Today I write my last blog entry for MASNsports.com. Those words make me emotional and a bit sad.

But it’s been a heckuva run filled with memories of special people, players, media friends and O's staff along with too many nights at ballparks to count. But those places are home to me and the people I have worked with have been like family. 

I have worked full-time radio jobs in Frederick, Md., Richmond, Va., and at WBAL Radio in Baltimore earlier in my career, but nowhere did I work as long as this current job. As I noted recently, I was the first writer hired here back in the day and the first season I covered in this role was in 2008.

So it’s been a minute and I’ve seen a lot in this job – a lot of winning and losing.

Readers here know I am often optimistic about the Orioles. I am incredibly so with the current group. Fans and readers can vent about moves made or not made and debate how good this team is or is not.

And then there were two. Just two days left to share a few thoughts here on the Orioles as I wrap up my 17 years with MASNSports.com.

I continue to stay upbeat and am embracing whatever comes next.

But in whatever manner I follow and/or cover the 2025 Orioles there are a few things I’m looking forward to.

Can the team start fast?: They did last year, and the chance is there to do that again. The 2024 Orioles won their first two games, never spent one day at or under .500 and ended April in first place at 19-10. By the end of May they were 36-19. It all set the stage for a good season and another playoff run.

The O’s open the 2025 season with four at Toronto. And while the Blue Jays won just 74 games last year, they are certainly expected to be a club capable of a playoff run this year. Then the O’s next three opponents all finished at or above .500 last season. But then they play three more series out of four against under .500 clubs from last year.

When former Oriole star Adam Jones was officially hired by the club this week as special advisor to the general manager and a community ambassador, I felt the O’s made a great move.

Because of love and passion.

Jones has a deep love for this organization and a real passion about Orioles baseball. He’s always had it since they acquired him in a trade with the Mariners and that love and passion for the Orioles has never waned.

Few would work harder for the Orioles to be winners, and few would take more pride in any successes they have.

Adam really, really loves the Orioles.

Prospects ranking season is winding down but, in a ranking released yesterday via The Athletic’s Keith Law, O’s catching prosect Samuel Basallo got his highest-ranking yet and an evaluation that was quite favorable on his defense.

I have written here numerous times that the Orioles have been consistently saying that Basallo can stay as a catcher. They see that big arm and flexible body with agility for someone his size and see a solid defensive catcher.

Basallo was ranked No. 3 in the top 100 by Law, behind only Boston’s Roman Anthony and Sebastian Walcott of the Texas Rangers. In his top 100, Coby Mayo was ranked No. 18 and Enrique Bradfield Jr. was No. 82, giving the O's three top 100 prospects.

Law believes Basallo has shown the tools and athleticism to project as an “above-average defender.” His top 100 is here (subscription may be required).

He goes on to write that: “He’s got at least a 70 arm and is athletic enough to become a 55 receiver and blocker, although right now he’s succeeding more on his pure physical ability and needs more polish on the finer points of catching.”

Let’s take a look today at the longball. Hitting homers was something the 2024 Orioles did quite well, about as well as any team in the majors last year and they were among the best power-hitting teams in 71 years of Orioles baseball.

The Birds hit 235 home runs to rank second-best in the American League and in the majors to the Yankees, who hit 237.

In the 2023 season there were a whopping 13 teams that hit 200 or more home runs, led by Atlanta that led MLB that season hitting 307. That Braves team with 307 tied the 2019 Minnesota Twins for most homers in a single-season in MLB history. The only other club ever to hit 300 or more was the 2019 Yankees with 306.

In 2024, there were six MLB teams hitting 200 or more:

237 – Yankees
235 – Orioles
233 – Dodgers
213 – Braves
211 – Diamondbacks
207 – Mets

Major League Baseball’s best shortstop, right now, is the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson. So says MLB Network during its Top Ten Right Now series that has been airing in recent days.

Well not everyone at the network feels that way but the “shredder” does which is MLB Network’s model that I presume takes all the stats and data and provides a formula for ranking the players.

It’s quite an honor when you consider who Henderson is up against.

Here is their official top 10:

1) Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles.

