There are times when it must feel like manager Christian Frias and his players are operating under a cloak of anonymity.

The higher-level affiliates usually get the most attention as players inch closer to the major league roster. The Orioles have three teams in the state of Maryland with Double-A Chesapeake, High-A Aberdeen and Class A Delmarva, and Triple-A Norfolk is a relatively easy drive. But down in Sarasota, the Florida Complex League entry plays in intense heat and out of sight except for some locals.

The regular season is winding down, with only two games left and plenty of drama. The FCL Orioles split a doubleheader yesterday with the Twins, the team that they trail by two games for first place in the South Division and face two more times this week. They lead the FCL Blue Jays by one game for the Wild Card.

Developing players is the No. 1 priority, but victories also count in the minors, even on one of the lowest rungs of the organizational ladder.

“It’s development first, and if you happen to win while doing it, I mean, we’ll take it,” Frias said.

CLEVELAND – Every time the Orioles knocked on the door in Cleveland tonight, the Guardians answered. It resulted in the Guards taking Game 2 of this four-game series by a final score of 6-3.

"First half of the game didn’t go so well for us tonight and I thought we hung in there and the at-bats were good and we put up a couple runs as the game went on," interim manager Tony Mansolino said after the game. "Just, we have not gotten our bullpen kind of going to the same extent we probably had it going when we were playing our best ball a few weeks ago."

The O’s put up runs in innings five, six and seven. The Guardians did the same, plus some runs early with Baltimore starter Brandon Young on the mound. 

There’s not a big enough major league sample size to be confident in what kind of Young outing you’ll get. 

Thus far, his big league outings could be classified as solid, ones that aren't spectacular but keep you in most ballgames. In all but one start, his last, Young allowed four runs or fewer. A typical line could feature four innings of work and three earned runs.

CLEVELAND – There are plenty of dates circled on the calendar for the Orioles. 

The most notable one, and the biggest topic of conversation, comes in nine days: Major League Baseball’s trade deadline. Baltimore’s roster will look different, and interim manager Tony Mansolino is looking forward to Aug. 2, when the dust settles. 

But the most important date?

“Tonight!” Mansolino exclaimed with a laugh.

There’s some others, too.

Catcher Adley Rutschman began his injury rehab assignment this afternoon with Triple-A Norfolk and went 1-for-3 with a double and walk at Lehigh Valley.

Rutschman, who served as the designated hitter, hasn’t played for the Orioles since June 19 because of a strained left oblique. Interim manager Tony Mansolino told the assembled media in Cleveland that Rutschman will catch for the Tides on Wednesday and could be reinstated this weekend.

Samuel Basallo, the top prospect in the organization, remains out of the lineup with a sore oblique. He didn’t play over the weekend, but is beginning a hitting progression and could return this weekend.

Basallo, who turns 21 next month, is batting .264/.383/.591 with 11 doubles, 19 home runs and 48 RBIs in 62 games.  

Catcher Chadwick Tromp, on the injured list with a lower back strain, had his rehab assignment transferred to High-A Aberdeen.

The roster makeover that’s anticipated at the trade deadline could create a stiffer challenge in selecting a Most Valuable Oriole.

Players must be in the organization to remain eligible in voting by media that covers the team, or at least talks about it, with maybe the occasional stops at the ballpark.

(I want transparency in the voting because each season brings at least one ridiculous ballot. But I digress …)

Ryan O’Hearn, the lone All-Star on the team, profiles as the favorite. However, he could be gone by July 31. He’s generating the expected interest and he’s a pending free agent, which makes him a strong candidate.

Ramón Laureano deserves to be on the three-man ballot. He gave the Orioles a 5-3 lead last night with his 12^th homer, a two-run shot in the third inning. He certainly qualifies as one of the season’s biggest surprises, ranking second with a 2.2 bWAR, but will he get moved later this month?

CLEVELAND – The Guardians were knocking on the door all night. 

