The signing of former Orioles right-hander Mychal Givens lengthened the current Orioles bullpen with the addition of another quality arm. In one sense he can pick up some of the slack that Jorge López left behind after his trade to the Minnesota Twins.

One possibility that could really benefit the team would be a scenario where Félix Bautista closes out games in the ninth with setup help in the eighth from left-hander Cionel Pérez. Pérez was such a surprise last year and got out both left- and right-handed hitters. It is unlikely the O’s would need just two pitchers for those innings, but in many wins last year before the López trade, Bautista did get into the game in the eighth and López in the ninth.

The ways clubs use bullpens these days, they pretty much look to match up from about the seventh inning on, maybe even starting with the sixth some nights. But having two dependable hurlers to handle those last two innings many nights in winnable games is one way to go.

The O’s could have some combo of Bautista, Pérez, Dillon Tate, Givens and Bryan Baker for those last nine or 10 or so outs. If DL Hall makes the team and/or winds up in the bullpen, we can add him to this mix. Or Keegan Akin, Joey Krehbiel or several other bullpen candidates/options.

But for now, pending any further moves, the Orioles look to be fortified pretty well for the late innings.

The left-handed hitter carousel keeps spinning for the Orioles.

Lewin Díaz has made a full circle, coming back to the organization this afternoon in a waiver claim from the Braves.

The Orioles claimed Díaz from the Pirates on Dec. 2, providing another candidate to back up Ryan Mountcastle at first base, but they designated him for assignment after signing reliever Mychal Givens and traded him to Atlanta on Dec. 23 for cash considerations.

A turbulent winter continues for Díaz, who’s involved in his fourth transaction since the conclusion of the 2022 season.

Ryan O’Hearn is at least temporarily out of the running for the backup job. The Orioles designated him for assignment today to create room for Díaz on the 40-man roster.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Claimed INF Lewin Díaz off waivers from the Atlanta Braves.
• Designated INF Ryan O’Hearn for assignment.

The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 40 players.

At a time when the Orioles farm system gets major props from outlets throughout the sport, more encouraging news came this week. Baltimore already is ranked by several outlets as having the No. 1 farm system in baseball and this follows a 2022 season when both Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson were ranked as the No. 1 prospect in baseball and Grayson Rodriguez was ranked as the No. 1 pitcher.

In this article this week, which summarized a podcast, MLBPipeline.com’s Jim Callis predicted that O’s infield prospect Jackson Holliday would be ranked as their No. 1 prospect in the top 100 by the end of the 2023 season. That would give the O’s three No. 1 players over a two-year period.

The podcast/article was rather promising about the Orioles as both Callis and fellow analyst Jonathan Mayo predicted that Henderson would be voted the 2023 American League Rookie of the Year.

Saying Henderson is “everything he was cracked up to be,” Callis adds he would vote Henderson the No. 1 prospect right now and currently he ranks No. 2 on the MLBPipeline.com board behind Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez.

In that same article, Callis also projected Holliday to be the MLBPipeline.com Hitter of the Year for 2023 as Henderson was for the outlet last season.

To say the least, Orioles reliever Félix Bautista has a devastating split-finger fastball. It would dive down in the zone under the bats of many hitters as a huge swing-and-miss pitch and played very well with a fastball that averaged 99.2 mph. His split averaged 88.5 mph.

It was not only among the very best splitters thrown by any pitcher in the game, but that pitch, which has the facts to back it up, was among the very best individual pitches thrown by anyone during the 2022 season.

What a year Bautista had and to put it further into perspective, his first minor league season was 2013. Not until 2021 did he even make it to Double-A, where he pitched 13 1/3 innings. He would add 18 1/3 Triple-A innings. So he made the O’s roster last season with a total of 31 2/3 innings in his life above A-ball.

