Bemboom is back, position players arrive early, no penalty for Hernandez, latest on Means, and more from Angelos

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles re-signed catcher Anthony Bemboom to a split contract in October, removing him from minor league free agency and putting him on the 40-man roster, and outrighted him to Triple-A a few weeks later. Go ahead and compete for the backup job, but as a non-roster invite to spring training. We’re saying there’s still a chance.

The flurry of catcher activity in the offseason suddenly left the Orioles with six of them on the 40-man, but they whittled it to one before trading for veteran James McCann, who’s under team control for the next two seasons.

The hurdles for Bemboom became much taller. McCann is the overwhelming favorite to break camp with the team, and no one is replacing Adley Rutschman. Only an injury could disrupt the plan.

As if a catcher would ever get hurt in camp. Be real.

Bemboom wasn’t blindsided by the Orioles’ interest in keeping him in the organization. They were transparent about it.

“Right after the season we started talking,” he said. “I’m excited to be back. It’s nice to have familiarity with a lot of the guys, coaching staff and players. I was excited to come back.”

He’s still here, of course, but time on the 40-man was fleeting. I was curious whether it was part of the negotiations, an understanding of what was going to happen.

Again, he didn’t appear to be blindsided.

“I had an idea that was a possibility, so it wasn’t a shock completely,” he said. “I had a decent idea.”

Bemboom made his first Opening Day roster last year, the door swinging wide open with the help of Rutschman’s strained triceps. Bemboom beat out Jacob Nottingham for the backup job behind Robinson Chirinos, who remains on the free agent market and will play for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic.

This year’s camp is more daunting for Bemboom because Rutschman is healthy and the Orioles didn’t trade for McCann, who’s under team control for the next two years, to do anything other than back up at catcher and first base.

Bemboom said he’s approaching it like any other. Just be ready to go.

“A lot of different things can happen, like we’ve seen throughout the years,” he said. “Be ready whenever my name is called, wherever, and just being able to get on the same page with the pitchers, do my job behind the plate. And staying healthy is the biggest part. Obviously, that’s everybody’s goal through camp.

“But also, be able to leave a good impression, a good taste in people’s mouths if I don’t start with the club. Being able to make an impact at some point.”

* Outfielders Austin Hays and Nomar Mazara arrived in camp yesterday morning, one day ahead of the report date for position players. Infielder Adam Frazier got here Saturday morning.

Triple-A infielder Jordan Westburg was the only player who hadn’t arrived by the time the clubhouse closed to the media at 9 a.m.

“We haven’t had many normal springs since I’ve been here, but we’ve had more guys here early than we’ve ever had since I’ve been here,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

“Guys showed up ready to go and it’s great. I know that Austin was at the caravan and has been working really hard, too. We felt good about how everybody’s coming into camp.”

* Outfielders Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander and starter Dean Kremer have jobs waiting for them after they return from the World Baseball Classic. But the same isn’t true with left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez, a non-roster invite who’s joining Santander on Team Venezuela.

Hernandez is trying to gain entry into the bullpen on Opening Day after the Orioles purchased his contract from the Red Sox on Jan. 11. Time away from camp in theory could be harmful, but Hyde doesn’t approach it that way.

“I don’t want to say it’s going to hurt his chances because you shouldn’t be penalized because you’re throwing for your country in the WBC,” Hyde said.

“We’ve seen Hernandez really good. I remember a couple years ago he was somebody we didn’t want to face coming out of the ‘pen in Boston. Kind of a tough year last year. Hopefully, he can bounce back, but we’ll see this spring, as much as we can see him.”

* Left-hander John Means will throw from a half-mound early this week, but it won’t happen today.

Hyde passed along the update yesterday morning. It seemed important at the time, but then …

* Orioles chairman and CEO John Angelos met with the media for 37 minutes yesterday and closed the scrum by explaining his small role in the left field wall moving back about 30 feet, and whether he was leery about making the change.

“I didn’t put the management team together, I’m not going to add to the management team with a thought that I know best and you have to sell me on something,” he said. “It really is their department. Now, yes, there are all kinds of considerations. The iconic nature of the ballpark, the aesthetics. Get enough people in a room, I’m sure we’d all have a different opinion on that, right? But I really felt like that was based on the belief by the baseball folks that it would help us with our long-term competitiveness and relevance, and unless I thought that was per se invalid, which I didn’t, it didn’t really require me to do much of anything.”

According to Statcast data, 57 balls would have been home runs with the old dimensions, and 33 belonged to the Orioles.  

“They said it was going to work,” Angelos said. “There is a presumption by me that they’re smart, bright, reasonable people who want to win, and why would they want to do it. I thought it was just something that the company would just reauthorize and would go with. And also, let’s say it didn’t work out, let’s say in any number of ways. Sometimes the best laid plans … Well then you’d have to change it.

“It would be unfortunate because of X-million, but you can’t be afraid to let your best people make decisions in the field. So, I was aware of it but I wasn’t an activist trying to figure it out for myself. They’re figuring it out. And it has made an impact. And I think that’s how we roll, that’s how we operate. I’m not here to pass on anything going on here. You guys stand in judgement more than I do in some ways. Yeah, I’m heavily invested, I want it to turn out well.

“To tell you the truth, I’m more like, if I see a rusted-out trash can, I want to make sure we throw it away. And if I’m into that, we’re in trouble. I rely on them and I think they’re doing a great job.”