The home team in red had every opportunity to break the door down in their eventual 10-5 victory over the Orioles. Inning after inning, Cleveland just couldn't deliver with runners in scoring position. That was, at least, until a breakout seventh inning. 

Things did start out well for the visitors, though. 

Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson thought that their 1-2-3 placement in the lineup referred to how many singles they should count to start the game. Holliday made one, Westburg made two, and Henderson made three. 

Henderson made both three and one, actually. Three singles, one run, 1-0 Baltimore. 

CLEVELAND – The clock continues to tick towards the trade deadline in Birdland. As the Orioles begin a new series in Cleveland, the writing isn’t etched in stone, but it’s certainly on the wall. 

“The conversations that I’m having right now are more oriented towards seeing what’s out there for some of our available major league players,” Mike Elias recently said on MLB Network Radio. 

Just shy of 100 games into the regular season and 10 games under .500, it’s not the place that anyone thought the Orioles would find themselves in. Through gritted teeth, they must operate accordingly. 

“Mike and the organization have a responsibility to create sustainable success for the Baltimore Orioles for years to come,” interim manager Tony Mansolino added today. 

But on a day-to-day basis, deadline moves don’t change much for Mansolino. Of course, the players penciled into the lineup cards may be varied, new relievers will fill new roles, and different starters could be toeing the slab. But the goal is always the same. 

Reliever Vinny Nittoli is coming back to the Orioles organization.

Nittoli, 34, signed a minor league deal and is reporting to Triple-A Norfolk after opting out of his contract with the Brewers last week.

Nittoli posted a 3.86 ERA in 27 games with Triple-A Nashville, striking out 37 batters in 28 innings. He tossed four scoreless innings with the Orioles over two games in 2024.

Left-handed reliever Keegan Akin began his injury rehab assignment today in the Florida Complex League and tossed a scoreless first inning against the FCL Rays with one hit and two strikeouts.

Akin is on the injured list retractive to July 1 with left shoulder inflammation. He’s appeared in 39 games with the Orioles and posted a 3.32 ERA and 1.421 WHIP in 38 innings. He’s started three times as an opener.

TAMPA – Tony Mansolino is willing to talk about the weather and how miserably hot it gets in Florida. He loves to share stories about his two young sons, learning the sport through his father, Doug, and pretty much any topic that isn’t a guarded club secret. But just like his predecessor, Mansolino knows that most of the media sessions begin with injury and rehab updates.

There’s no escaping it – just like the heat.

The interim manager was happy to pass along the latest positive report on Kyle Bradish, who is following his two innings of live batting practice over the weekend with his first rehab start Thursday at High-A Aberdeen.

Bradish made his last Orioles appearance on June 14, 2024 against the Phillies, allowing two runs in five innings and coming out after only 74 pitches. The red flag was raised and flapped in the breeze. A pitcher who received a platelet-rich plasma injection in January after his diagnosis of an ulnar collateral ligament sprain was on borrowed time, and the clock struck 12 on a Baltimore evening.

We’ll assume that it was muggy.

TAMPA – The Orioles took a quick lead again this afternoon with Jackson Holliday’s leadoff home run. They built on it in the third inning with Alex Jackson’s first homer since last July. They keep playing to win, as reflected by the lineups, but there’s no escaping the reality of their situation.

Today’s 5-3 victory over the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field featured a 2-hour, 36-minute rain delay – longest of the season - prevented a sweep and left the Orioles 10 games below .500 at 44-54. They’re playing four this week in Cleveland before returning home. And each day that passes makes them wonder how much the clubhouse will change.

If it’s a distraction, the Orioles pushed it aside today. They led 4-0 by the third on Henderson’s 109.2 mph, two-run double off Ryan Pepiot. The only losses came later in the inning when plate umpire James Hoye ejected Ramón Laureano and interim manager Tony Mansolino.

