Leftovers from the mailbag

Leftovers from the mailbag
Dumping the contents of my mailbag last week was an incomplete task. A few letters stuck to the bottom. How is this possible? Maybe from using the bag to make caramel apples over the holidays. That's one theory. Let's avoid overthinking it and just get to the core of the issue. Here are a few more questions, posted word for word. If you need more clarity or the length challenges your attention span, I can't help you. If Rougned Odor wins the second base job, who will be at third base?...

Conway on Stallings, Peek and Brnovich

Conway on Stallings, Peek and Brnovich
When the Orioles acquired pitcher Garrett Stallings from the Angels in the José Iglesias trade on Dec. 2, 2020, there were no professional starts to sift through. No professional data to digest. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias knew Stallings from the University of Tennessee, targeting him in the previous year's draft before the Angels selected him in the fifth round. Elias kept tabs on the right-hander while Los Angeles shut him down that summer and COVID-19 forced the...

Grayson Rodriguez also bringing value off the field (updated)

Grayson Rodriguez also bringing value off the field (updated)
Seven of the first 10 picks in the 2018 draft were position players, just as the Orioles anticipated. They knew there would be no shortage of pitching at their disposal. They had lots of appealing options with University of Florida right-hander Brady Singer, prep left-hander Matthew Liberatore, prep right-hander Cole Winn and South Florida lefty Shane McClanahan on the board. The industry was thrown a curve with the announcement that the Orioles selected right-hander Grayson Rodriguez of...

Conway on Lucas: "He gave us a lot out of the bullpen"

Conway on Lucas: "He gave us a lot out of the bullpen"
The non-tender deadline in 2019 brought a trade that wasn't popular with Orioles fans who still vented over the decision a week earlier to place infielder Jonathan Villar on waivers. Villar wasn't coming back with an estimated arbitration raise pushing his salary to $10.4 million. The Orioles were motivated to move him for the right return, which turned into left-hander Easton Lucas. "It's hard to let him go, but we've got to keep an eye on our strategic objectives, which prioritize the...

Conway on how Rom "didn't skip a beat" in 2021

Conway on how Rom "didn't skip a beat" in 2021
The anticipation surrounding the major league debuts by top Orioles pitching prospects Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall in 2022 is thicker than wet concrete. The foundation of the rebuild. MLBPipeline.com ranks Rodriguez as the No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball and eighth overall. Hall is 72nd overall. Drew Rom isn't in the top 100. He's 25th among Orioles prospects, the seventh pitcher listed and the fourth left-hander after Hall, Kevin Smith and Zac Lowther. Pitchers who didn't match...

Orioles make sure their system stays in sync

Orioles make sure their system stays in sync
The talent that pumps through the pipeline in the Orioles system, with renewed force over the last few years, is accompanied now by an even flow that's moving managers and coaches. The club hasn't announced its minor league staffs, but Single-A Aberdeen manager Kyle Moore is going to Double-A Bowie, while Buck Britton replaces Gary Kendall at Triple-A Norfolk. IronBirds pitching coach Josh Conway has been bumped up to the Baysox as the replacement for Justin Ramsey, who joins the Tides. The...

Upcoming dates with lots of or little interest to Orioles

Upcoming dates with lots of or little interest to Orioles
Another important offseason date that doesn't really impact the Orioles arrives on Monday. Teams no longer will have exclusive negotiating rights with their own free agents. Other executives can start courting them. The Orioles won't attempt to re-sign Mark Trumbo, so it doesn't matter to them. Monday also marks the deadline for teams to issue the $17.8 million qualifying offer to free agents. The Orioles obviously won't do it with Trumbo. And teams can exercise or decline options and...