Orioles cap season on a high note via victory
Akin gets pulled with arm fatigue after 3
Big innings have eluded the Orioles’ offense for weeks, but they managed to string a pair together in Sunday’s season finale against the Toronto Blue Jays at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York, to finish the year with a 7-5 victory.
“For us, it did mean a lot, to be able to end the season strong and season with a win, we felt like that was important,” manager Brandon Hyde said.
“I thought we did a lot of good things today — some young players doing some really, really good things on the baseball field. It was definitely nice to end the season with a win after a tough few weeks.”
Trailing 4-1 in the fourth inning after a pair of home runs chased rookie starter Keegan Akin, the Orioles tied the game when Cedric Mullins drove in two runs with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by
Austin Hays.
They pulled ahead in a threerun fifth inning in which Rio Ruiz had a run-scoring double, Hanser Alberto grounded out to push across a second and Pat Valaika had a single to drive in a
third.
Sunday’s victory meant the Orioles finish at 25-35, which would have been a 68-94 pace in a 162-game season, and finished
camp in Bowie this season, there’s little doubt that plenty of good happened there, judging by what the call-ups were able to contribute in the majors.
If the Orioles join the majority of the league in holding an instructional league camp at their complex in Sarasota, Florida, this fall, that will likely trump all but the Bowie camp in terms of long-term importance to their rebuilding plan this year. A camp like that could get the six 2020 draftees, headlined by outfielder Heston Kjerstad, a launching pad into whatever baseball holds for them in 2021.
Elias said that he wasn’t ready to announce anything, but an instructional league is “on our wish list.” That it would occur in Florida, where most COVID-19 related restrictions have been lifted and where the team never reopened their spring training site after closing it in March, could present challenges for an organization that has prided itself on its care when it comes to pandemic-related precautions.
But for a team whose future is its main selling point, no expense should be spared to have the opportunity to run a camp like that and get all of its priority minor leaguers an opportunity to work in a Bowie-like environment for a few more weeks.
“I’m very hopeful to get more player development experience and activity in the 2020 calendar year, especially for some of
the guys who weren’t able to be in Bowie,” Elias said.
Trey Mancini might be the biggest addition they make in the winter.
With Mancini finishing up his chemotherapy treatment for Stage 3 colon cancer Monday, Elias allowed himself to look ahead to the team’s most recognizable star being a force in their lineup again next season.
“We’re very much hopeful and excited that he can come back and help us,” Elias said. “He fits in well with us. He was everything for us last year, and to add him back next year, I just think gets everyone excited. He just went through a lot, it just ended, and he’s going to have to get his strength and baseball activities back and all that and he’s still going to be some work and some process going into that this winter.
But he’s such a strong, dedicated mentally strong kid, person, that we have nothing but confidence that he’s going to do it this offseason and have a great year next year.”
Considering the financial uncertainty the team might face, Mancini might be the Orioles’ biggest addition for 2021. Elias said they “can’t estimate various things that we look at when we look into a player or a roster budget,” such as attendance revenue or sponsorships. Considering the money wrapped up in veterans such as Chris Davis and Alex Cobb on guaranteed contracts and the likelihood of another year with the Orioles not competing for a playoff spot, adding salary might not be an option.
That might mean that Mancini, who hit a career-high 35 home runs last year and had an .899 OPS, will be the biggest upgrade their roster gets from this weekend to
Opening Day.
Chris Davis might not be going anywhere.
An abundance of young outfielders, a list that now includes Ryan Mountcastle along with Anthony Santander, Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins, DJ Stewart, Yusniel Diaz and Ryan McKenna, means that Mancini’s future might be back at first base in 2021.
Elias, though, seemed pretty firm in noting that the season’s incumbent first baseman wasn’t going anywhere. At the end of last season, he was firm in saying Davis was going to be on the roster in spring training. This time around, he said Davis remains under contract with the Orioles and “we do not have plans to alter that fact.”
Davis hit .115 (6-for-52) with a .337 OPS and no home runs in a season in which he was often left out of the lineup when he wasn’t on the injured list with a knee injury. He has two years remaining on the seven-year, $161 million contract signed before the 2016 season, and has hit .196 with a .670 OPS and 97 home runs since that deal began.
The draft order uncertainty doesn’t really matter to the Orioles.
ESPN reported recently that the 2021 draft order is likely to just be the reverse standings, but there have been some other options floated.
Entering Saturday’s game, the Orioles had the sixth-worst record in baseball, though they were tied with the Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks at 24-34. They’re safely in the top 10 if it goes by standings, but they’re far from locked in.