Laureano thought he checked his swing on a strikeout, flung his helmet and protective padding at home plate and was tossed. Mansolino picked up the argument after Laureano walked away and received his first career major league ejection.

Ramón Urias entered the game at first base and Ryan O’Hearn moved to right field.

TAMPA – Kyle Bradish will begin his injury rehab assignment Thursday with High-A Aberdeen, staying on track for a second-half return to the Orioles’ rotation.

Bradish had two ups yesterday during live batting practice in Sarasota.

Adley Rutschman (oblique) will start his rehab assignment Tuesday with Triple-A Norfolk. He’s getting at-bats today against Tyler Wells, who’s nearing his own assignment.

First baseman Ryan Mountcastle (hamstring) will join Rutschman later in the week.

Left-hander Cade Povich (hip) starts Thursday or Friday at Norfolk.

TAMPA – Tony Mansolino is new to this whole managing thing, carrying his interim tag into every major league ballpark and a few of the minor league fill-ins, but he’s a quick study and knows that he can’t control the narrative.

The media’s gonna media.

The pressure of the approaching trade deadline could be impacting the Orioles, who are predicted by some outlets to be the most active team with a bundle of pending free agents on the table and hopes of contending fading like old jeans.

Or it isn’t. The blame might fall instead to deficiencies in the rotation, a slumping offense and an injury bug that could devour an entire city. The Orioles had 25 different players on the injured list in the first half to tie the White Sox for most in the majors. The Red Sox, Dodgers and Mets were next with 22, which is an important note because they seemed to cope better than the others.

“I’m an optimist in every which way, so I’ve never gravitated toward the feel sorry for me or everything’s terrible or everything’s negative,” Mansolino said. “I tend to look at the opportunity that somebody else gets and look at the possibility of doing great.

TAMPA – A fast start tonight by the Orioles would have to set a pace that didn’t let the Rays pass them. It was a dangerous little game that was destined to cause a crash.

Three of the first four batters reached and the Orioles scored twice before the bats were tamed again, with no runs over the next seven innings.

None were surrendered by Dean Kremer through the sixth and only one through the seventh for another quality start, but it proved to be no match for the Orioles’ failures in the clutch.

Seranthony Domínguez was charged with three runs, two earned, in the bottom of the eighth and the Rays rallied past the Orioles 4-3 before an announced sellout crowd of 10,046 at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

The losing streak grows to four games and the Orioles are 11 under again at 43-54.

TAMPA – The Orioles got on a serious draft signing roll today, with two more players entering the organization.

The club reached agreements with left-hander Joseph Dzierwa, a second-rounder out of Michigan State, and right-hander JT Quinn, a Competitive Balance B Round selection out of Georgia.

Five of the Orioles’ first six picks have signed professional contracts.

Catcher Caden Bodine, the 30^th-overall pick out of Coastal Carolina, will report to the Sarasota complex on Sunday and meet up with 19^th-overall selection Ike Irish, a catcher/outfielder from Auburn.

Bodine, who began switch-hitting when he was 4 years old, wasn’t fazed by the Orioles taking another catcher before him.

TAMPA – Zach Eflin is nearing a return to the Orioles’ rotation, perhaps next week in Cleveland.

Eflin tossed four innings yesterday in the Florida Complex League, allowing five unearned runs in the fourth. He threw 68 pitches, 40 for strikes, and said he felt “great” and “ready to go.”

The Orioles put Eflin on the 15-day injured list retroactive to June 29 with lower back discomfort and he's itching to rejoin the club.

“I’ve been eager,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been ready. More so just to prove I can kind of do it yesterday. Back feels great.”

Eflin went on the IL earlier this season with a low-grade lat strain. He said the back discomfort has “kind of popped up the past couple years, like once a year, and typically takes like seven days to clear up and I’m pretty much good to go after that."

