The freshness and boundless optimism of a new season haven’t kept another series of injuries from striking the Orioles.

They can run and dive, but they can’t hide.

The latest blow arrived this morning with outfielder Colton Cowser going on the 10-day injured list with a fractured left thumb. Manager Brandon Hyde expects Cowser to miss a minimum of six-to-eight weeks.

This isn’t how the Orioles wanted to begin their home Opening Day.

“It’s a big loss,” Hyde said. “This is a guy who was second in Rookie of the Year last year. … It’s going to be at least a couple months and gives other guys opportunity. It’s not gonna be the last injury we have this season. We’re gonna have things pop up and that’s why you create depth, and it gives other guys opportunities. But it’s a blow because Colton’s a really good player.”

TORONTO – Orioles reliever Albert Suárez went on the 15-day injured list this afternoon with right shoulder inflammation, a move that’s backdated to yesterday.

Matt Bowman’s contract was selected from Triple-A Norfolk. He’s wearing No. 51.

The 40-man roster is full.

Suárez allowed one earned run and two total with five hits in 2 2/3 innings Friday night, and his fastball velocity was about two mph lower than his average in 2024. Bowman gives the bullpen a fresh arm and one capable of providing length.

The Orioles selected Bowman’s contract last Sunday on his opt-out date, designated him for assignment before Opening Day and outrighted him to Norfolk. He made 15 appearances with the Orioles last season and posted a 3.45 ERA in 15 2/3 innings.

TORONTO – Charlie Morton paced back and forth in the dugout, the frustration keeping the veteran starter on his feet. His Orioles debut lasted 80 pitches in only 3 1/3 innings, two inherited runners scored and a lead fell apart like his outing.

There will be better days and nights for Morton. This one was a challenge from the beginning with a barrage of hard-hit balls from a Blue Jays team perhaps still ornery from yesterday’s Opening Day beatdown.

Jackson Holliday homered in the third inning and Tyler O’Neill had a sacrifice fly in the fourth, but the Jays put five runs on the board in the bottom half and won 8-2 at Rogers Centre.

No one’s getting a sweep in this series.

The Orioles raised the bar yesterday with 12 runs and six homers, but the bats calmed tonight. They were held to three hits and committed two errors.

TORONTO – Orioles reliever Bryan Baker hasn’t been told anything.

Infielder Livan Soto hasn’t been told anything.

They have lockers in the visiting clubhouse at Rogers Center and they participated in this afternoon’s workout. However, they didn’t receive confirmations that they’re on the Opening Day roster. Those conversations are on hold.

The assumptions are understandable, of course.

Matt Bowman and Roansy Contreras, the in-house competitors with Baker for the last bullpen spot, didn’t have lockers and they weren’t seen in the clubhouse or on the field.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles were on the brink of exploding, and in a good way. This wasn’t dissension. It was celebration.

They won 101 games and the division in 2023, stomping the rebuild into submission. The champagne was on ice after the clincher and players were handed goggles in the clubhouse to protect their eyes.

“You don’t need glasses,” veteran pitcher Kyle Gibson shouted. “The burn’s the best part.”

Now that’s leadership.

Free agency appeared to burn Gibson but he’s returning after signing a one-year contract last night for $5.25 million. Injuries dug into the Orioles’ depth. Gibson is one of the remedies. It just won’t be immediate with the need to undergo his own spring training and ramp-up.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Félix Bautista finally made it back into a Grapefruit League game tonight, his first in a week, and he stuck around for two outs and 26 pitches.

If the idea was to gain clarity on his status for Opening Day, the mission failed.

Bautista surrendered a wind-aided, opposite-field home run to Zach McKinstry. He struck out two batters but also walked two. Afterward, he described the outing as “good, excellent,” via interpreter Brandon Quinones.

“Apart from everything, I felt good, my arm feels really good,” he said. “I think right now the most important thing is feeling healthy and making sure I feel good out there.

The fastball topped out again at 98 mph and was clocked at 97 four times.

TAMPA – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde saw the changes in Albert Suárez during the right-hander’s third exhibition appearance. More life to the fastball, the same as last spring, which enabled him to get the four-seamer past hitters at the top of the zone. And the off-speed stuff actually is better than a year ago.

“I think it developed over the course of the season,” Hyde said earlier today.

“I thought he had command of everything last time out.”

And again today.

After limiting the Twins to one run in 3 2/3 innings, Suárez allowed two runs and struck out six Yankees while becoming the first Orioles pitcher to complete four innings in a game this spring. He retired the first eight batters with only one ball out of the infield and carried a shutout into the fourth before back-to-back doubles from Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt and a one-out, run-scoring single from Dominic Smith.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Grayson Rodriguez didn’t make it through the second inning for the second time this spring.

Just trust the process.

Rodriguez came out of today’s game against the Twins after hitting Austin Martin with one out. He threw 33 pitches, 20 strikes, with a noticeable drop in velocity.

