SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles won’t commemorate Dec. 2, 2022 with a special celebration in future years. Patches won’t be sewn onto uniform sleeves. Just another day in a baseball offseason, except it stood out because of two transactions that illustrated one of their priorities.

They wanted left-handed hitters who could play first base and compete for jobs in camp.

Residency on the 40-man roster wasn’t a prerequisite, nor was it promised.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias claimed Lewin Díaz off waivers from the Marlins and later signed Franchy Cordero to a split contract that the team announced as a minor league deal.

Díaz found his way back after a trade to the Braves, a waiver claim and an outright assignment after being designated for assignment. A chaotic winter. Tracking it from the outside was almost as stressful.

He is still officially a rookie, but a versatile one with the glove and a player that had some nice moments during his Orioles' debut in 2022.

That might give Terrin Vavra a leg up on his chance to grab a bench role on the 2023 Orioles. They need a player that can play multiple positions and Vavra spent all winter working on that after he started 11 games last year at second base and 10 in the outfield – nine in left and one in right field.

Already this spring he made a start at third base, entered the opening game at second base and yesterday in Bradenton got the start in left field and batted leadoff.

He knows there is plenty of good competition and some of the highly-ranked prospect young bucks are close to getting to Baltimore.

“You can’t shy away from it (competition), you have to embrace it and attack it head on,” he told us during Birdland Caravan.

Last year the Orioles had one veteran pitcher in their rotation for most of the year, a guy to try and give them some quality innings while also helping the numerous young pitchers around him on the staff. That was Jordan Lyles, who was very well respected in the Baltimore clubhouse.

This year they feel they have two pitchers like that in lefty Cole Irvin, acquired in a trade from Oakland and right-hander Kyle Gibson, signed to a one-year deal in free agency.

Irvin went 9-13 with a career-best 3.98 ERA last year over 181 innings. Had he remained with Oakland he may have been the A’s Opening Day starter. He recorded strong numbers in WHIP (1.160) and walk rate (1.8) while making 15 quality starts. He produced 1.4 fWAR to rank second among A’s pitchers.

He does that with a lower velocity fastball, one that averages 90.7 mph on his four-seamer. But he is pitch efficient and his 14.4 pitches per inning were the second fewest in the American League, while his 1.79 BB/9 ratio ranked sixth-best among qualified AL hurlers.

When I interviewed O’s assistant pitching coach Darren Holmes Thursday on WBAL Radio, the Hot Stove show, he said his early impressions of Irvin were very good.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and his staff have several decisions coming when spring training nears the end and the regular season is about to begin.

Not only do they have to set the 26-man roster for the big league squad but also for Triple-A where they get callups and reinforcements throughout the year. And the Norfolk team should see numerous top 100 prospects on its roster through the season. Players like Colton Cowser, Joey Ortiz, Connor Norby and Jordan Westburg could be there and others could find their way later in the year such as Heston Kjerstad and Coby Mayo.

The top young prospects will need to get their at-bats, so where does that leave roster room at Norfolk for veteran non-roster players in camp, who might also go there as injury insurance and to provide more depth. A list that could include a Nomar Mazara, or Daz Cameron, Josh Lester or Lewin Díaz for instance. Can the club try to keep the vets too or will some leave via opt outs or other avenues if they don’t make the Opening Day roster.

“It really depends on a case-by-case basis,” Elias said during Saturday's live broadcast on the Orioles Radio Network, heard in Baltimore via WBAL and 98 Rock. “Some of them do not have any type of opt out. Others, by virtue of their service time, have opt outs, several of them that are mandated by the collective bargaining agreement. Some of them are at the end of camp, some in May, some in June. Mazara fits that bill. And there are others that have negotiated a couple of opt outs or what are called assignment clauses. Which is, sort of, a step down from an opt out.

“That is going to impact some of these guys staying in the organization, if they don’t make the team. We recognize that not all of them are going to make it out of the chute, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

LAKELAND, Fla. – Terrin Vavra didn’t have or need much time today to get comfortable at third base. He seemed right at home, as if roaming the corner put him on familiar ground.

Vavra made two diving stops to record outs against the Tigers and singled twice to stay hot at the plate.

