he now has plenty of company among the O’s top 30 with numerous other international talents.

He played in the Futures Game in July and Minor League Baseball named him as the Top MLB Prospect in the Double-A-Eastern League. He moved to Triple-A late in the year, where, after a 7-for-44 start, he batted .297 with an .810 OPS his last 11 Triple-A Norfolk games.

2 – Infielder Coby Mayo: Another big man with a big bat. The minor league numbers were pretty special, but he was swinging and missing a ton in his brief time with the Orioles. Patience needed here. Once Mayo hits that first 450-foot shot in the majors, plenty of more are likely to follow. Biggest question for his future – what position will he play?

3 – Outfielder Heston Kjerstad: He has been on the O’s playoff rosters the last two Octobers. Now he could be the replacement in right field if Anthony Santander's signs with another club. The No. 2 pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, the O’s soon need to figure out what they have here. He’s had 814 plate appearances in Double-A and Triple-A over the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

The trend for O’s young players and some of the top prospects in the last year or two has been to come to the big leagues and struggle initially. It doesn’t happen every time, but it has happened a lot of the time.

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez and outfielder Colton Cowser are two prime examples. In his first 10 MLB starts during the 2023 season, Rodriguez went 2-2 with a 7.35 ERA and .956 OPS against. It got better for him. During that same ’23 season, over 77 plate appearances (yes, a small sample) Cowser hit. 115 with an OPS of .433.

Rodriguez, as was Cowser, was sent back to the minors after those initial struggles in 2023. In July of that year he came back a different pitcher. In fact, in his last 33 games, he has gone 18-6 with a 3.35 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. He has 18 quality starts allowing a .237 batting average and .664 OPS. His groundball rate is 45.7 and that helped him keep the ball in the park allowing 0.84 homers per nine since that July 2023 date.

Cowser just posted a second-place finish for the AL Rookie of the Year, losing out to Yankees right-hander Luis Gil after a strong first full season in the majors.

Watching Rodriguez go from pitching to a 7.35 ERA to pitching like a No. 1 or No. 2 starter and watching Cowser go from hitting .115 to getting Rookie of the Year votes, reminds us it can take a while for young players to reach their potential or to trend up on the stat sheet.

We found out yesterday that former O’s backup catcher Robinson Chirinos and the O’s Triple-A manager Buck Britton, are joining their big league coaching staff.

Those hires no doubt will be most popular in the clubhouse. A clubhouse that Chirinos shared in 2022 with Adley Rutschman, Ryan Mountcastle, Gunnar Henderson, Cedric Mullins, Dean Kremer, Kyle Bradish and several others. That 2022 season was the year the Orioles went from 52 to 83 wins. They ended the losing and set the stage for playoff appearances in 2023 and 2024.

During that 2022 season, I had several enjoyable interactions and interviews with Chirinos, a player his then cohorts called a “a great teammate.”

That summer he told me being called that was important to him.

“It is (meaningful to me). When you understand as a player it’s not about you; it’s about the team. It’s about how many people you can impact on your team. So many people we talk every single day to that end that make baseball more fun. This game is so hard every day. When you take away the focus on yourself and you’re trying to get the best out of people, it makes baseball more fun.

For as good a year as Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. had and same for the Yankees Juan Soto, we knew they were not going to win the American League's MVP award. On Thursday that went to New York’s Aaron Judge, who got all 30 first-place votes as a unanimous selection.

Witt was second in the voting, Soto was third and the Orioles' Gunnar Henerson was fourth. A strong showing for the Baltimore shortstop, who was eighth in the AL MVP vote in 2023 when he was the AL Rookie of the Year.

Soto finished with 229 points in the balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and Gunnar was at 208. On six of 30 ballots, the writer placed Henderson third, ahead of Soto.

What O’s fan would not celebrate that?

An Oriole being voted on a few ballots ahead of a Yankee, especially one with hot dog tendencies that has the cocky approach of Soto.

In the Orioles' search for a top-of-the-rotation type starting pitcher, they could turn back to a pitcher whose name came up a lot at the midseason trade deadline – lefty Garret Crochet. 

Baseball insiders feel he is a prime trade prospect right now. He has two years of team control left for the Chicago White Sox, but they are not likely to win much in those two seasons. He could help them more in the future when they hope to be better by acquiring young position player talent to help them down the road.

