Bullpen injury news from the first day and a few other notes

The first day of spring training for the Orioles produced the first news of a player that will miss opening day. And it comes from the O’s bullpen. We can always count on the start of spring to produce information on which players will be “slow-played” or be on a list of no play, not playing yet at all.

Bullpen righty Dillon Tate will begin the season on the injured list. He strained his right flexor/forearm in November. That will also keep him from pitching for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.

We also learned yesterday that closer Félix Bautista is questionable for opening day as he’s been rehabbing his left knee this winter and is on a strengthening program for his shoulder. Missing one or both of these pitchers for any length of time would be a huge loss.

Also, lefty DL Hall will be slow-played due to lower lumbar discomfort, which first showed up about three weeks ago.

O’s executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias told reporters they expect Tate back in late April or early May. Tate’s situation makes the addition of right-hander Mychal Givens maybe more important now.

How will this impact the bullpen?

We wait to find out for sure. It could be filled in the short term by a rotation candidate who doesn’t make the first five. It could be a plus for Rule 5 pick Andrew Politi or enhance the chances of a non-roster candidate, like lefty Darwinzon Herandez, or righties that could make a surprise roster push, like two from their farm in Morgan McSweeney and Kade Strowd, or even righty Noah Denoyer, added to the 40-man last fall.

Rutschman ranked: He’s No. 41. Okay that doesn’t sound as a great as being the No. 1 prospect in baseball or having the No. 1 farm system. But it sounds better when you consider it’s a ranking of the top 100 players in the majors right now. That designation is part of an ongoing MLB Network series, and O’s catcher Adley Rutschman, who was previously the No. 1 prospect in baseball, is now No. 41 on this list after his rookie year.

In 113 games and 470 plate appearances, Rutschman hit .254/.362/.445/.806, producing an OPS+ of 128. He hit 35 doubles, one triple and 13 homers and drove in 42 runs. His 35 doubles set an O’s rookie record. At the end of the 2022 season he became the third O’s rookie, following Gregg Olson in 1989 and Rodrigo López in 2002, to be named Most Valuable Oriole.

He’s already gone from top prospect to top talent on this team, and he just turned 25 earlier this month. He finished second for the American League Rookie of the Year voting and 12^th in the AL MVP vote.

“Well, it’s awesome. To be in the top 50 is great,” Rutschman said this week on MLB Network. “Most importantly, when it comes to things like this, we are team-focused. But honors like this are just amazing, and to think about the journey to get to a place like this is awesome.”

Rutschman was asked about his strong relationship with his pitchers and his habit of greeting them when they come off the mound each half inning.

“Probably in middle school,” he said of the origin of that practice. “I don’t know how it started, just one of those things where I just get so excited when things go well. Even if things don’t go well, I just want to be there to support my guys. Whether they do good or bad, I will be there to help out. It is just so much fun being with these guys, we have such a great group.”

Cedric Mullins earlier was listed as No. 71 on this top 100, after a year when he hit .258/.318/.403/.721. He was No. 44 on this list this time last year, coming off his 30-30 season.

Burnes was burned: The ace pitcher of the Milwaukee Brewers is very unhappy with team management. It makes one feel good that the Orioles don’t have any arbitration hearings this season.

Corbin Burnes had a hearing this week and attended in person in Florida. He lost his case and will be paid $10.01 million. He was reportedly seeking $10.75 million.

In the world of big league baseball, that seems a small amount to squabble over, but they did. Burnes won the National League Cy Young Award in 2021, and finished 6^th in the voting in 2020 and seventh after last season. The past three years combined he has a 2.62 ERA, 0.964 WHIP and an 11.9 strikeout rate.

"I mean, there's no denying that the relationship was definitely hurt from what (transpired) over the last couple of weeks," Burnes told reporters at Brewers camp in Phoenix. "There's really no way to get around that. We're professionals, and we're going to go out there and do our job and keep doing what I can every fifth day that I go out there. But when some of the things that are said − for instance, they basically put me in the forefront of the reason why we didn't make the postseason last year − that's something that probably doesn't need to be said.

"We can go about a hearing without having to do that. There was no attacking of character, or the person or who I was. But just some of the stuff that was said definitely didn't need to be said. It's something that I think kind of disappointed everyone."

For more from MASNSports.com's Roch Kubatko on the first day of Orioles' spring workouts click here and here.