Welcome to another edition of the Orioles Beat newsletter. The O’s welcomed the Royals to Camden Yards this weekend for a three-game set, a rematch of the 2024 AL Wild Card Series. BALTIMORE -- When a team underperforms, it can sometimes lead to finger-pointing and blaming -- from players, managers, coaches, front-office executives or others. That isn’t happening in Baltimore, where the Orioles finished April with a 12-18 record that was tied for the third-worst mark in MLB entering Friday. In fact, general manager Mike Elias met with the media ahead of his club’s series opener vs. Kansas City at Camden Yards to express positivity. For one, Elias believes the O’s players will soon get the season moving in the right direction -- and they may have already started, following up their series win against the Yankees with a 3-0 victory over the Royals that marked only their second winning streak (they previously won back-to-back games vs. the Guardians on April 16-17). “I’m really optimistic -- and we’re optimistic -- that we’re going to work out of that and things are going to get better,” Elias said. “We have a lot of faith in this very talented group.” |
Elias also gave a vote of confidence in manager Brandon Hyde as the leader the Orioles need to help guide them through their early struggles. “Very confident in Brandon Hyde,” Elias said. “When we’re experiencing failure, it’s really important in that job -- and in my job, too -- to be consistent with your approach, and he’s doing that. ... Since this team started kind of coming together in 2022, it’s been a very consistent place, and it still is that way to me and the people that are down there all the time. He’s right in the middle of all that. ... “He knows baseball really well. He’s a good evaluator. He uses information at his disposal in a way that is intelligent, but also in a way that cares for his players. He’s a tough guy. This is wearing on both of us, but he’s handling it well.” This isn’t the first time the duo of Elias and Hyde has experienced a tough stretch since arriving in Baltimore prior to the 2019 season. The O’s went 131-253 (.341) over the regime’s first three years, as the front office tore down the roster and endured a significant rebuilding phase. The frustration about the 2025 start stems from the much greater expectations placed upon the Orioles than during those dark days. The organization started to turn a corner in 2022, then went 101-61 while winning the American League East title in ‘23. The O’s made the postseason again in ‘24, going 91-71 to secure the first AL Wild Card spot. |
Although Baltimore went 0-5 in the postseason over the past two years, the club’s window to win a World Series championship (or multiple) seemed to still be wide open heading into this season. “Nobody’s happy with how we’ve performed so far. We have higher expectations for ourselves,” Hyde said. “We’re not satisfied in the least bit. We know our team can play better than we have.” Baltimore hasn’t hit (.226 average, .681 OPS), and it hasn’t played the cleanest brand of baseball. But the story of the O’s season thus far has been the struggles of a starting rotation that lost ace Corbin Burnes over the winter when he signed with the D-backs. The Orioles have a 5.76 rotation ERA that ranks 28th in MLB. Several key starters are missing -- Zach Eflin (right lat strain), Grayson Rodriguez (right elbow inflammation/right lat strain) and Albert Suárez (right subscapularis strain) joined an injured list that was always planned to include Kyle Bradish (Tommy John surgery) and Tyler Wells (UCL repair surgery). |
But there’s also been underperformance. Charlie Morton (who signed a one-year, $15 million deal this past offseason) has temporarily been moved to the bullpen after posting a 10.89 ERA in five starts. Dean Kremer had a 7.04 ERA through six outings before tossing seven scoreless innings against the Royals, the best showing by an O’s starter this season. “It is difficult to contend with that level of injuries. But even that aside, they’ve had a poor start. And that’s my responsibility. I’m in charge of baseball operations, and when we have a bad record to start the year, that’s my responsibility,” Elias said. “Piece by piece, step by step, we’re going to get guys healthier, we’re going to get guys performing more to their norms. If there’s something we can fix with a player, we’re working on that.” Elias doesn’t believe it’s time for drastic roster changes or a massive overhaul, at least not at the moment. “Obviously, there’s a point for any of those things. Sitting here -- what is it, May 1, May 2? -- the answer’s no,” Elias said. “But if making changes to the roster -- whatever those might be -- when we’re confident it’s going to improve the team, we’ll consider those things.” The best path forward for the Orioles is one on which the team simply begins to play better. “I’m very optimistic and confident that we have a lot better baseball ahead,” Elias said, “and we’re going to play like the way that we should be this season.” The O’s took a step toward that Friday. Now, they must keep the positive momentum rolling from here. |
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Coby Mayo (O’s No. 2 prospect, MLB Pipeline’s No. 12 overall) reached the big leagues for the first time in 2024, then went 4-for-41 (.098) in 17 games. The 23-year-old corner infielder returned to Triple-A Norfolk to open the ‘25 season and has been mashing, with seven doubles, two triples, six homers, 22 RBIs and an .869 OPS through 28 games. Could Mayo soon be called up to Baltimore for his next MLB opportunity? “I think he’s really close,” Elias said Friday. “I’m really happy with where he is. It seems like he’s in a good spot -- the production that we’re seeing out of him, the quality of the at-bats, the work that he’s putting in. He’s going to be a big part of this team. I think it’s really important for us as we look at the timing of when that next Major League opportunity is going to be that it’s kind of the right opportunity for him, if we’re able to control that. ... “We really want Coby to have the right pathway, and he’s certainly putting himself in a really good position for that.” |
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