In his first game at third beyond a rehab inning last summer with High-A Aberdeen.

Must be a natural.

Leadoff hitter Riley Greene was robbed twice by Vavra, first on a diving backhand stop and then a lunging grab to his left.

LAKELAND, Fla. – Terrin Vavra incorporated ground balls at first base into his winter workouts to increase his versatility and his chances of making the Orioles’ Opening Day roster. He has a new assignment this afternoon, playing third base against the Tigers.

Vavra’s experience at the position consists of one inning last summer with High-A Aberdeen. That’s it. Nothing in college or in the Rockies system.

“He’s going to play all over the place,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “Might play the outfield in a couple days. Just continue to move him around.”

James McCann is catching Dean Kremer today in his first Orioles start since they acquired him from the Mets.

“Really impressed with how he goes about his business,” Hyde said. “This guy prepares in the morning, speaks up in meetings and has a great voice for our guys. He’s got a ton of experience.

LAKELAND, Fla. – DL Hall caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror and did a double-take, hardly able to recognize himself. Fifteen inches of hair are gone. The face is familiar, but nothing else.

Noticed more in the past for an electric arm, Hall is getting lots of attention in Orioles camp for his buzz cut.

Hall had his reasons. The club’s No. 2-ranked pitching prospect is donating his hair to Wigs & Wishes, an organization that creates and grants wigs to people battling cancer.

“I have a family friend up in New Jersey that is close with the organization that I’m working with, and he mentioned it to me this offseason,” Hall said this morning. “I planned on doing it when we went up north for the season, but as you can tell, it’s really hot down here, so I was ready to go ahead and cut it off. So, I cut it off and I’m saving it to take up to the organization when we go up north.”

This is where the magnitude of Hall’s gesture continues to grow. He wants to present it to the child in person.

LAKELAND, Fla. – Kyle Stowers is batting cleanup today against the Tigers and Colton Cowser is starting in left field.

Connor Norby is the second baseman, Jordan Westburg is starting at shortstop, and Terrin Vavra is playing third base after his double and home run in yesterday’s exhibition opener.

Ryan McKenna is the leadoff hitter and center fielder. James McCann is catching.

Lewin Díaz continues his bid to make the club as a non-roster invite with today’s start at first base.

Dean Kremer gets the start in the Orioles’ first road game of the spring. Other pitchers include left-hander Cade Povich and right-handers Logan Gillaspie, Yennier Canó, Kyle Dowdy and Reed Garrett.

SARASOTA, Fla. – For young Orioles infield prospect Coby Mayo, it was not just another spring training game. It was his first chance to be in the starting lineup wearing an Orioles jersey.

In an interview before yesterday’s spring training opener with the Twins, Mayo recalled he had gotten one previous spring at-bat against the Yankees and had played one inning in the field versus the Phillies last spring. But Saturday he got the start, batting eighth for the Orioles and playing at third base.

He is a non-roster player at O’s spring camp and his day to make this team is not quite yet at hand, but for now Mayo, 21, is soaking up all he can in a clubhouse with big leaguers.

“Just being in this environment has been great,” he said in the Baltimore clubhouse. “Really cool to watch these guys last year do what they did and have a lot of success during the season. Coming in and being a part of this environment this spring – it’s been really good. It’s a fun group to be around and cool to see how everyone acts with each other. This (a playoff chase) is hopefully the next big thing for this team.”

On a day the Orioles beat the Twins 10-5, Mayo had a somewhat uneventful day. He went 0-for-1 with a walk and played five innings at third base, but no balls were hit his way. 

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles' 2023 spring training schedule begins today at Ed Smith Stadium. They host the Minnesota Twins at 1:05 this afternoon to begin a Grapefruit League schedule that runs through March 27 in advance of the club’s March 30th regular-season opener at Boston.

So the battle for rotation spots and pitching staff jobs takes another step today with the start of spring games. While veterans like Cole Irvin and Kyle Gibson – barring injury – almost certainly have a starting-five spot secure, there are a host of others battling for only three other spots.

There are more strong candidates than just three for those jobs, including Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Tyler Wells and DL Hall. And then there are Spenser Watkins, who made 20 O’s starts last year, Austin Voth, who made 17, and Bruce Zimmermann, who took the mound as a starter 13 times.

