CLEARWATER, Fla. – Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins is still feeling discomfort today in his right hamstring but the club remains optimistic this will prove to be nothing too concerning or long-term at all.

“It’s still a little bit sore,” manager Brandon Hyde said before today’s game with the Phillies in Clearwater. “I think he’s really positive about it. Still a day-to-day type of thing. Obviously, we are going to be cautious with any hamstring right now. But, we’re confident. We have a lot of time left in camp. Shouldn’t be an issue.”

Mullins left Monday’s game in the last of the first at Ed Smith Stadium with right hamstring discomfort after drawing a leadoff walk and advancing to second on a groundout. He was limited to 116 games last year by two trips to the injured list with a right groin strain.

Mullins may get an MRI, Hyde said “just from a baseline standpoint. I talked to him before I came here, he feels good.”

Mullins' current issue is unrelated to anything from last year.

SARASOTA, Fla. – At age 20 Jackson Holliday, after just 145 minor league games and one full season on the farm, is trying to break north with the Orioles on the Opening Day roster.

He is under a spotlight in this camp at Ed Smith Stadium.

The kid has resources all around him, like a father in Matt Holliday who was a seven-time All-Star and World Series champion. What advice did the younger Holliday get on the home front before heading to Florida?

“Just take it easy. Try to enjoy it,” he says dad told him. “Whatever happens, happens, right? I think I’m in a really good spot, being 20 years old and in a position to make the team. Just enjoy it and have fun.

“And I have. These guys make it easy and fun in this locker room and enjoyable to come to the field every day.”

They are three of the Orioles' longest-tenured players. They have been teammates for a long time and are three of the biggest contributors on the team.

Again this year for the Orioles, a lot is expected from their starting outfield of left fielder Austin Hays, center fielder Cedric Mullins and right fielder Anthony Santander.

With Santander a free agent at the end of the 2024 season, it's possible this coming year will be their last together in Baltimore. Hays and Mullins are eligible to be free agents after the 2025 season.

The trio enjoyed helping the Orioles return to the playoffs last year, and now they'd love to get back again and lead the team to a longer October run.

These are three talented players, as Mullins and Hays have been All-Stars while Santander's .797 OPS last year ranked third on the team behind Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman and 23rd-best in the American League.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Cedric Mullins is healthy. Let’s start there. And he’s putting the barrel on the baseball, which figures to keep happening if he isn’t put on the injured list again.

Mullins was the standout in today’s live batting practice on the Ed Smith Stadium field. He lined a Cole Irvin pitch up the middle in his first trip, nailing the bottom of the screen, squared up another Irvin offering and lined to the shortstop area, and introduced himself to prospect Justin Armbruester with a shot off the top of the scoreboard in right-center field.

That one was epic. He almost cleared it.

Teammates roared in the dugout as Mullins made contact. Mullins began walking toward the bench but turned to check out the flight of the ball and get confirmation on its landing spot.

“I knew that one was gone off the bat,” he said. “Threw me some good pitches, left one hanging, I was able to take advantage of it.

SARASOTA, Fla. – “It’s a normal spring training at this point.”

Dillon Tate says these words in the most casual manner, without a hint of emotion in his voice or anything close to an expression. This is his usual delivery. Also quite normal for him.

The media and his Orioles teammates can make a bigger deal over Tate’s return from last year’s elbow and forearm injuries that kept him away from the active roster for the entire season.

About three weeks ago, Tate told the assembled media at Bowlero in Timonium, one of the last stops in the Birdland Caravan, that he reported early to camp and was ready to go. He smiled as he said it. An entire organization felt the same way.

Tate also described last season as a “whirlwind,” a kinder and gentler description than he could have provided. But he isn’t holding back during workouts, unleashing throws in warmups, popping the mitt in bullpen sessions and throwing live batting practice yesterday on the stadium mound.

Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins may well be a player driven and motivated this year by what happened last year.