Then for the Orioles, he went 4-4 with a 2.19 ERA and 15 saves in 17 chances. Over 65 2/3 innings he allowed just 38 hits and produced an 0.929 WHIP. He gave up just 5.2 hits per nine and 1.0 homers with 3.2 walks and 12.1 strikeouts. Lefty batters had a .523 OPS against him and right-handers were at .541. He had a 9.1 walk percentage and 34.8 strikeout percentage. At home his ERA was 2.58, and on the road it was 1.65.

So yeah, pretty strong from start to finish by almost any measure.

James McCann is officially an Oriole and scrambling to get settled with his new team. The immediacy in doing so wasn't feasible.

The trade with the Mets happened so quickly, and with midnight approaching on the night of Dec. 21. The holidays put much of his baseball activity on hold. His family is moving this week. He’s spoken only to a few members of the organization and is waiting to make his first contact with catcher Adley Rutschman, the player that he’s going to back up.

“The timing of it was a little crazy, just with the holiday season and everything,” McCann said during a video call with members of the media this afternoon, “but at the end of the day I’m excited to be part of a young, up and coming team, the opportunity to kind of be a veteran leader and just mentor some of the young players and lead Baltimore back to the playoffs and beyond.”

The Orioles acquired McCann, 32, for a player to be named later. He’s under team control for the next two seasons and is costing the Orioles only $5 million of the $24 million remaining on his contract.

A backup catcher was one of the club’s priorities with Robinson Chirinos entering free agency. McCann is a nine-year veteran who made the All-Star team with the White Sox in 2019 and appeared in 105 or more games every full season from 2015-21.

The Orioles today announced that they have acquired infielder/outfielder RYAN O’HEARN from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for cash considerations.

 O’Hearn, 29, slashed .239/.290/.321 (32-for-134) with six doubles, one triple, one home run, 14 runs scored, 16 RBI, and eight walks in 67 games with the Royals last season. He spent the entire year on the active roster and led all Major League players with 11 hits as a pinch-hitter, becoming the seventh Royal in team history with 10-or-more pinch-hit hits in one season. In 342 career MLB games, all with Kansas City, he has batted .219/.293/.390 (210-for-960) with 40 doubles, five triples, 38 home runs, 99 runs scored, 131 RBI, and 98 walks. He was originally selected by the Royals in the eighth round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Sam Houston State University (TX).

 Additionally, right-handed pitcher CHRIS VALLIMONT has been designated for assignment. The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 40 players.

As the New Year began on Sunday, we provided a wish list for some players and O's staff for the 2023 season. We add to that here today.

Terrin Vavra and Kyle Stowers: More regular at-bats. I think that on rebuilding O’s teams that were headed for 100 or more losses, one or both of these players may have been given 300 or 400 plate appearances, and we could really tell a bit about them in such a sample. The 2023 edition may make that hard for one or both.

But among all Orioles that batted last year, Vavra’s .340 OBP ranked fourth. We know this kid can work the count and uses the whole field, We also know he hit just one homer in 103 plate appearances. The power is just not going to be there, but he has to bring what he can bring, which is the plate discipline needed on a club that ranked 22^nd in the majors in this stat last year.

Stowers power seems to be a real thing. He ranked fifth on the team in slugging among all O’s batters in 2022. He can drive it out to all fields and worked to decrease his K rate at Triple-A last year. I think that, given enough at-bats, Stowers could produce solid corner outfield stats and also would bring average-or-better defense with a plus arm.

Jorge Mateo: The ability to find once again whatever he found batting that made his hitting, sub-par to that point, look above average and even special at times for a spell last year. He did have a nice five-week stretch of hitting that ran from July 16 to Aug. 23, including his big night at the Little League Classic. In that span of 31 games he batted .321 with a .944 OPS. You thought maybe he had turned a corner. But that did not hold up, and over his final 36 games he hit .174/.213/.270/.483.

If the Orioles are going to add a pitcher they can slot at or near the top of their rotation, they are probably going to have to go the trade route at this point and potentially part with one or more of their top 30 prospects. But if they want to add a pitcher that can slot in the middle or back end of their rotation, they could still look to sign a remaining free agent.

