Who would you pick to join the Orioles next year?
Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! I hope you had a nice fall weekend. If you’re a fan of Baltimore sports teams, there wasn’t much for you this weekend. There was no news about the Orioles, and the Ravens are in Los Angeles for Monday Night Football. If you happen to be a Commanders fan, my condolences.
While we wait for the Orioles to start doing things, the writers here at Camden Chat have been looking at possible additions to the team for 2025. If you haven’t been keeping up, so far we have tackled Christian Walker, Max Fried, Blake Snell, Tyler O’Neill, and Garrett Crochet. We’ll have three more write-ups this week before taking a short Thanksgiving break, starting with Roki Sasaki later today.
Which player is at the top of your list? And do you believe the rumors that the Orioles are actually in the mix for big-name free agents?
Relief pitchers aren’t a big focus of our wish list series (just not that exciting), but it is something the Orioles will have to address now that they have parted ways with both Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb. I’ll be honest: I was never a big fan of Webb. As such, his non-tendering surprised me but did not upset me. He had a short honeymoon when he came over from the Angels in 2023 but it didn’t last. I’ll never recover from the game two grand slam that year.
Being a major league GM is hard of course, but for me the hardest to fathom is the skill it takes to build a good bullpen. Good bullpens are built with all kinds of pitchers. Often pitchers who are integral pieces in good bullpens can’t sustain that performance from year to year. Who’s to say who will round out the bullpen for the Orioles this year, and if it’ll work out? Here’s hoping Mike Elias can figure it out.
Links
Because You Asked – Another 48 Hours – MASN Sports
Roch Kubatko with a massive pre-Thanksgiving Q&A. I don’t agree with him that the Orioles might bring back Austin Hays. I do agree that canned cranberry sauce is best.
Projecting how the 2025 Orioles will differ from 2024 – BaltimoreBaseball.com
Rich Dubroff with a status update on where the Orioles re going forward. I’m most looking forward to seeing Félix Bautista.
The Orioles should sign this non-tendered Blue Jays reliever – Birds Watcher
This writer thinks the Orioles should go after the recently non-tendered Jordan Romano. He missed much of 2024 with elbow issues. I’d pass on that.
Birthdays and History
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have three Orioles birthday buddies. Current Oriole Sernanthony Domínguez is celebrating his 30th birthday today. The Orioles exercised the $8M option on Domínguez early this month, so he is clearly expected to be a big part of the 2025 bullpen despite his uneven 2024 performance. Whatever Mike Elias sees in this guy, I hope he’s right.
Also born on this day are 2014-15 utility guy Jimmy Paredes (36) and 2019 four-gamer Nate Karns (37).
On this day in 2013, the San Diego Padres traded Brad Brach to the Orioles for minor leaguer Devin Jones. Brach pitched in relief for the Orioles from 2014-18 and was successful right up until that last season. In 2016, Brach appeared in 71 games with a 2.05 ERA and earned his only All-Star berth. It was a pretty good trade for the Orioles.
On the same day, the Orioles claimed Cord Phelps from Cleveland. That transaction wasn’t quite as successful.