TAMPA - The Orioles signed another first-day draft pick today, Arkansas shortstop Wehiwa Aloy, the 31^st-overall selection.

Aloy receives the full slot value of $3,042,800, as reported by MLB.com’s Jim Callis.

The club already inked catchers Ike Irish and Caden Bodine, the 19^th and 30th selections. The deadline for signings is July 28 at 5 p.m.

Aloy, 21, fell to the Orioles and they pounced. A native of Hawaii, he won the Golden Spikes and Southeastern Conference Player of the Year awards this year by slashing .350/.434/.673 with 19 doubles, two triples, 21 home runs, 68 RBIs and 81 runs scored.

In three seasons, Aloy hit .332/.406/.609 with 43 doubles, seven triples, 49 homers and 170 RBIs in 181 games.

TAMPA – Coby Mayo remembers the conversation he had last year with outfielder Kyle Stowers and the question posed to his friend.

“I asked him, ‘Would you rather be in the big leagues and not playing much or be down in Triple-A and playing every day,” Mayo recalled, “and he’s like, ‘I think being in the big leagues is very valuable, even if you’re not playing, just learning.’ Being able to watch the game and being around the coaches.”

The Orioles must agree because they’re carrying Mayo on the roster and sitting him much more than he plays.

Last night’s start against the Rays was only his third in the last 12 games. An 11-for-36 stretch over 11 games to finish June didn’t create a regular spot for him in the lineup.

Stowers made his first All-Star team with the Marlins and hit his 20^th and 21^st home runs last night, including a walk-off, to give him five blasts in his last two games.

TAMPA – Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino gathered his players today for a post-break meeting, a “good talk” with details that he wanted to keep private.

“I’m not gonna tell you the message, but it was multiple things,” he said this afternoon during his media scrum inside the visiting dugout at steamy George M. Steinbrenner Field. “Just a lot of the things kind of surrounding us, the challenges that kind of lay ahead, and also the opportunities that lay ahead.”

Mansolino wants his team to block out the distractions, including trade deadline talk, and to keep pushing. Play up to the level of talent. Treat the second half like a fresh start.

The Rays took all of the air out of an uplifting speech, busting it like a balloon.

Junior Caminero hit a three-run homer off Charlie Morton in the bottom of the first inning, Danny Jansen followed with a solo shot in the second, and the Orioles saw the game go from bad to worse in an 11-1 loss before an announced sellout crowd of 10,046.

TAMPA – The chances of Grayson Rodriguez facing batters in 2025 just took another hit.

Rodriguez is shut down again for an indefinite period due to the same elbow soreness that kept him from pitching in spring training after a March 5 game against the Twins in Fort Myers.

The injury report lists Rodriguez with right elbow inflammation but he initially was sidelined with a strained lat that forced the cancellation of an April 17 bullpen session. Rodriguez spoke earlier of triceps tendinitis.

Rodriguez had advanced to throwing breaking balls in his bullpen sessions but clearly was behind other pitchers on the IL, including Kyle Bradish, who’s recovered from reconstructive elbow surgery last June and will log two innings Saturday against live hitters in Sarasota before beginning a rehab assignment.

“We had to pull back a little bit on Grayson,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “There’s a little bit of elbow discomfort from the issue he had in spring training, same spot, so we’re gonna kind of pull back, we’re gonna reevaluate and we’ll probably have more information on that in the next week or so.”

TAMPA – The Orioles filled the opening on their 26-man roster by signing reliever Corbin Martin to a one-year major league contract.

Martin was designated for assignment Sunday before the Orioles knew that reliever Scott Blewett would go on the injured list with right elbow discomfort. Martin declined an outright assignment, became a free agent and signed a new contract.

The 40-man roster is full.

Zach Eflin’s rehab assignment was transferred to the Florida Complex League and he could be reinstated from the injured list if he gets through it without any setbacks.

Catcher Chadwick Tromp begins his rehab assignment at Class A Delmarva.