With the Orioles hoping to turn the page from a brutal start to the 2025 season, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. There’s no sugarcoating a 12-18 start including a minus-49 run differential, two series victories, and a single instance of winning two straight games. The key to recovering from a woeful April isn’t trying to do it all at once, however. Baltimore won the Yankees series. Now take the next one.
2. Nobody expected Kyle Gibson to be the savior for a starting rotation currently sporting a 6.04 ERA, but Tuesday reiterated no one is coming to rescue the Orioles. While Zach Eflin’s return probably isn’t too far away, there are no other easy rotation fixes in early May.
3. Relative to expectations, the offense has been even more disappointing, scoring a below-average 4.0 runs per game. Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman each carry a sub-.700 OPS into May. Is this offense — when performing at peak — enough to overcome the rotation? You’d like to at least find out, right?
4. The Orioles have nine pitchers and three starting position players on the injured list. By no means does that excuse everything currently plaguing this club, but the injuries are absolutely a major factor. This team must get healthy without experiencing too much more attrition the rest of the way.
5. Mike Elias spent $72.25 million on seven outside free agents of note this winter. They’ve combined to be worth 0.0 wins above replacement, according to Baseball Reference. The FanGraphs version of the metric tracks those seven with a combined WAR of minus-1.1. Underwhelming isn’t the word to describe it.
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6. Of course, that includes Tomoyuki Sugano, who’s been Baltimore’s best starter with a 3.00 ERA in six starts (33 innings). Seeing him log eight strikeouts against the Yankees to nearly double his season total was encouraging. He’ll need to miss more bats to realistically sustain what he’s done thus far.
7. Coaching has come into question with how underwhelming the hitting has been across the board, but Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, and Ramon Urias have been strong performers. While veterans, they aren’t exactly hitters you’d label as not requiring much coaching either. This long-hyped young core shouldn’t get a pass.
8. Felix Bautista recording a pair of one-run saves against the Yankees was a great way to end the opening month of his return. He hit 99 mph Wednesday and is looking better and better. The Orioles still need to be smart with him, but it’s great seeing Bautista thrive again.
9. Moving Charlie Morton to the bullpen for the time being was a no-brainer decision, but Elias can’t afford to let a sunk cost further drag down this team if Morton doesn’t start showing meaningful improvement very soon. That $15 million has already been spent.
10. It would be tough imagining Brandon Hyde lasting if Baltimore continues a 97-loss pace all season, but I’ve seen no other indication that he’s lost the ears of the clubhouse. Even when problems extend beyond coaching, however, a different voice is sometimes warranted when a team isn’t playing to expectation.
11. One pet peeve has been persistent mentions of how young this team is, which ring hollow two years after a 101-win season. I’ll buy some patience still being warranted for the 21-year-old Jackson Holliday, but the rest of this club simply isn’t that young anymore in baseball terms.
12. Houston was 12 games below .500 last May and won its division. The 1982 Orioles were eight games under .500 in April and finished with baseball’s second-best record. The difference is such clubs had longer track records of success. Do the Orioles have the resolve to rebound? Five months remain.
