-1745819772711.png){kind=logo}
Interim manager Tony Mansolino received the news of his bump from third base coach after a May 16 loss to the Nationals at Camden Yards, and his immediate thought turned to the rest of the staff. The uncertainty for everyone moving forward.
He could relate and sympathize.
Mansolino witnessed it through his childhood. He’s dealing with it now, unsure whether he’s returning in 2026. What's here today can be gone tomorrow.
“Listen, I grew up, and I can use my history as a kid, I watched my dad (Doug) be on one-year contracts for most of his career,” Mansolino said. “I watched my dad get fired, get sent home, have to look for a job, and just saw how that affected our family. I lived it, so I’m very sensitive to it and understand it. And in this situation here, I think once this all happened in May, my first reaction was the room, the staff. Because usually what happens in these scenarios is, things change quite a bit.
“Now, I’m hoping that our coaches are recognized for the job that they’ve done here over the last four months. I was just informed that, I guess we’re about to set a record for players used. I had no idea. But if we use that many players and we’ve traded everybody and done the whole deal, and our guys have played the way they have, I hope that reflects upon that coaching room in there. I really hope it does. And they deserve it.
“It is uncertain in a lot of ways and it is what we sign up for when you become a coach. It’s a very unstable profession. It just is what it is. But there’s still responsibility every single day to go out and do the job the right way. And by and large, without a doubt, our coaching staff here has done just that.”
Mansolino talked about the transition of going from minor league manager to major league coach, as Buck Britton did this year. Mansolino did it in reverse with his promotion to the interim job after Brandon Hyde’s firing.
“It’s a big change,” he said. “The conversations that are had as a coach and the conversations that are had as a manager are completely different. You have to have a lot of tough conversations, both with the staff and with the players. Relationships change. It really changes in a lot of ways. But they are completely different and they are really challenging in their own right, and I’ve enjoyed doing both.”
Mansolino has backed away from much of the instruction, with Britton inheriting the infield drills.
“I’m a technician, I’m a teacher, first and foremost,” Mansolino said. “Now, I’ve got four months of youth baseball coming, so I’m gonna be exhausted from teaching here pretty soon. So I’ll be OK, that void will get filled, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve been doing, too.”
The latest bullpen shakeup for the Orioles brought right-hander Jose Espada to Baltimore. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since making his lone appearance in 2023 with San Diego.
Espada, signed on July 26, had a 5.94 ERA, 1.140 WHIP and three saves in 16 games with Triple-A Norfolk.
“I kept believing in God and I feel like I did my work down in the minors and feel like I did what I had to do to earn this opportunity,” he said via interpreter Brandon Quinones.
Espada can become the 70th player used by the Orioles, which would tie the record set by the Marlins last year, as Mansolino referenced this afternoon. The Orioles have used 40 pitchers, two shy of the club record set in 2021, but Espada had to wait his turn.
“I know that we all work really hard, and me personally, when I see my teammates getting called up it makes me really happy,” he said. “I wasn’t frustrated or anything like that. I was just happy to see my teammates get the call.”
Asked about the challenges of evaluating this many relievers, Mansolino said, “I think they evaluate themselves.”
“I think how they pitch and how they throw, it does our job for us in a lot of ways. I think the reality is, of this group of guys that’s here, you’re probably going to get a couple that really put themselves into consideration for next year. I think the reality is that Mike (Elias, executive vice president/general manager) is probably going to go out and grab some bullpen guys this winter, several of them, at least, would be my guess.
“Some of these guys are putting themselves on the map and they do it through their performance, so they make it easier for us when they perform.”
Mansolino singled out Dietrich Enns and Kade Strowd as examples.
Enns has posted a 2.92 ERA in 14 games after the Orioles traded for him at the deadline. Strowd, a 12th-round pick in the 2019 draft out of West Virginia University, has a 1.50 ERA in 22 games and he’s surrendered only one home run in 24 innings.
“Kade Strowd’s been really interesting,” Mansolino said. “All I ever heard about with Kade was that he couldn’t throw a strike, so that’s not what we’re seeing here. And I think he’s probably gotten over that hump here in the last, probably, 18 months, is my understanding. He’s been really good, he’s really interesting. Just the calm demeanor that he has.
“He’s 28 years old, so he’s not a spring chicken, by any means. There’s some maturity there. It wasn’t a 23-year-old kid that is bright-eyed and just assumes he’s gonna be in the big leagues for the next 15 years, like a lot of guys do when they first get here. He’s had a tough road to get to this point and he’s had to kind of fight and scratch and claw for everything, so he stands out a lot.”
Jackson Holliday continues to lead the Orioles with 17 home runs, followed by Gunnar Henderson with 16. The last time the club didn't have at least one player reach the 20-homer mark in a full season was 2001, when Jay Gibbons and Chris Richard each finished with 15. Only five teams in Orioles history have gone a full season without a 20-homer player: 2001, 1974, 1957, 1955 and 1954.
For the Yankees
Paul Goldschmidt 1B
Aaron Judge RF
Cody Bellinger CF
Giancarlo Stanton DH
Amed Rosario 3B
Austin Slater LF
Jazz Chisholm Jr. 2B
Anthony Volpe SS
Austin Wells C
Will Warren RHP
Warren has a 3.28 ERA and 1.190 WHIP in 15 home starts and a 5.81 ERA and 1.608 WHIP in 16 road games.
