Every team passed on the opportunity to claim outfielder Jhonkensy Noel on waivers, which enabled the Orioles to outright him to Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday. A relatively small roster move that kept “Big Christmas” in the organization.

Is it a big deal?

How he’d fit on an Opening Day roster isn’t apparent. It’s downright confusing.

A corner outfielder/first baseman with a minus-1.4 bWAR last season doesn’t necessarily fill a need. It’s more about the intrigue that comes from his raw power and the organizational perception that he can be fixed after slashing .193/.242/.401 in 136 games with the Guardians and striking out 115 times.

There’s a tremendous amount of trust in the hitting philosophies and instruction, and the Orioles added two new coaches in Dustin Lind and Brady North. We also can assume that new manager Craig Albernaz put in a good word after serving as Guardians bench coach for the past two seasons.

The Orioles who have lost only two American League East series this year - one to the Yankees, one to the Blue Jays - get back into division play tonight when they host Boston to start a four-game series at Oriole Park.

The Orioles (71-50) and the third-place Red Sox (63-56) are the only two clubs in the division that have winning records in 2024 in AL East games.

.667 - Orioles (26-13)
.519 - Boston (14-13)
.489 - New York (22-23)
.425 - Tampa Bay (17-23)
.415 - Toronto (17-24)

The Orioles are 8-2-2 this season in 12 AL East series. They are 18-2-6 their past 26 division series dating to early last April.

The Birds are 5-1 this season versus Boston, sweeping three in Boston from April 9-11 and going 2-1 at home May 27-29. The O's in this series have a chance to win each of their first three series against Boston in a season for the first time since 1976.