It was the first division championship for the Orioles since 2014 under Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter . General manager Mike Elias was selected as Executive of the Year by Major League Baseball and Brandon Hyde as Manager of the year by the BBWAA. The Orioles fell back to 91-71 last season and opened this season 12-18 with the worst run differential — minus-49 — in the American League. “It’s been really disappointing for all of us in the organization,” Elias said Friday. “It’s been very difficult, and we have not performed to expectations, so we all feel that. I feel that.” Yes, it’s early and talent plays over time. But the Orioles aren’t moving in the right direction. Their rotation has a 6.04 earned run average, the worst by the AL by a whopping 1.37 runs. Outside of Zach Elfin and Tomoyuki Sugano , every starter has been dreadful. Charlie Morton was 0-5 with a 10.89 earned run average in five starts before being sent to the bullpen. The 41-year-old righthander was signed for $15 million. Kyle Gibson , who was signed as spring training ended, made his debut on Tuesday and allowed nine runs over 3⅔ innings against the Yankees. The first three hitters he faced homered over a span of five pitches. “With the starting rotation, having injuries and also starting so poorly and putting us in a bad spot because of that, it is difficult to contend with that level of injuries,” Elias said. “But even that aside, they’ve had a poor start and that’s my responsibility, and I’m in charge of baseball operations and when we have a bad record to start the year, that’s my responsibility.” It’s not a payroll issue. The Orioles had a $89.4 million luxury tax payroll in 2023 and it’s $183 million this season. The issue is how the money was spent and whether Baltimore should have traded from its position player depth to obtain a top starter. They did that for Corbin Burnes before last season and he was 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA over 32 starts for a playoff team. But Burnes became a free agent after the season and wanted to sign with the Diamondbacks so he could live at home. Elias can’t be blamed for that. But replacing a 29-year-old All-Star with Morton wasn’t going to work. Sugano has pitched well, but a 35-year-old with a 92-miles-per-hour fastball isn’t a player a team can build around. There should be some rotation help coming from within. Lefthander Trevor Rogers , a potentially solid starter, is working his way back from a knee injury and should return this month. Eflin, who pitched well in three starts before going on the injured list with a lat strain, is expected back in a few weeks. Righthander Grayson Rodriguez , out all season with elbow inflammation, should start throwing again in the coming weeks. Down the line, righthanders Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells could return from Tommy John surgery in August. The Orioles should have the ability to outhit some of their problems. But their core group of homegrown position players — Gunnar Henderson , Jackson Holliday , Heston Kjerstad , Ryan Mountcastle , Adley Rutschman , and Jordan Westburg — have underperformed. Tyler O’Neill had a .668 OPS and two home runs in 18 games before going on the IL with neck inflammation. He was signed for three years and $49.5 million. Holliday, the consensus top prospect in baseball a year ago, hit .207 with a .600 OPS in his first 86 major league games, striking out 91 times in 298 plate appearances. He also has been a below-average defender at second base. Holliday is only 21, so it’s no time to panic. The same is true for the Orioles as a whole. Elias has always said the goal was long-term sustainability. That’s being tested now.