I was the first writer hired to work at MASNsports.com. It was, I think, late in 2007 or maybe early in 2008. It all runs together now. But there I was writing articles called blogs about the Orioles at a place that most people didn’t know even existed back then.

But I put in the time and effort then and now, too, and here I am about 17 years later still writing for MASN.

Well, at least for a few more days.

Over the years, I have gained experience and knowledge on how to write game stories and also how to re-write game stories in the last of the ninth. To write about the minors and the majors. To write about the draft, trades, waiver claims, injuries and anything and everything about the Orioles.

Even about those we lost along the way like Brooks Robinson and Mike Flanagan.

When Japanese right-handed pitcher Roki Sasaki signed as an international amateur with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball’s defending World Series winners got a top pitcher for a very modest signing amount.

The rich got richer.

That angered some fans who speculated that the Dodgers had some sort of handshake agreement to add Sasaki all along. I don’t know about that, but the industry seemed to expect the Dodgers to get him months ago and they did.

What troubled me about the team recruitment of Sasaki was his “homework assignment” for various clubs during the recruiting process. What he asked teams to do before meeting with him. And that was to assess why his fastball lost some velocity in Japan during the 2024 season and how they would fix that.

I don’t know how many teams completed their homework assignment, but clearly some teams went deep into possibly helping the pitcher fix his fastball and did not even get him on their team. That sounds to me like Sasaki and his camp crossed a line here or pushed an envelope a step or two too far. Tell me how I can be better so I can take that to my new team and stay good, he seemed to be saying.

After trading numerous prospects over the last year or two and graduating others to the big leagues to help a team contend for the last two seasons, the O’s farm system has, predictably, taken a bit of a hit.

They no longer are the No. 1 ranked farm after a long run at the top and for now it seems, their days of populating top 100 lists up and down the rankings, may be limited for now.

In the latest initial release of the Baseball America top 100 prospects poll – the 2025 version of the ranking which first came out in 1990 – the Orioles have three players ranked in the top 100.

Catcher Samuel Basallo, who was No. 10 this time last year, is ranked No. 14. Coby Mayo, No. 25 this time last year, is ranked No. 29 and Heston Kjerstad, No. 41 on the list last January, is now No. 81. Basallo, age 20, is the highest-rated catcher on the BA top 100.

There was a time when three top 100 ranked players was an upgrade for the Orioles, who had two players ranked in 2015, none in 2016 and one in 2017.

Sure, there are durability questions about Orioles outfielder Tyler O’Neill, a player they signed via free agency in December. But last year he took 473 plate appearances to rank fifth-most on the Boston Red Sox and the O’s would probably take that and run with it right now.

Especially with his 2024 stats.

Over 113 games – his most since 2021 – O’Neill hit .241/.336/.511/.847 with 18 doubles, 31 homers, 74 runs and 61 RBIs. He posted an 11.2 walk percentage and 33.6 strikeout percentage.

Among the 2024 Orioles, only Anthony Santander and Gunnar Henderson out-homered him. Among 2024 O’s with 100 or more plate appearances, only Henderson (.893) topped him in OPS. Only Santander and Henderson exceeded his OPS+ of 132.

After he produced a .700 OPS in 2022 and .715 in 2023, O’Neill put up his best numbers since 2021 last year. That season, when he finished eighth for the NL MVP with St. Louis, he hit 34 homers, had a .912 OPS and produced 6.1 Wins Above Replacement per baseball-reference.com that was fifth among all NL position players.

Hey at least they didn’t get Juan Soto. Somehow the Los Angeles Dodgers, who did get pitchers Roki Sasaki and Tanner Scott in their latest star additions, will have to try and repeat their World Series title without Soto. He went to the New York Mets.

But the Dodgers still had a pretty good weekend, getting Sasaki Friday and Scott, the former Oriole reliever, on Sunday. They were pretty quiet on Saturday.

But even when it came time to get a player who could only sign as an international amateur and would not necessarily go to the highest bidder and was, theoretically available to all 30 teams, the Dodgers got him too in adding Sasaki.

And keep this in mind. Sasaki, who is rookie eligible, could very likely bring the Dodgers a draft pick by winning National League Rookie of the Year or with a top three MVP finish. He is expected to be a Prospect Performance Incentive eligible player.