And I don’t mean how the Orioles’ season ended against Texas. But how his season ended and went at times – he was on the injured list twice during the year. After missing nine games total in the 2021-22 seasons, he was limited to 116 games in ’23.

Mullins hit just .198 last September and then was 0-for-12 in the AL Division Series.

During Birdland Caravan, O’s first base and outfielders coach Anthony Sanders talked about Mullins late-season struggles. In the end was he just too banged up to play?

“We as a staff, we know the vibe of the players,” said Sanders. “We know the bumps and bruises they have. You have to trust in those guys that are professionals. Even though Ced’s bat didn’t probably show up, he still brought another element to the game that this team relies on. He’s a leader of this team and I would not have done it any different way.”

The string of slow-to-nonexistent news days is about to get snipped with the Orioles approaching the deadline to sign their arbitration-eligible players or exchange salary figures.

This counts as actual news, right? Or maybe it depends on your standards. After all, they're under team control no matter the outcome. But at least it's more than a minor league signing.

Deals need to get done by 8 p.m. tonight or risk hearings between Jan. 29 and Feb. 16 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Yes, the deadline is tonight despite the 1,472 articles in Google searches that say Friday. It was changed.

One more time, I hope, are the 13 impacted players and MLBTradeRumors’ projected raises:

The countdown to spring training is gaining momentum. The offseason is melting away as the temperature drops, forming a Frosty puddle.

I’m about to get busy, busy, busy.

Mocks and predictions are popular ways to keep fans engaged, with the disclaimer that everything can change with one or two transactions.

The Orioles and their division rivals aren’t done constructing their rosters. I don’t own a crystal ball, but I highly recommend Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Skull vodka. It's first on my list, but it’s harder to find than a usable Erik Bedard quote.

But I digress …

Time to present a few more facts and opine about them today. We take a look at some things that happened with the 2023 Orioles and some that might happen in 2024.

Fact: The Orioles set a single-season team record with 1,431 strikeouts in the 2023 season. Not only did that club set a team record, but they shattered the previous mark of 1,248 strikeouts, set in 2016 and 2019.

Opinion and other facts: Despite that number, a record-setting number covering a long span of time with the first O’s season in 1954, the O’s are not a big strikeout team.

They did in fact have that many strikeouts last year but that ranked only as the ninth-most in the American League and 13^th-most in the majors. AL average for the season was 1,422. The Orioles averaged 8.86 strikeouts per every nine innings and that was also a team record and is the only time in club history they averaged 8.00 over the full season for every nine innings. But the 8.86 number ranked only as 10^th best in the AL where eight teams averaged 9.00 or more per nine.

While the O’s strikeout percentage ranked better – they were seventh in the AL at 23.5 (MLB average was 22.7) – they were not among the top clubs in that stat either.

Time to revisit more notes from the 2023 season. And not just the facts.

Here’s another attempt to expand on them. Stretching the truth.

Fact: Jorge Mateo became the first player in Orioles history and the eighth in the majors since at least 1901 with multiple stolen bases in a team’s first two games of the season. He also became the first player in club history and the 14th player since 1901 with at least four stolen bases in his first two games to begin a season. Mateo became the ninth Oriole to steal at least 20 bases in the team’s first 68 games and the first since Nate McLouth had 23 in 2013.

Follow: If only Mateo could reach base more often, but that’s been his issue at every stop.

Top 100 prospects don’t usually move around this much. He’s been traded twice and claimed on waivers, and he’s only 28.

Leftovers aren’t just for the days after Thanksgiving.

I had some extra questions in last week’s mailbag. I’d prefer green bean casserole, but maybe later.

The portion is modest, unlike your server. Just a couple handfuls of inquiries that didn’t make the first one.

Also, my mailbag serves homemade stuffing and your mailbag uses a box that expired three years ago.