The four-seam fastball averaged 93.2 mph, topping out at 95.3 on Ryan Jeffers’ strikeout in the first. Christian Vazquez led off the second with a double into left-center field on an 89.5 mph fastball.

That wasn’t the issue, according to Rodriguez.

SARASOTA, Fla. – A week of exhibition games seems like an appropriate time to share some observations before the Orioles play the Pirates this afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium. Cade Povich opposes Paul Skenes in a rematch from Spring Breakout, except this one airs on MASN.

Povich went three innings and allowed two runs, but hardly anyone noticed because Skenes was the dominant figure before he threw a pitch. Skenes retired the side in order in his only inning, striking out Jackson Holliday and Enrique Bradfield Jr.

That's the distant past. Let’s move a little closer.

* Rodolfo Martinez is a camp darling, though I wouldn’t necessarily use that word around him because the scowl could melt concrete. Media became infatuated with his high-velocity fastball, impressive side and live batting practice sessions and absence from an affiliated team since being in the Giants system in 2019. Who doesn’t love a good camp story?

Comparisons to Albert Suárez were inevitable because of their similar treks through foreign countries. In Martinez’s case, he’s still waiting to make his major league debut.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The exhibition games started today and Jackson Holliday kept working out.

He wasn't on the back fields. He was playing second base and fielding everything hit at him.

Holliday got the final out in the first inning on Darick Hall's grounder, made the play on Liover Peguero's ball in the second that Albert Suárez deflected, and handled Joshua Palacios' grounder to close out the inning.

The position no longer is new to Holliday and it seems to be coming more naturally to him.

"I'm feeling a lot more comfortable," he said. "Today was good. Got a lot of ground balls, a lot more than I think I did last spring training total, so happy about that. I'm a lot more comfortable, a lot more comfortable in practice, and to be able to get the first few ground balls out of the way is great."

SARASOTA, Fla. – Because he didn’t play winter ball, Orioles pitcher Albert Suárez is in the best shape of his life.

He really means it.

Suárez didn’t join Caracas in Venezuela after making 32 appearances with the Orioles last season and totaling a career-high 133 2/3 innings in his return to the majors. He rested, he worked out and he earned the first exhibition start Saturday afternoon against the Pirates in Sarasota.

“For me, just how I prepared in the offseason,” he said of receiving the honor. “I think I’m well prepared to be able to start the first game of spring training. So it means a lot.”

Times can change quickly and Suárez is a baseball example. He reported to camp last spring as a non-roster invite and impressed the Orioles to the point that they selected his contract in April. Now he’s practically a lock to be introduced on Opening Day in Toronto.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The drama was building. Manager Brandon Hyde walked to the entrance of the baseball operations center, where media gathers for his morning scrum, and teased the day’s big news.

Who’s starting the exhibition opener Saturday afternoon against the Pirates at Ed Smith Stadium?

Hyde asked for everyone’s predictions, which were written down on a notepad. He listened to the names and confirmed that one person got it right.

Albert Suárez will do the honors on the MASN broadcast.

“Just lining things up, honestly,” Hyde said. “Albert’s ready to go and we’re just kind of going in order a little bit. Like I said, don’t read anything into it. Big Al is ready and you work back from the first day of the season and do the best you can, and things change all the way through that. You shuffle some things around. But we’re stretching Al as a starter and we’ll see how it goes.”

SARASOTA, Fla. – Tomoyuki Sugano can work through a lineup and jet lag with similar ease.

The first bullpen session for Sugano this morning lived up to the tremendous hype. He threw 35 pitches and exhibited his usual pinpoint control. Only the slider was omitted from a repertoire that consisted of a four-seam fastball, cutter, splitter, sinker and curveball.

“It’s everything that was advertised when we started vetting him in free agency,” said pitching coach Drew French. “That’s what our scouts said and our org loves... We think at times it’s going to be 80 command. It’s really, really good. Definitely sides of the plate, he understands horizontal game, and how he mixed his pitches. It was just nice to finally be in person and see him do his work.”

Sugano was late to camp while obtaining his visa in Tokyo, his arrival delayed until Saturday, and he requested that his debut in the 'pen be pushed back from yesterday. He was totally worth the wait.

“I was happy to have good command in today’s session, so that was good,” he said via interpreter Yuto Sakurai.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles are hoping to catch Albert Suárez in a bottle.

They signed pitcher Rodolfo Martinez to a minor league contract on Nov. 1, the magnitude of it pretty much lost on the baseball world. He hadn’t been with an affiliated team since 2019 in the Giants system, with his travels taking him to the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Japan.

Sounds kind of familiar, except Suárez signed with the Orioles in September 2023 after pitching in Japan and Korea, his last affiliated ball was 2018 and he appeared in 40 major league games with the Giants from 2016-17.