To get Crochet for the next two years, a team will have to part with some premium talent very likely. If the Orioles were willing to part with one of Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo or Heston Kjerstad they could get the White Sox's attention. But that is a pretty big if. Very big.

MLB Network insider Jon Heyman recently said four clubs - the Orioles, Red Sox, Dodgers and Phillies - are showing the most interest in acquiring the left-hander.

Crochet, age 25, went 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA for a 121-loss team. Over 146 innings he allowed 123 hits with a 1.068 WHIP with 2.0 walks per nine and 12.9 strikeouts. He didn’t have enough innings to qualify for league leaders but would have been first in K/9, sixth in WHIP and 10^th in opponent OPS at .642.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – So now the score is 2-2. There are two Orioles full-season affiliates that use a very specific home name, as in the Triple-A Norfolk Tides and the High-A Aberdeen IronBirds. Now two have a more regional look: the Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds and, as of yesterday, the Double-A Chesapeake Baysox, formerly the Bowie Baysox.

“I think when we looked at where our fans are coming from, we wanted to be inclusive of the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed,” said Brian Shallcross, in his 20^th year as Baysox general manager. “We saw people coming from the Eastern Shore, west of the Potomac. We were surprised when we dug into the stats of just how far and ranging our fanbase was. We wanted to be inclusive of all those fans without forgetting our roots.”

Shallcross noted that the club went through a two-year process to change the name and meet all Major League Baseball approvals. The Orioles were involved throughout. They don’t own this team, but it’s their farm system.

So, what changes now?

“Well, I think what changes, basically, is we want to make sure that everybody knows they are welcome in our ballpark," Shallcross said. "Anywhere within the Chesapeake - and, heck, you saw we’ve sold tickets to fans from 42 states and Maryland – but anywhere, really, in the watershed we want to be welcoming and a destination.”

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Orioles current longest-running minor league affiliation is with their Double-A team since 1993, the Bowie Baysox. And as of this morning, the team has a new name, the Chesapeake Baysox.

The team found during the 2024 season, that it welcomed fans from 378 zip codes and all 23 counties across the state of Maryland and from 43 states nationwide.

To better reflect its regional drawing power, the Bowie-based team now becomes the Chesapeake Baysox. The club will remain at Prince George’s Stadium where it holds a long-term lease to continue as home base.

Today’s announcement, at The Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Annapolis, was made by Attain Sports CEO Greg Baroni. The announcement was attended by Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and director of minor league operations Kent Qualls.

Attain Sports, which purchased the Baysox in January of 2022, also just recently bought a controlling interest in the O’s High-A Aberdeen IronBirds club with the Ripken family maintaining an ownership stake. Attain also owns the Frederick Keys of the MLB Draft League, the Spire City Ghost Hounds of the Atlantic League and Loudoun of the United Soccer League.

There is publicly available data from outlets like FanGraphs.com and BaseballSavant.com that can provide us some, shall we say, just beyond the basic stats information.

My curiosity yesterday led me to this question: How did opponents pitch the Orioles this season? Did they get more fastballs than other teams saw or less? Which pitches did they see more than others?

Here is what the O's batters were thrown this year and how that ranked in MLB and the ranking is from first (as in they saw the most fastballs to 30th, they saw the least) to least.

* Fastballs - 47.6 percent, 16th in MLB.

* Sliders - 20.1 percent, 30th in MLB.

For eight players from the Orioles organization, the 2024 Arizona Fall League provided some nice high-level additional experience. Not only did they play on a Surprise Saguaros team that had the best record in the six-team league at 18-10, they played in the AFL championship game.

Salt River beat Surprise 3-2, but players got in extra work the last few weeks that could benefit them down the road.

The Fall League experience was also nice for Surprise manager Roberto Mercado, who managed the Orioles High-A Aberdeen teams in 2022 and 2023 and was skipper this past season at Double-A Bowie.

The Baysox were 62-75 this season. Aberdeen went 147-120 in his two seasons there, advancing to the playoffs in a 2022 season which ended with Mercado being named the O’s Cal Ripken Sr. Player Development Award winner.

A former head coach at New Britian High School in Connecticut, who has several years' experience also coaching in the Cape Cod League, Mercado managed an AFL team featuring prospects from the Orioles, Astros, Guardians, Royals and Rangers.