Here are a few possibles.

Righty Zach Davies: In the 2011 MLB Draft, the Orioles selected a kid pitcher out of a high school in Arizona named Zach Davies. They picked him in round 26 and yet he signed for a big overslot bonus of $575,000.

Then-scouting director Joe Jordan knew the kid didn’t throw very hard but was wiser than his years in knowing how to attack hitters, and he had a strong changeup.

Davies has turned those traits into a decent big league career, and if the Orioles seek a reunion years later, they could have one. On July 31, 2015, the O’s traded Davies, then pitching to a 2.84 ERA at Triple-A Norfolk, to Milwaukee for outfielder Gerardo Parra. That one did not work out. At the time of the deal Parra had an .886 OPS for the Brewers, but that number dropped all the way to .625 with the Orioles. At the end of the year he signed with Colorado.

As the New Year begins today, here is a wish for health and happiness for all of us. Without the first, it gets more difficult to have the second. Let’s all go two-for-two in 2023.

As it relates to baseball and the Orioles, here is a wish list for a few people for the 2023 season.

Manager Brandon Hyde: A wish that he not change one thing. Not anything. He has proven to be a great leader for a young clubhouse and has experience handling young talent. He is just what the Orioles need right now as skipper, and I can see him leading some very good O’s teams for a long time. I love the relationship he seems to have with Mike Elias, and the duo make a great team at the top of the O’s baseball operations.

On a personal note, Hyde has been great for local reporters, although I, of course, can only speak for one of us. He’s fair with media and has shown enormous patience. In baseball, in every market, managers get a lot of the same questions over and over again. Hyde has never played media favorites and respects reporters. It is clear that he does. He is just a good guy who works well with people and cares. In 2022 more and more O’s fans realized what they have in the dugout.

Pitcher Mychal Givens: Welcome back, and here’s a wish for a great year. I think Givens would love to be a key member of another good O’s team, as he once was. He’ll be a great fit in this ‘pen – both on the mound and in the clubhouse.

On Aug. 30, 2020 the Orioles traded reliever Mychal Givens to the Colorado Rockies for three players, including Tyler Nevin. Recently Givens rejoined the Orioles, but now Nevin is officially leaving the organization.

Designated for assignment on Dec. 21 when the club acquired catcher James McCann from the New York Mets, Nevin was traded to the Detroit Tigers for cash considerations Saturday night. The New Year’s Eve move beats the end of 2022 by several hours in what is likely the club’s final move of this calendar year.

Nevin, 25, played in 58 games for the Orioles in 2022 and in 184 plate appearances batted .197/.299/.261/.500 with four doubles, two homers and 16 RBIs. He debuted for the Orioles in 2021, going 4-for-14 (.286). In 64 career games he hit .205 with a .604 OPS.

In parts of the last two seasons for the Orioles, Nevin made starts at first base, third base, left and right field. Most of his starts came at third in 2022 when he made 40 starts at the hot corner.

This past season for Triple-A Norfolk, Nevin batted .291/.382/.479/.861 in 44 games for the Tides. Nevin tied Norfolk's franchise record and set a professional career high with eight RBIs on April 15 versus Scranton. He went 3-for-6 and hit his first career grand slam in the second inning.

The Orioles have traded Tyler Nevin to the Detroit Tigers for cash considerations.

Nevin was designated for assignment on Dec. 21.

The report was that the Orioles and Cubs have interest in free agent first baseman Eric Hosmer. The former All-Star won a World Series ring with the 2015 Kansas City Royals and is said to be “on the radar” of the Orioles and Cubs.

This tells us, well, not much. How much interest do they have and how much interest will Hosmer have in them?

The Padres traded Hosmer to Boston last August, and the Red Sox released him just a few days ago. Whichever team signs him will only pay him the major league minimum as San Diego remains on the hook with Hosmer for three more years at $13 million each. The Padres signed him in February 2018 to an eight-year deal worth a whopping $144 million.