Chapman has impressed the Red Sox
Closers are interesting guys. Their worth is based on a flawed statistic, the save. Many only throw one or two pitches particularly well and any personality quirks they have often get overlooked because, well, they’re the closer. The Sox have won championships with closers who were regular guys ( Keith Foulke ), nutty guys ( Jonathan Papelbon ), and the most enthusiastic of guys ( Koji Uehara ). Now they have Aroldis Chapman , who’s definitely his own guy. Chapman is 37 and has played for seven teams, five in the last four seasons. He’s a Cuban who loves his coffee and is built like an NFL linebacker at 6 feet, 4 inches, 240 pounds. He wears designer clothes and old-school Reebok sneakers and drives what appears to be a custom-made armored personnel carrier through the narrow streets of Boston. He’s also covered in tattoos from the neck down. What matters to the Red Sox is that Chapman has managed to improve his two-seam fastball velocity this season, something that was not expected. He’s averaging 100.6 m.p.h., up from 99.8 last season. “The velo is eye-opening,” Alex Cora said. “The strike-throwing, too. It’s been the highlight of the season so far. “You work and the game will reward you. That’s it, it’s as simple as that. That guy gets up in the morning, he goes to the gym. Comes back, get some rest, goes to the gym. When he gets here, he’s running laps.” Cora said Chapman has been a “great teammate” who has looked after younger players. He’s also set an example with his work ethic. “The fact that he’s still in big leagues, and it looks like he’s improving, it’s amazing,” the manager said. “It’s refreshing and fun to watch and I’m glad he’s here with us.” ▪ Jarren Duran is a vastly improved player from where he was in 2022. But avoidable mistakes still pop up from time to time. One happened on Wednesday in Toronto when he tried to score from first with no outs in the first inning on a double by Rafael Devers and was thrown out at the plate. Duran got spun around looking for the ball when he rounded second and lost his momentum. In that situation, stay at third with Alex Bregman coming up. In a game the Sox eventually lost, 7-6, in 10 innings, it was a costly out. There are no predetermined outcomes, but Bregman homered. ▪ Ceddanne Rafaela also lost focus on Wednesday when he assumed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wouldn’t tag up from second on a fly ball to center in the 10th inning and was caught flat-footed when he did. Guerrero then scored the winning run. ▪ NESN’s addition of Alanna Rizzo was a good one for baseball fans. She knows and cares about the sport and brings a lot of experience, having covered the Dodgers for seven seasons and been on MLB Network. Her baseball roots run deep. She’s married to Providence native Chris Iannetta , who played 14 seasons in the majors. ▪ Baseball in New England: Double A Portland had all four of its weekend home games in April either rained out or snowed out. ▪ Happened across a YouTube video that described Roman Anthony as “the best prospect in the history of the Red Sox franchise.” Anthony is an excellent player and has handled all the acclaim admirably. But take it easy. At 19, Ted Williams had a 1.182 OPS and 42 homers over 148 Triple A games in 1938. He also drew 114 walks. Jim Rice had a .987 OPS and 62 extra-base hits as a 20-year-old over 129 minor league games in 1973. At 20, Mookie Betts had a .960 OPS and 33 stolen bases in 99 games for Portland and Pawtucket in 2014, starting 46 games at second base and 45 in center field. Dodgers having depth tested
With Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell on the injured list with what is being termed shoulder inflammation, the Dodgers are going to learn if they have enough starters. For now, Tony Gonsolin , Dustin May , Roki Sasaki , and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are the core of a strong rotation. Gonsolin, who missed all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery, returned on Wednesday and allowed three runs over six innings against Miami. Clayton Kershaw is three starts into a rehab assignment and went five innings on Wednesday for Triple A Oklahoma City. The Dodgers can make it work until he returns. Shohei Ohtani ? He is “months away” from the mound according to manager Dave Roberts . Ohtani had surgery on his right elbow — believed to be an internal brace procedure — in 2023 then needed surgery on left shoulder after the World Series last season to repair a torn left labrum. He has had full bullpen sessions but not yet been scheduled for a minor league game. Bringing back Ohtani in the second half to pitch would be bigger than any trade Los Angeles could make. Whether it’s following an opener or going into the rotation, Ben Casparius should be able to give the Dodgers innings. The rookie from UConn has a 2.70 ERA in his first 14 major league outings and appeared in four postseason games last season. A bigger question for the Dodgers might be why they’ve had so many injuries to their pitchers in recent years. Extra bases