“I was in San Francisco before the pandemic and then they sent us home for two weeks while everything was supposed to get cleared out, but as we all know, that didn’t happen,” Martinez said. “The Giants cleared house and they didn’t want me there anymore.”

The most important similarity would be for Martinez to have the same success as Suárez, who made 24 starts and eight relief appearances for the Orioles last season after reporting to camp as a non-roster invitee and registered a 3.70 ERA in 133 2/3 innings. He was in come-to-the-rescue mode as rotation injuries piled up, and he could provide length out of the bullpen.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The decision to sign with the Orioles came easily to outfielder Tyler O’Neill. It wasn’t just the money, though the idea of being paid $49.5 million over three seasons with an opt-out clause after the first year enticed him.

“It was always chasing Baltimore last year,” he said.

O’Neill caught them via contract negotiations.

He spent last summer with the Red Sox after six with the Cardinals, enabling him to form his opinion of the Orioles.

“Playing in the AL East, I’m familiar with the division,” he said. "Baltimore’s the team to beat. Obviously, when they have interest in me early in the offseason, I was really excited about that. Just really excited to join these guys and get going.

I’m dumping more mailbag questions into your laps. I'll handle the next batch.

We’ve pondered whether Zach Eflin or Grayson Rodriguez would be the No. 1 starter as the roster’s currently set, who’s the No. 5 starter, the chances that Jackson Holliday platoons, how much Heston Kjerstad plays, whether the Orioles trade for Luis Castillo, and if the Orioles are done making moves for position players.

Here are a few more. Share your answers with the class.

Does Nick Gordon have any shot at making the team in spring training?

On paper, it seems highly unlikely.

Sure the Orioles, like most teams that don’t have one, could use an ace pitcher. They still hope to add one before the start of the 2025 season. 

But their current rotation has the makings of being a good one.

Here is how it looks today:

Zach Eflin: He is the probable Opening Day starter. After the trade to the Orioles, over nine starts, he went 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA. Only nine pitchers, including the Orioles' Corbin Burnes, that qualified, posted season-long ERAs under 3.00. To do it even for nine starts was impressive.

Eflin finished sixth for the 2023 American League Cy Young Award and has been among the best pitchers in the American League. Over the last two years, while Burnes posted a 3.15 ERA and 1.083 WHIP, Eflin was at 3.54 and 1.085.

Here we are again, blowing up roster projections in November. Stand back and cover your ears.

I want to cover my eyes every time one of my locks doesn’t pan out.

We learned more about the roster with yesterday's non-tender of right-handed reliever Jacob Webb. We know that Emmanuel Rivera has a $1 million contract that doesn’t guarantee him an Opening Day introduction. He’s out of options and the infield is crowded.

It appears to be the only set position. The Orioles could use a right-handed hitting outfielder and at least one starting pitcher. They need a backup catcher. And they’ve decided to make changes in the bullpen.

They seemed to have their eight relievers before removing Webb and left-hander Danny Coulombe, who combined for a 2.71 ERA and two elbow injuries. Coulombe underwent surgery to remove a bone chip and missed three months.

Reliever Burch Smith doesn’t rate as one of the bigger decisions awaiting the Orioles. However, he’s on their agenda.

Smith is eligible for arbitration despite his name being missing from some lists. He made $1 million this year, with the Orioles paying the prorated minimum salary after selecting his contract on July 11.

The Rays signed Smith as a free agent on Jan. 2. The Marlins acquired him on March 27 in a cash transaction and released him on June 20. The Orioles signed him a week later.

The Orioles optioned Dillon Tate on the day that they brought Smith to the majors. As if you’d forget.

Smith appeared in 25 games and posted a 5.74 ERA and 1.050 WHIP in 26 2/3 innings. He started out with four scoreless appearances, allowing one hit, walking none and striking out six, but he endured some rough patches, including five home runs over seven outings.  

When the Orioles swapped out pitchers late in the regular season to cover innings and allow manager Brandon Hyde to set up his bullpen for the postseason, they selected left-hander Tucker Davidson’s contract from Triple-A Norfolk, designated him for assignment a day later and recalled Colin Selby. When they set their Wild Card roster, they kept Selby and Cade Povich over Matt Bowman and Albert Suárez.

Left-hander Trevor Rogers didn’t get another chance with the Orioles.

He gets a fresh start next spring training. He needs it.

Rogers was optioned on Aug. 22, less than a month after the Orioles acquired him from the Marlins at the deadline for infielder Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers. He went 0-2 with a 7.11 ERA and 1.842 WHIP in four games and didn’t last more than five innings in any start.

Five appearances with Triple-A Norfolk produced a 5.65 ERA and 1.221 WHIP in 28 2/3 innings, but he strung together three quality starts in a row after allowing 10 runs in 4 1/3 innings in his Tides debut. It’s hard to bring down your numbers after that disaster.