If it turns out that Hosmer goes from being on the Orioles' radar to being signed and in their clubhouse, he would join a list of vets they have added that includes Kyle Gibson, Adam Frazier, James McCann and Mychal Givens, players they see as good clubhouse guys that can help a young team get to the next level.

Whatever energy, mentorship and leadership that is gone with departures of Jordan Lyles, Robinson Chirinos and Rougned Odor will be made up and perhaps exceeded by this new group.

If you were told there would be no math here, you got misled. Today’s blog will include plenty of numbers, most of them good for the Orioles. As we are about to end calendar year 2022, we today take another chance to note the season in ’22 for the Orioles produced the club’s first winning season since 2016.

On top of that the club has the No. 1-ranked farm system in the majors and is about to send players such as pitcher Grayson Rodriguez to the majors for the first time.

But first some notes on the 83-79 regular season for the Orioles:

* It produced a 31-win gain, going from 52 in 2021 to 83.

* The Orioles were the last American League team to be eliminated from postseason contention.

The Orioles today announced that CAL PERRY has joined the organization as Senior Vice President and Chief Content Officer. Perry will oversee the Orioles’ creative content efforts and be responsible for integrating the team’s content throughout the organization and with club partners. In this role, he joins the club’s Senior Leadership Team that manages all aspects of the organization’s business and baseball operations, consisting of seven veteran executives each holding decades of industry experience.

“Today, I am extremely proud to announce that yet another highly sought-after, world-class executive from the entertainment, sports, or media industries has accepted my invitation to join the Orioles, as the Club continues to recruit the most talented, forward-thinking individuals inside or outside of MLB and the media space,” said Orioles Chairman and CEO JOHN ANGELOS. “During his two decades covering the world’s biggest stories for the most prestigious media organizations, including CNN, MSNBC, and Al Jazeera, Cal Perry’s reputation as a master storyteller and journalist who brings his audience to the front lines of generational news and human-interest stories, from middle America to the Middle East, is unmatched. Cal joins the Orioles’ Senior Leadership Team at a transformational moment, when there are countless stories to tell, memories to make, and visitors to attract to this community as we expand the Club’s on-field progress and important leadership role in helping the City of Baltimore reach its full potential.”

Perry began his journalism career at CNN as an assignment editor on the International Desk before being promoted to Baghdad-based producer, where he served as an embedded reporter during the Iraq War. At CNN, he gained experience as both a Bureau Chief and correspondent, serving in posts around the world and covering a variety of stories. Perry also spent time with Al Jazeera Media Network as a Senior Correspondent in the Middle East. He later worked as an executive at Voice of America before joining MSNBC. There, Perry has served both as the Global News Editor, Digital Content and most recently as an on-air network correspondent.

A native of Washington, D.C., Perry received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.

The story from Dec. 19 in The Athletic said the Orioles are receiving trade calls on shortstop Jorge Mateo. Not that they were shopping Mateo or initiating the calls, but of course they listen on just about everything.

The Athletic wrote: “The Twins, Braves, Red Sox and Dodgers all lost shortstops on the open market. Mateo, entering his age 28 season, might be an affordable and potentially attractive fit for interested clubs, a player whose value as an athletic defender and stolen-base threat should only increase as the league introduces shift restrictions, larger bases and pickoff rules in 2023."

Right now there is a lot to like about Mateo as an Oriole, including the above that interested other teams. He seemed to fit in great in the Orioles clubhouse and is a popular teammate. He also seems to love it here, realizing this is the club that gave him the chance to play every day.

Mateo’s hard work at improving his English and thus his one-on-one communication with reporters impressed me. I had several interviews with him in which he worked hard to understand every word I said and was thoughtful with his answers. He seemed to even appreciate when a reporter double-checked to make sure the words that they heard were correct.

This guy is impressive on and off the field.

The Orioles today announced that they have acquired catcher James McCann and cash considerations from the New York Mets in exchange for a player to be named later.

