They’re operating in here and now

LHP Irvin’s surprise demotion to minors shows Orioles are in post-rebuild world

CHICAGO — The Orioles sending Cole Irvin down to Triple-A on Friday was a surprise.

Should it have been?

Irvin, who the Orioles acquired in the offseason, was off to a bad start to the season. He didn’t make it through five innings in any of his three starts, allowed 15 runs in just 12 innings and uncharacteristically struggled with command and walked eight batters.

The reason the move was a surprise, though, is because it’s the type of decision a team makes if its main goal is to win games — the type of mindset that is new to the Orioles under the current regime.

The organization’s self-stated goal is to make the playoffs this season for the first time since 2016. But actions speak louder than words, and Irvin’s demotion could be seen as the first in-season roster move that signals the Orioles are, actually, in win-now mode.

The decision to send Irvin, a 29-year-old who was last a true minor leaguer in 2019, down to Triple-A isn’t one that a rebuilding club — like the Orioles for the previous four seasons — would likely make. Irvin, who the Orioles acquired in a trade with the Oakland Athletics in January, entered 2023 with just one minor league option left and a two-year track record as a league-average starting pitcher.

It’s early in the season — still too early to make assumptions on most players because of the unreliability of small sample sizes. The Orioles could have easily used that as a reason to continue having Irvin take the mound every fifth day.

But Baltimore is 1-2 in Irvin’s three starts, with the only victory thanks to an eight-run output from the offense and a walk-off home run from Adley Rutschman. With a playoff race that’s expected to be tight, the Orioles (8-6) couldn’t afford too many ineffective, bullpen-taxing starts from Irvin.