With the Orioles off to a miserable 13-23 start and 10 games under .500 for the first time in nearly three years, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. If you’re Mike Elias, the paramount question isn’t how to salvage the 2025 season; it’s how to get your vaunted young position core back on track. There’s no practical path back to contention this season — or over the next couple years — without that occurring. And no one will survive otherwise.
2. Baltimore must play like a 94-win club the rest of the way to finish 86-76, which was good enough for last season’s final wild-card spot. Even if the Orioles get healthy and this offense improves with runners in scoring position and against left-handers, it could be too late for 2025.
3. An aura of waiting for something bad to happen seems pervasive at this point, which is how a season spirals for even talented teams. While everyone continues to try to say the right things, another defeat, the next injury, or someone getting fired or demoted feels inevitable.
4. Brandon Hyde and the coaches didn’t construct the roster, but this club’s underperformed since last July. The Orioles came out of spring looking sloppy and uninspired. If Hyde can’t get this young core to respond favorably, you have to see if someone else can. This organization needs solutions before excuses.
5. Injuries have been a real factor in this mess, and I was blown away to learn roughly a quarter of major league players are on the injured list. I obviously don’t have the answer, but injury prevention — or at least mitigation — is the next frontier in gaining a competitive advantage.
6. It wasn’t long ago that Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson were being compared to Jonathan Ogden and Ray Lewis in terms of the draft parallels and importance to organizations that were starting over. Your stars have to play like stars, and that’s simply not happening. Heavy is the crown.
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7. On the bright side, Jackson Holliday is looking more comfortable and moved up to second in the order for the first time in his career in Thursday’s series finale in Minnesota. As frustrating as everything feels at the moment, it’s important to remember development isn’t linear.
8. How much longer will Baltimore stick with Charlie Morton as Zach Eflin returns this weekend and Andrew Kittredge is around the corner? If I’m devoting a bullpen spot to someone I trust only in mop-up duty, I’d prefer Morton to Cionel Perez since the 41-year-old offers length. A low bar.
9. The Minnesota sweep reminded of Elias declining Danny Coulombe’s $4 million option while exercising Perez’s $2.2 million option. It didn’t have to be one or the other, but that decision was confusing at best at the time and looks awful as Coulombe sports a 0.00 ERA compared to Perez’s 9.20.
10. The latest Coby Mayo stint hasn’t gone well, but Ryan Mountcastle entered Friday with the 12th-worst qualified OPS in the majors and has three home runs and a .620 OPS since last year’s All-Star break. Without a significant rebound by Mountcastle and the club, Mayo warrants an extended audition.
11. The 2015 Astros were perceived to be ahead of schedule, taking the eventual World Series champions to an elimination game. The 2016 Astros started 17-28 and never quite recovered. Cheating scandal aside, Houston won the World Series the following season. Regrouping is possible, but Elias must adjust his pitching strategy.
12. Few seasons in club history have been this frustrating considering expectations, and fans have every right to be ticked after sitting through a multiyear rebuild. In a “memory-making business,” the Orioles have been forgettable to bad for much of 40 years with no pennants and three ALCS appearances since 1983.