On Thursday night I hosted the "Orioles Hot Stove" radio show on WBAL and one of the guests was assistant pitching coach Darren Holmes, who is beginning his fourth season with the club and third in his current role.

Holmes said the entire pitching staff seemed to report in pretty good shape, and all did good work on their games and pitches over the winter.

It’s been less than a month since he was traded to the Orioles. But over the next month we’ll see lefty Cole Irvin pitch in spring training games for his new team as he hopes to make a mark in the Orioles rotation this year.

On Jan. 26 the Orioles traded minor league infielder Darell Hernaiz, their No. 16 prospect at the time via MLBPipeline.com, to the Oakland Athletics for Irvin and A-ball right-hander Kyle Virbitsky.

Irvin went 9-13 with a career-best 3.98 ERA and 15 quality starts for the A’s in 2022. He threw 181 innings – the 12^th-most in the American League – and recorded a 1.16 WHIP with a low 1.8 walk rate and low 6.4 strikeout rate. His ERA was 17^th-best in the AL among qualifying pitchers.

Irvin’s command and control are very good and his walk rate was the sixth-best among AL qualifying pitchers. And among pitchers that threw 100 innings or more last season, his walk rate was 18^th-best. In 2022 he walked two batters or fewer in 29 of 30 starts, and eight times he didn’t walk a single batter.

And his 14.4 pitches per inning, which would be 86 for six innings and 101 pitches over seven frames, ranked second-best in the AL last season and third in the major leagues. He needed just 15.0 pitches per inning during the 2021 season. He's the model of pitch efficiency.

Sarasota County Government’s annual economic report has found that the Orioles have generated $600.5 million in economic impact for the state of Florida since 2015, the first year that comprehensive data became available.

The county’s analysis measures the total impact created by the Orioles’ year-round operations in Sarasota, highlighted by the team’s Spring Training efforts, a state-of-the-art minor league training facility, and numerous corporate events at Ed Smith Stadium and the Buck O'Neil Baseball Complex. The most recent reporting period, which ran from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022, found that the Orioles provided $45.6 million in economic benefits to Sarasota County and $55.3 million throughout the state of Florida, despite playing just nine home games at Ed Smith Stadium.

The Orioles have consistently over delivered in their economic impact in both Maryland and Sarasota. In 31 years at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Orioles have welcomed more than 75 million fans, deriving over $10 billion in economic impact for the City of Baltimore and State of Maryland. By making it a priority to have all four Minor League affiliates located within the region, the Orioles have furthered their reach and increased their total economic impact across the region.

“31 years ago, the Orioles made a commitment to the state of Maryland and in that time, we have tremendously over delivered on our promise, generating more than $10 billion in economic impact for the City of Baltimore and State of Maryland,” said JOHN ANGELOS, Orioles Chairman and CEO. “14 years ago, the Orioles made a commitment to the State of Florida, and once again, we immensely over delivered on our promise, generating more than $600 million in economic impact for the State of Florida and Sarasota community. The Orioles have proven themselves to under promise and over deliver, and we will continue to do that as we renew our partnership with the State of Maryland and the greater Baltimore metropolitan community.”

Just in Sarasota County, the Orioles have generated nearly $512.5 million for the local economy since 2015. This impact is delivered through the club’s continual efforts to promote tourism in the region, including $1 million annually in marketing opportunities for Visit Sarasota during broadcasts on the Orioles Radio Network and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. In addition to Spring Training operations, the Orioles bring people to Sarasota County by hosting a myriad of special events at Ed Smith Stadium and the Buck O’Neil Baseball Complex throughout the entire year. Ed Smith Stadium hosted numerous events throughout 2022 including the U-18 Baseball World Cup and the All-American Women’s Baseball Classic, both events bringing the top baseball players from around the world to Sarasota. 

SARASOTA, Fla. – Grayson Rodriguez climbed the mound today at Ed Smith Stadium for his live batting practice session. Adley Rutschman crouched behind the plate. They were together again, and the interest level in the second full-squad workout of spring training soared like the temperature.

Rodriguez froze Jordan Westburg with a fastball, which Rutschman framed, and broke James McCann’s bat. The organization’s top pitching prospect brought some series heat, along with everything else in his arsenal.

