The friendship began to evolve on the back fields at the spring training complex. Two first basemen taking ground balls during workouts, their careers in vastly different phases. One of them a mentor, acquired for his power at the plate and influence inside the clubhouse, the other an eager young prospect. Mark Trumbo had joined his fourth organization since his major league debut six years earlier, with the Orioles sending catcher Steve Clevenger to the Mariners in a Dec. 2, 2015 trade. Trumbo...

Watching college football the last two weekends, I couldn't help but keep asking myself: Why does that sport still only allow four teams into its top-level playoff? How much better would it be if every major conference winner automatically qualified, plus two at-large teams and the highest-ranked team from one of the other conferences, making up an eight-team bracket? Which also got me thinking how baseball really does have its postseason system right at the moment. Ten of the sport's 30...

When it was reported this week that the Orioles reached an agreement with right-handed starting pitcher Jordan Lyles for the 2022 season, the news was met with mixed reviews from the O's fan base. Some were pleased at least that the team invested a one-year deal for $7 million on a player, signing someone to a big league deal and for more than a player could earn on a minor league deal. Others noted that Lyles' ERA was only 5.15 last year and he led the majors by allowing 38 homers. But it...

My mailbag initiated negotiations with me this weekend and we reached an agreement that I'd respond to a few more questions rather than wait until it's overflowing. I need to find something else to do in my spare time. There's no editing for clarity, length, brevity, style or Harry Styles. We roll like the tide. Also, my small mailbag knocks down your giant mailbag with a slingshot. Why Jordan Lyles? I got this one a lot and tried to bounce some theories off you. I should have aimed a little...

In anticipating the negotiations between owners and players leading up to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, everyone assumed there would be two major areas of dispute: baseball's economic model and potential rule changes to the sport. Turns out the two sides really only discussed money before the CBA expired late Wednesday night and owners instituted a lockout. Commissioner Rob Manfred, during his Thursday news conference with reporters in Dallas, revealed the rule change...

There were high hopes for the two hitters the Orioles selected at the top of the 2015 First-Year Player Draft. There was Florida State outfielder DJ Stewart, taken No. 25 overall by the club in round one. There was Florida high school infielder Ryan Mountcastle, taken No. 36 by the team. Both, of course, have made the big club, but save for a few stretches here and there, Mountcastle has been much more productive than Stewart. And while Mountcastle seems to have a future on the team batting in...

The baseball world came to an abrupt halt at midnight Thursday, and we don't know when the machine is going to be turned back on again. It would be weeks. It could be months. Which leaves every club and a whole lot of players feeling helpless for the time being. Normally, everyone would be gearing up for the Winter Meetings, which were to begin Monday in Orlando. Trades would've been made, free agents would've been signed, Scott Boras quips would've been trotted out to a throng of reporters...

Even when Major League Baseball was fully operational and a lockout only meant that a guard needed to open the gate to the players' lot after hours, the Orioles welcomed and encouraged the increased attention on their minor league system. The talent pumped into it via the draft and international signings, the developmental tools and personnel spliced into the organization, a modernized approach that the rest of the industry was embracing. Can't stand the sight of the mounting losses that...

Now that the Orioles have an agreement with right-hander Jordan Lyles for 2022, pending a post-lockout physical, are they done looking for pitchers? Not very likely. Over the past few weeks, we have been looking at some back end rotation options as noted by MLBTradeRumors.com and going in alphabetical order. So we have addressed pitchers like Brett Anderson all the way through Lyles. Yep, he was in our last grouping of pitchers that were potential future Orioles. He was mentioned in this post....

The lockout that occurred seconds after the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement could produce the largest gap between an Orioles free agent agreement and actual signing in franchise history. Pitcher Jordan Lyles accepted the terms of his one-year, $7 million deal, which also contained an $11 million club option for 2023 and $1 million buyout. But the ink hasn't dried on the contract because a pen never touched paper. The transaction is pending a physical that can't be done until...