Who will be the top two Orioles in stolen bases in 2024 and who will get the most innings at third base?
Two questions packed into one. Sort of like a casserole. I can’t make bold predictions without knowing the Opening Day roster. Jorge Mateo and Cedric Mullins were 1-2 this season, but Mateo appeared in 116 games. I wouldn’t expect the same in 2024. The second part is easier because I can just choose between Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg. I’ll get back to you.

Can a team that expects to be in the playoffs carry a struggling rookie on the roster? How about one in the everyday lineup?

This is sort of a natural follow up blog to yesterday when we pondered how the O’s will look to introduce some of their top prospects to regular player time. When is the right time for the Orioles to make that move?

Yes, it is easier for a losing team or a rebuilding team to carry a struggling rookie simply because they have less concern over daily wins and losses. But you still have to worry about the individual and when the struggles become too much or that player should be sent back to the minors. These are not easy calls for any club, no matter their place in the standings.

A young Orioles team with a manager with a strong player development background may be the near perfect spot for a young player like Heston Kjerstad, Colton Cowser or Jackson Holliday to break in. The clubhouse is filled with players who have been there and done that when it comes to rookies finding their way. Recent examples like Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson who had initial struggles and more established players like Cedric Mullins, not that far removed from them. Mullins can tell any young player about the time he fell all the way to Double-A before making it back to become a 30-30 talent and win a Silver Slugger award.

The other thing to keep in mind is that yes, the Orioles will be pushing to make the playoffs again. But any young player on the roster, even one as touted as Holliday, need only be complementary to the roster on a 101-win team and not the key guy. No one needs to be the straw stirring the drink here. No one needs to carry this club.

The World Series lasted only five games, setting the official offseason into motion faster than usual.

A relatively quiet one for the Orioles is on the verge of getting louder. They won’t sit on the Tucker Davidson and Sam Hilliard waiver claims as their signature moves.

Perhaps Davidson and Hilliard will become a couple of those unexpected happenings that I’ve recounted since the Orioles lost to the eventual-champion Rangers in the Division Series.

To review:

Austin Voth wasn’t impactful. Dillon Tate wasn’t able to pitch. Mike Baumann wasn’t big only in size. Yennier Cano was an All-Star. Danny Coulombe was cool under pressure. Adam Frazier hit for power and stopped.

The Orioles averaged 4.98 runs per game in the 2023 season to rank fourth in the American League and seventh-best in the majors among the 30 teams. 

Only six teams this year averaged 5.00 runs per game or better for the full year. The Orioles came up just short of that scoring 807. That was seventh-most in team history and the most since the 2004 O's team scored 842.

Here are the six teams that outscored the Orioles this year.

5.85 - Atlanta
5.59 - Los Angeles Dodgers
5.44 - Texas
5.31 - Tampa Bay
5.10 - Houston
5.06 - Chicago Cubs

The Orioles were keeping pretty good company being among this group. Had they scored just three more runs to finish with 810, they would have averaged exactly 5.00 runs per game.

The scores of the games will tell us that the Orioles offense had its problems late in the 2023 season. They scored two runs or less seven times in the last 11 regular-season games. They did that twice more in the American League Division Series as they scored three runs total in games one and three.

But if we were to judge this offense over the full season, it likely ends up getting decent or better grades. Unless you consider ranking fourth in the American League and seventh in MLB at 4.98 runs per game not good enough. It was not good enough to be first or the best, but it was better than most. It was well above the AL average of 4.55 runs per game.

The average AL team scored 738 runs this year. The Orioles scored 807. That was seventh-most in team history and the most since the 2004 O's team scored 842.

So, in the best stat to judge offense, they scored well.

The Orioles ranked sixth in the AL in team batting average (.255), tied for seventh in OBP (.321), seventh in slugging (.421) and eighth in OPS (.742).

ARLINGTON, Texas - For the Orioles there was sort of a clear theme to their postgame interviews last night after the Game 3 loss to Texas. The Rangers took an early 6-0 lead on their way to a 7-1 win and a series sweep in the American League Division Series.

Proud of a very good season and AL East championship. But also hoping and truly believing this is just the first step for this talented group of players.