For this now great team, this all seemed to truly start rolling in December of 2023 when the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani for $700 million. And then we found out about $680 million was deferred. Say what?

The Orioles emerging international program, a program that can now boast of 13 ranked players on the MLBPipeline.com Orioles’ top 30 prospects list, added more talent this week.

On Wednesday, the first day to sign international amateurs this signing period – a period that runs through Dec. 15, 2025 – the O’s added 22 players.

By signing bonus, the most prominent of the group signed was shortstop José Peña, who got a $1 million bonus. He was ranked No. 42 by Baseball America (which ranks players by bonus amounts) and No. 47 by MLBPipeline.

He gives the Orioles now six players signed to bonuses of $1 million or more since 2021.

He is now added to this group of players:

Whether you know him from his broadcasting work in Major League Baseball, through his appearances back in the day on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, as a television actor, for his role in Miller Lite commercials or as Harry Doyle from the movie Major League, you probably know about Bob Uecker.

A former player, a Ford C. Frick winner in the Hall of Fame as broadcaster, accomplished funny man and actor, he was all of that and yet so much more.

One of the wonderful all-time characters in the game, Uecker led a full and amazing life. A life that ended when he passed away yesterday at age 90.

Carson once held up a picture of Uecker drinking out of a bottle during what looked like a victory celebration and ask about what they were celebrating then?

“No, that was me getting ready for a game,” Uecker deadpanned and Carson, as usual, was rolling with laughter. When he first appeared on his show, Carson once asked sidekick Ed McMahon, “did that guy really play?”

With Cedric Mullins set as the O’s center fielder, what do the outfield corners look like? Tyler O’Neill, who signed a free agent deal for three years for $49.5 million that included an opt out after one season, is expected to get many of the starts in right field. Young Heston Kjerstad is also part of that right-field mix no doubt with Colton Cowser, who finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting, mostly in left field.

O’Neill, who turns 30 on June 22, last year for Boston made 56 starts in left field, 34 in right field and 17 as the DH. He was named the Red Sox Comeback Player of the Year by the Baseball Writers' Association of America's Boston chapter. O’Neill missed 27 games due to three stints on the injured list.

But over 113 games and 473 plate appearances with Boston, he hit .241/.336/.511/.847 with a 132 OPS+ that was just below Anthony Santander’s 134. Santander is still available in free agency.

O’Neill was a prolific batter versus lefty pitching last season, hitting .313/.430/.750/1.180 with a wRC+ of 215 off southpaws. Against right-handers he batted .209/.290/.403/.693 for a wRC+ of 91. Now he can take aim at the closer fences in left-field and left-center at Oriole Park. 

A Gold Glover in the outfield in 2020 and 2021, O’Neill has made 36 career starts in center field and could spell Mullins there at times as Mullins hit just .196 with a .506 OPS in 2024 versus left-handed pitching.

As the Orioles wonder what their 2025 season might look like, they may also ponder what a full year with Jordan Westburg in the lineup could look like?

Westburg played 68 games in 2023 with an OPS of .715 and played 107 last season with an OPS of .792 when he was an American League All-Star.

If we combine those two years he has played in 175 games as an Oriole, taking 675 plate appearances. That is about a full season’s worth, for instance Gunnar Henderson took 719 plate appearances in 2024.

So over those 675 PAs, Westburg has hit .263/.312/.455/.767 and all four seem easily within reach for him or better during a full and healthy year. In those PAs he has hit 43 doubles, seven triples, 21 homers, scored 83 runs, stole 10 bases and drove in 86 runs.

All those numbers also seem within reach and maybe better for Westburg over a full year. It could be production to really help an already good lineup. 

Here is one man’s hope that the projected chaos with pitcher Roki Sasaki signing with a big league club as soon as this week could be minimal. 

Because he has to be signed as an international amateur, he can sign officially with any of the 30 clubs starting on Wednesday. But he won’t be getting the big free agent money like Corbin Burnes or Max Fried got as he signs as an international amateur. The new signing period begins this Wednesday.

