The Orioles have reached another deadline tonight, this one a few weeks earlier than the norm. They must tender contracts to their six arbitration-eligible players or risk going to hearings. This is a day-long exercise for some media. Reporting the agreements, maybe the terms. Update after update, or just one lump summary. The perceived importance

Joey Ortiz never wanted the defense-first label pinned to him. The pride that he took in his glove work was offset by the notion that his bat might be a liability. That teams would have to settle for a light-hitting shortstop in order to benefit from the runs saved. A more common tradeoff many years ago. Not one that Ortiz was comfortable hauling i

Doing the math is pretty easy. Interpreting what it all means can be more challenging. But we do know the sport of baseball has gravitated toward placing increased value on pitchers with big strikeout totals. And while we used to be most enamored with raw strikeout totals, now stats like strikeout percentage might tell us a bit more. Strikeout perc

Awards Week wraps up tonight with the announcement of the two leagues’ MVP winners, and you’re forgiven if you haven’t been paying attention to this stuff. Because, really, why would you this year? Unless some rogue writer gave Joey Meneses a 10th place MVP vote, the Nationals will have been shut out entirely from discussion about the four major aw

Grayson Rodriguez celebrated his 23rd birthday yesterday by hopping on a video call with some members of the local media. One big wish had already come true for Rodriguez. The Orioles selected his contract on Tuesday, placing him on the 40-man roster at the deadline prior to next month’s Rule 5 draft. Rodriguez referred to it as “an honor,” while o

Considering he walked off the mound with an injury in the sixth inning of a Triple-A game with Norfolk on June 1, returning to pitch this past season in September was big for the sport’s highest-rated pitching prospect, right-hander Grayson Rodriguez. While the Orioles didn’t get him a late-year start in Baltimore to make his MLB debut, he did make

The Orioles Adley Rutschman did not win the AL Rookie of the Year award. That was expected. Manager Brandon Hyde did not win the Manager of the Year award, which went to Cleveland's Terry Francona. That was probably a bit less expected but certainly Francona was the favorite heading into last night. To have five of the 30 votes not place Hyde among

Tuesday wound up a busy day for the Nationals, who added six players to the 40-man roster, dropped four others and announced a couple more transactions to boot. Here are some more thoughts on what transpired … * The decision to outright Yadiel Hernandez to Triple-A Rochester might be a tip-off to more decisions that will be coming in the days and w

A week of Baseball Writers’ Association of America awards announcements makes a stop tonight at Cy Young. Each ballot had room for five candidates. None of the Orioles are expected to make an appearance. The winner will come from a group consisting of Chicago’s Dylan Cease, Toronto’s Alek Manoah and Houston’s Justin Verlander. The Orioles’ dry spel

The Orioles’ rise from 110-loss team in 2021 to playoff contender this summer, their record settling above .500 to shock the industry, couldn’t launch manager Brandon Hyde toward another award. Hyde was runner-up tonight to the Guardians’ Terry Francona for the American League’s Manager of the Year in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of