McCann, 32, slashed .195/.257/.282 (34-for-174) with six doubles, three homers, 19 runs scored, 18 RBI, and three stolen bases in 61 games with the Mets last season but was limited in action due to nine weeks spent on the Injured List with a left hamate fracture (May 11 to June 24) and a left oblique strain (July 10 to August 4). He appeared in one postseason game in the Wild Card Series against the San Diego Padres, entering as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning of game three. McCann is a veteran of 783 MLB games between the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, and Mets, and caught Lucas Giolito’s no-hitter with the White Sox on August 25, 2020 vs. Pittsburgh. The 2019 American League All-Star was originally selected by Detroit in the second round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Arkansas.

He was named the Mets’ 2022 nominee for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, which recognizes a player from each club who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, sportsmanship, community involvement, philanthropy, and positive contributions, both on and off the field.

Additionally, infielder Tyler Nevin has been designated for assignment. The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 40 players.

Hey, Birdland and all readers here, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. 

We can make no promises, but the time leading up to Jan. 1 should be pretty quiet around baseball. We'll see if that holds.

But here are a few more questions about the Orioles as the New Year soon arrives.

Is a big trade still coming?: The Orioles have yet to pull off a deal where they trade from their deep pool of prospects. They have the No. 1-ranked farm in the game, and surely their top 30 list and beyond will draw the attention of all teams in the sport.

Is a big trade for a frontline pitcher in their future? The Orioles were unable or unwilling to sign a top-of-rotation starter. Could that pitcher be had via a deal?

A few thoughts today on some Orioles moves from over the last week or so.

The addition of Mychal Givens: I had written early in the offseason that I thought the Orioles should look to add to the bullpen. This came at a time when most of the focus was on a top starter and a big bat.

Eventually, it would be great to see the Orioles have a starting rotation like Houston's, which last year featured five pitchers throwing 148 innings or more. That led to the Astros' bullpen throwing the fewest innings in the American League while recording the No. 1 bullpen ERA. Keeping your relievers fresh and in their roles lends itself to a lot of good things happening with the ‘pen pitchers.

The addition of Givens gives the O’s another solid bullpen arm that lengthens their 'pen. The trade of Jorge López late last year that moved Félix Bautista to the ninth inning took away a setup reliever and thinned out the bullpen, which showed some wear and tear late in 2022.

While Bautista is nowhere near an established closer yet, he showed both the talent and makeup to handle the job and did it well, recording 15 saves while posting a 2.19 ERA. Now in the seventh and eighth innings the O’s will have some combination of Cionel Pérez, Dillon Tate, Givens and Bryan Baker. Joey Krehbiel could factor into that, too, as could others, including DL Hall if he doesn’t make the starting five.

Can a pitcher who has thrown for three of the last four seasons for the Aberdeen IronBirds - both when they were in the short-season New York Penn League and now in the full-season South Atlantic League - be considered a prospect?

OK, probably not, but he can be considered a player with a good arm that the Orioles like who clearly flies under the radar. Maybe well under it.

Right-hander Kade Strowd put together impressive stats this past season, when he was healthy and showed a fastball that can touch the high 90s with some solid secondaries. You won’t find him on anyone’s top 30 prospects list, but the scouts must have noticed the stuff and the stats this season with Single-A Aberdeen.

The Orioles selected Strowd, 25, in round 12 of the 2019 MLB Draft out of the University of West Virginia. The same school that produced their 11^th round pick in the 2014 draft in lefty John Means. In three seasons with WVU as mostly a starting pitcher, Strowd went 10-16 with a 5.31 ERA.

In his first O’s season in 2019 after that draft, when Aberdeen was still a short-season club, he made his pro debut, throwing 17 innings for the IronBirds without allowing an earned run. He didn’t pitch in 2020. Nobody on the farm did, as the pandemic forced the cancellation of all minor league games. For whatever reason, Strowd took a step back in 2021, going 0-3 with an 8.05 ERA for Aberdeen.