They got swept three straight by Texas and the country didn't get to see the Orioles that we saw most of the year. Take the experience and learn from it. Use it as motivation to return next season and go farther.

"We have a lot of guys who have never been to the postseason before. So, this hurts and it's okay to hurt," manager Brandon Hyde said. "It's okay to have this kind of fuel to your fire in the off-season. It's going to take a while for us to get over this a little bit. But I think our guys will come in hunting and hungry in spring training. The guys coming back, especially the young guys, know what this feels like, know what it tastes like, and it sucks. If they did soak it in a little bit, they're going to be better for it down the road."

Outfielder Austin Hays expressed similar sentiments. I asked him when he has time this offseason to look back on the 2023 season, what will come to mind?

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles are preparing for their first playoff game in Texas since the 2012 wild card game. They headed back to the visiting clubhouse that night and stepped into a champagne shower. A wild scene that left everyone soaked, including media that got too close.

I returned to the hotel, where I’m staying again this week, and the woman behind the desk handed me a plastic bag for my clothes. I didn’t say a word. She didn’t say a word. Just looked at me and understood.

The bubbly won’t be on ice with the Orioles down 2-0 in the Division Series. They need to win twice on the road and get back to Camden Yards for Game 5.

Cover the lockers and floor with plastic again or break out the boxes to be shipped home.

“This team’s pretty resilient,” said veteran starter Kyle Gibson. “They’re young, but they’ve got a lot of experience this year when it comes to playing in big games. None obviously as big as the one (tonight), but I think they’ll be able to draw on that experience and they’ll be all right.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles arrived in Texas last night, determined to keep their season alive when they take the field in Game 3 of the American League Division Series on Tuesday night.

They have lost by scores of 3-2 and 11-8 to the Texas Rangers, a 90-win team during the regular season. A club that lost four of its last six to let the AL West title get away, only to now go 4-0 through the postseason thus far.

The math is daunting for the Orioles.

Per Elias Sports Bureau, in MLB playoff history, in best-of-five or longer series, teams taking a 2-0 lead are 154-25 (.860) in those series. In strictly best-of-five series, teams up 2-0 are 78-10 (.886).

“Obviously, definitely not our two best games we have played. We are capable of much better,” said Ryan O’Hearn this afternoon in the Baltimore clubhouse. “You know, it happens, So, it’s time to turn the page and try to figure out how to win the next one and the next one and hopefully we continue to play.

Orioles fans had waited for their first home playoff game since the 2014 season. The rain that lingered made the wait even longer. But when they got their chance to cheer, it was loud. It was almost deafening at times amid a sea of orange Saturday afternoon at Oriole Park.

The Orioles fans put on a spectacular show. It was electric and special. 

But the O's offense had its issues - a carryover from the end of the regular season - as they lost 3-2 to Texas in the AL Division Series opener.

“It was unbelievable, it was a dream come true to run out there with orange flags being waved everywhere," outfielder Austin Hays said. "An awesome experience. It was electric, loudest ballpark I’ve ever been in. Louder than the All-Star game. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for sure. So I am looking forward to doing it again (today)."

Ryan Mountcastle doubled in the first Baltimore run in the fourth but the Orioles never got the lead or tied the game once Texas scored twice in the top of the fourth.

The Orioles can change their roster for the American League Championship Series if they get past the Rangers. A new set of decisions to make based on the opponent and matchups.

Time to reconsider whether to stay with only 12 pitchers.

Shintaro Fujinami sat on the Division Series bubble and it popped underneath him. His inconsistency in the strike zone, the bouts of wildness, convinced the Orioles to drop him.

Maybe there were other factors, but if the results matched the stuff, you’d think Fuji would be in the bullpen.

He appeared to have a small abrasion on his face yesterday at quick glance, and a Japanese reporter also noticed a mark on the pitcher’s hand. Of course, he asked manager Brandon Hyde about it. His beat consists of one player.