“It felt great,” Rodriguez said afterward. “Obviously, anytime you can get out there, see hitters in the box, it’s a lot different from the offseason. Today, we’re just another step closer to spring games.”

A five-pitch repertoire was laid out to a group of hitters that also included outfielders Kyle Stowers and Colton Cowser and shortstop Joey Ortiz. So much young talent in camp.

“We wanted to throw everything today to see how it plays against the hitters,” Rodriguez said.

It is pretty clear that the Orioles are excited to be taking part in spring training and fired up for a season in which expectations are raised after the team went 83-79 last year. They had the best record of any American League non-postseason team.

Now they take aim at their first playoff berth since the 2016 AL wild card game.

“Guys are really excited. Really love the talent here. It’s a great character group,” manager Brandon Hyde told reporters Tuesday at Ed Smith Stadium.

He was asked about his message to the team, which wants to show it can be a contender after the Orioles gained 31 wins from 2021 to 2022.

“Honestly, just want us to build off last year,” Hyde said. “We have a (large) core group of guys, they got a lot of confidence from last year. It’s pretty much just building off a season where nobody expected us to do anything.

The Orioles today announced the return of the “Athletes & Artists Play for Kids” charity event, which will take place at Ed Smith Stadium from March 10-12. The event, which combines song and sport to support creativity and music and arts education will feature the return of “Nashville’s Music Row Comes to the Ballpark” VIP charity event, as well as two Orioles home games.

Proceeds from the weekend’s events will benefit the Orioles Charitable Foundation’s Music & Arts Education Scholarship, which was created in 2019 to support deserving students and programs in Baltimore, Sarasota, and Nashville. The beneficiary for the 2023 event is Intersection of Change’s Jubilee Arts Program in Baltimore. Jubilee Arts provides comprehensive arts programs to children and adults, using art as a catalyst for social change, a tool for empowerment, and an alternative to drugs and violence in the community. To date, the “Athletes & Artists” series has raised more than $400,000 for various charities.

This year’s weekend-long series of events will begin Friday, March 10, when the Orioles host the Minnesota Twins at 6:05 p.m. ET. Charitable donors will return to Ed Smith Stadium Saturday evening for the sixth “Athletes & Artists” VIP charity event. This one-of-a-kind, all-access event, hosted by event founder and singer-songwriter MARGARET VALENTINE, brings baseball groups and Nashville artists together in support of music education.

The event will celebrate current country, rock, and pop hits, featuring an all-star line-up including SiriusXM “Highway Find” and “CMT Next Women of County” KALIE SHORR, lead guitarist of Matchbox Twenty KYLE COOK, and New York City-based singer-songwriter QUEEN V, as well as other special guests. More information about each performer can be found at Orioles.com/AthletesAndArtists.

The annual “Athletes & Artists Play for Kids” weekend fundraiser began in 2015 with the first “Nashville Comes to the Ballpark” charity event and has steadily grown to include more programming, including in 2019 when the ballpark hosted an on-field concert by country music rising superstar and 11-time No. 1 singer-songwriter COLE SWINDELL, to support selected charitable efforts. The Orioles also welcomed Billboard chart-topping and Platinum-certified country artist RAELYNN in 2020. In 2019, proceeds from the mid-summer “Athletes & Artists Play for Kids” fundraiser, held the evening before the historic BILLY JOEL concert at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, were used to fund community grants from the Orioles Charitable Foundation to JUBILEE ARTS and BALTIMORE SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS. Past beneficiaries include the MUSIC HEALTH ALLIANCE, SARASOTA YMCA, LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR SARASOTA COUNTY, and GIRLS, INC.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Lewin Díaz noticed that his friends stopped contacting him. The excitement shared over finding a new team was replaced by awkward silence.

The Pirates claimed Díaz off waivers in November. The Orioles claimed him less than two weeks later. And the insanity was building momentum.

A trade to the Braves, another claim by the Orioles, and a DFA six days later.

This time, it worked. Teams passed on Díaz and the Orioles outrighted him to Triple-A Norfolk.

It’s safe to congratulate him.