Chandler Simpson played second base and shortstop for Georgia Tech in 2022, the same season Kristian Campbell redshirted. He was a second-round draft pick by the Rays who hit .324 with an incredible 214 stolen bases over 250 minor league games and homered once. “There’s nobody like him,” Campbell said. “His speed is amazing.” Simpson was called up on April 19 and hit .318 in his first 11 games and was 3 for 4 on steals. In the age of launch angle and hitting the ball as hard as you can, Simpson is a contact hitter who uses his speed to get on base. “It’s a skill set that we probably haven’t seen as much over time in recent years,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. Meanwhile the Rays sold out 22 straight games at Steinbrenner Field before drawing 8,794 for a day game on Thursday against Kansas City … When underrated José Ramirez stole a base against the Twins on Thursday, he became the first player in Cleveland history with 250 home runs and 250 steals and as well as the first third baseman in baseball history. Only 23 other players have hit those marks. The last was Hanley Ramirez , who had 271 homers and 281 steals. Ramirez joined Craig Biggio , Derek Jeter , and Robin Yount as the only players to accomplish it with one team … The Braves optioned Jarred Kelenic to Triple A Gwinnett on Monday. He hit .167 through 23 games and struck out 23 times in 60 at-bats. Kelenic was the sixth pick of the 2018 draft by Seattle then was traded to the Mets later that year as part of the package to get Robinson Cano . The 25-year-old has since hit .211 with a .658 OPS and only 0.3 bWAR over 406 games. Kelenic played in the Futures Game and was once the No. 4 prospect in the game. Sometimes the can’t-miss guys do miss … After a poor start to the season (0-2 with a 6.63 ERA through four starts), Chris Sale has allowed five earned runs over his last 16⅓ innings and struck out 22. He has improved his fastball velocity and is getting swings and misses from his slider again … Aaron Judge hit a ridiculous .427/.521/.761 in April with 28 extra-base hits and 32 RBIs. Juan Soto over the same stretch: .241/.368/.384 with 10 extra-base hits and 12 RBIs. Scott Boras was at Citi Field on Thursday to check in with his client and Soto homered twice, albeit in a 4-2 loss against Arizona. The homers were his first at home this season … Tough times for All-Star closers in Ohio. The Reds optioned Alexis Diaz to Triple A Louisville after he allowed eight runs in his first six outings. Diaz has his seen his fastball velocity drop from 95.7 in 2022 to 93 this season. The Guardians kept Emmanuel Clase on the roster after he gave up nine runs and 20 hits in his first 10⅓ innings but dropped him into the eighth inning. Clase came back to get a save against the Twins on Wednesday despite giving up a run. Meanwhile Devin Williams was dropped into lower-leverage slots by the Yankees after allowing 10 earned runs on 12 hits and seven walks in his first 10 games. Williams was among the Yankees players who successfully pressed the team to change its policy on beards. Maybe he should try shaving … You probably heard Eugenio Suarez was the 17th player in history to homer four times in a game. But did you know Torey Lovullo is the first manager to have two of his players do it? He also was managing Arizona when J.D. Martinez connected four times during the 2017 season … The Yankees came into this season never having hit four home runs in the first inning. They’ve since done it on March 29 and again on Tuesday. They’re the first major league team to do that twice in one season. Cohasset’s Ben Rice had one of the home runs on Tuesday against the Orioles. Rice became a tabloid sensation last season when homered three times against the Red Sox on July 6. But he finished the season hitting .171 and was left off the postseason roster. Rice had a productive offseason, getting stronger and improving his bat speed. He hit .266 with an .958 OPS, 13 extra-base hits and 13 RBIs through 27 games … Good to hear the Atlantic League’s Staten Island FerryHawks will honor the late Anthony Varvaro on May 18. Varvaro, a Staten Island native, played in the majors from 2010-15 including a stint with the Red Sox in ’15. The righthander left baseball to return to New York and become a Port Authority Police officer. He was on his way to work on Sept. 11, 2022 when he was killed by a wrong-way driver in New Jersey … The best pitcher in college baseball goes to Yale? Freshman righthander Jack Ohman was 7-0 with an 0.89 ERA through his first 10 games with 71 strikeouts over 60⅔ innings. He also had hit 97 with his fastball and throws a curveball, slider and changeup. He is the son of former major league lefthander Will Ohman … New England college baseball lost a legend when former University of New Haven coach Frank “Porky” Vieira died on April 25. Viera was 1,127-324-6 with the Chargers from 1962-2006. New Haven advanced to the Division 2 World Series 17 times, finishing second twice. Vieira also sent 11 players to the majors, Steve Bedrosian among them. Vieira scored a school-record 2,649 points as a basketball player at Quinnipiac and later was an accomplished referee, working Big East games … Happy birthday to Jack Baker , who is 75. The tall first baseman from Alabama played 14 games for the Red Sox from 1976-77 and was 3 for 26 with a home run. He was traded to Cleveland for Garry Hancock after the ’77 season but didn’t return to the majors and left baseball after the 1978 season. Baker returned to Alabama to work in the family business, a dairy, and still lives there. In 1972, Baker and Jim Rice were the two best hitters for Single A Winter Haven. Baker had an .862 OPS and hit 27 home runs. Rice had an .861 OPS and had 17 homers.
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