Veterans find voice as rebuild begins

After trades, Trumbo, Cobb among O’s prepared to fill leadership void

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – Now that the Orioles have moved into a serious rebuilding period, the focus will be on developing a large group of young players to populate the major league roster for the next decade or more.

The responsibility for that rests largely on the minor and major league coaching staffs, but there is another component that could have a big impact on whether the rebuild is successful. Since the Orioles traded several of their top players to acquire many of those promising prospects, some of the remaining veterans are already working to fill the leadership gap.

Of course, Adam Jones has long been the de facto captain of the team and he’s still with the club, but he might not be around when the transition ramps up next spring. The pitching staff lost Darren O’Day, who had become almost a father figure to the younger pitchers in the bullpen, and economic realities forced the departures of Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop, who were growing into influential cornerstone players.

That’s why seemingly quiet veterans Mark Trumbo and Alex Cobb have already started to assume more vocal roles in the clubhouse. They, along with Jones and even some of the younger players with significant major league experience, already are working to build a new leadership infrastructure.

“I think we’re starting to see that here,” Cobb said. “After the trade deadline, we saw the direction the organization is heading in. I think we know we’re going to have so many young guys on this squad that there’s going to need to be some sort of structure and some clarity on the rules and what’s expected of guys around here. That’s starting to form now and we’ll kind of set the guidelines this year and going into the offseason, so we have some structure going into next year.”

Manager Buck Showalter has always preferred it that way. He has said repeatedly over the years that on a See ORIOLES, page 5