Each team gets a limited pool amount to sign these players and it’s essentially a hard salary cap. A team could trade for up to 60 percent of its original pool. The teams with the largest pools, as of this Wednesday at $7.555 million are Cincinnati, Detroit, Miami, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle and Tampa Bay.

There are six teams in the next tier with $6.9 million available in their pools and that group includes the Orioles along with Arizona, Cleveland, Colorado, Kansas City and Pittsburgh.

The Orioles have not been linked by any report I have seen in any way to Sasaki. And to likely confirm that he is not signing with the Orioles, or one of 26 other teams, ESPN last night reported that he has a final group of three teams - the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays.

The Orioles will play a game, a spring training game, for the first time on February 22^nd at home versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. How their lineup will look that day is not important. Can’t read anything into a spring training lineup, especially not the first one of spring.

But how might that lineup look on Opening Day, March 27^th at 3:07 p.m. at Rogers Centre against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Rather than wait for that big day, we could make a guess today. Doesn’t cost anything and no matter what we project, no one will get hurt. Unless it’s a player’s feelings that we leave out. But that’s rather unlikely too, so let’s proceed.

First the Blue Jays project to have five righties in their rotation possibly starting with Kevin Gausman or Jose Berrios. So we know it’s likely going to be a right-hander versus the Orioles that day and we’ll go with that.

Everyone’s lineup might be different for different reasons. Here is mine as of Jan. 13.

The Orioles one-year agreement with a club option with right-handed pitcher Andrew Kittredge made the team's strength a bit stronger. The bullpen looks pretty good with a clear eight you would project today to start the year in the bullpen.

That eight includes the club welcoming back All-Star closer Félix Bautista. From the right side, there is also Kittredge, Yennier Cano, Seranthony Domínguez and a long man in Albert Suárez, who right now projects more in the ‘pen than rotation.

From the left side the O’s have Keegan Akin, coming off his big 2024 year, along with Gregory Soto and Cionel Pérez.

The club will clearly be careful and cautious early on with Bautista coming back from Tommy John surgery. If he returns to previous form that would be huge for this team. Remember the guy has a 1.85 ERA, 0.924 WHIP with 14.1 strikeouts per nine in two MLB seasons. At his best, he is among the best closers in the game, a 2023 All-Star when he finished 11^th for the American League Cy Young Award.

But as they work him in slowly and perhaps are wary of using him back-to-back games to start the year, they now have many other options for the late innings.

Having a big season for an MLB player can be a blessing or a curse. Not really a curse, like selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees cursed the Red Sox all those years, but maybe burden is the right word. Now fans and perhaps even team management expect more of the same.

For Orioles center field Cedric Mullins, his magical 2021 season now looks like an outlier. He has not produced similar stats since. He started the All-Star game that year – his only All-Star appearance – won a Silver Slugger and finished ninth in the AL MVP race.

Over 159 games he hit .291/.360/.518/.878 and produced the first season of 30 homers and steals in O’s history with exactly 30 homers and 30 stolen bases.

Mullins’ .878 OPS that year ranked eighth-best in the American League in a season when only five players in the league topped .900. His OPS for the year topped several prominent players, a list that includes Yordan Álvarez, Marcus Semien, Teoscar Hernández, J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, Salvador Pérez and Carlos Correa.

But since 2022, his OPS numbers, while consistent, have been well behind that one great year. He was at .721 in 2022, .721 in 2023 and .710 last year, producing OPS+ totals of 107, 101 and 107 after putting up 137 for 2021.

To hear new O’s pitcher Charlie Morton tell it, he has essentially had two different careers. One as a pitch-to-contact pitcher and one going for and getting many more strikeouts.

The second stage of this career, which began with his age 33 season with Houston in 2017, was a real turning point.

It has led to more durability, more swing and miss, two All-Star appearances and at age 41, to his sixth team in Baltimore. He signed a one-year deal to join the club’s rotation for $15 million.

Life begins at 33?

He had Tommy John surgery in 2012 and two hip procedures along the way. When he made just four starts due to a torn hamstring that required surgery in 2016 with the Phillies, pitching only four games and 17 innings, he thought he might be done.