He is not only the oldest player on the Orioles’ 40-man roster, but he is also the only one born before 1990. He is right-handed pitcher Kyle Gibson, signed to a one-year contract in December.

After a year where his ERA was 5.05 over 31 starts, many may consider him a back-end of the rotation talent, even if he slots higher than that in the Orioles' Opening Day rotation.

But I can present some stats that might surprise you – they did surprise me.

It starts with this: Yes, Gibson’s ERA was 5.05 for all of last year. But it was 4.08 entering September. The average MLB ERA for 2022 was 3.96, so at that point he was not too far off. But in six starts to end his season – from that point on – Gibson allowed an ERA of 9.73. That meant his ERA ballooned up to end his year. It also meant his first-half ERA of 4.35 looked much better than the second-half number of 6.01.

Gibson, 35, is a former first-round pick in the 2009 draft out of the University of Missouri who has registered a 4.52 career ERA and 1.385 WHIP in 10 MLB seasons. He spent the first seven with the Twins, parts of the next two with the Rangers and parts of the last two with the Phillies.

If the question is can someone surprise us and make the Orioles’ Opening Day roster, no doubt that answer is yes. Nothing is completely set and we haven’t seen one pitch thrown in a spring game yet. Jobs can be won, even by non-roster players and we can and may well see surprises.

This leads to another question – how important will spring training stats and performances be?

In the past my impression has been that the O’s front office doesn’t put much stock in spring stats. No one is likely to win a job based for the most part on spring numbers. But as always in spring, the numbers mean more to fringe players and that those out to win jobs. If Anthony Santander bats .150 this spring or Ryan Mountcastle goes without a homer or is not driving the ball as Opening Day approaches, their spot in the Game 1 lineup is likely pretty secure at that point.

Even newcomers like Adam Frazier and James McCann have track records the team already likes to have acquired them in the first place. They seem to have, in my humble opinion, little to prove or show in spring games.

The other aspect that is always tricky about spring training is who were the stats acquired against. Did a pitcher roll through the Rays B team for three innings or did he roll through a couple of innings against mostly starters in a road game? Some veteran players may be working on certain pitches or certain hitting approaches that could lead to poor stats but lead them to learn about tweaks or adjustments they will need when the season starts.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles chairman and CEO John Angelos granted a rare and lengthy interview with beat writers this morning next to the bullpen area on the back fields at the Ed Smith Stadium complex.

The session lasted 37 minutes and covered topics such as payroll, the work toward a new stadium lease, how Angelos, executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde are here “for the long haul," how there's no intention of changing principal ownership, how the Orioles “are always going to be in Baltimore,” the conclusion of his family’s litigation, and a promise to share the financials with the media in spring training.

The workout became secondary.

The scrum was unplanned and just evolved. Angelos and wife Margaret Valentine were visiting the complex when approached by reporters. This was the fourth time that he spoke with a group of Baltimore media members since Elias’ introductory presser in November 2018.

Angelos declined a five-year extension on the current stadium lease that expires Dec. 31. He expressed confidence that a new and substantial deal will get done over the summer.

It is reasonable to wonder how many more stolen bases we will see in the majors this coming season with the new rules in place. Those who can run may get more chances than in previous seasons. It’s fair to wonder what that could mean for the team with the two top basestealers in the American League last year: the Orioles.

Shortstop Jorge Mateo stole 35 bases on 44 attempts to lead the AL in 2022, and his teammate Cedric Mullins was second, just one base behind, getting 34-of-44. Tampa Bay’s Randy Arozarena stole 32 bases, and then came Bobby Witt Jr. of Kansas City with 30.

By leading the AL, Mateo became the third Oriole (fourth occurrence) to lead the league in steals, joining Brian Roberts (2007) and Luis Aparicio (1963 and 1964). He is the sixth O's player (eighth time) since 2000 with at least 35 stolen bases.

As a team, the Orioles stole 95 bases (with Mateo and Mullins producing nearly 73 percent of that) to rank tied for fifth in the AL and tied for 11^th in the majors. It was a big jump from Baltimore’s 54 steals in 2021, which was tied for 12^th-most in the AL.

So they return two of the top basestealers at a time when stealing bases could become easier. Or it sure appears they could.