This is a weekly column that dives into some random thoughts about the Orioles/MLB. I used to do eight as a nod to Cal Ripken Jr. This year, I’ll be cutting it down to four or five, so consider it the Earl Weaver–Brooks Robinson era of Thursday Thoughts. – A.S.
1. I was fortunate enough to attend my first O’s Opening Day in nearly a decade this past week. I flew out from Arizona over the weekend and got the whole experience of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and it was just as good as my first time. Twenty-five years later, she still has all the charm and majesty that she started with.
Opening Day was not only great because it was another victory, but it was a win over the Blue Jays. Fans treated our neighbors to the north with all of the welcoming spirit you’d expect. The boos for Jose Bautista were wonderful, and his zero in the box score under “hits” was even better. The warm welcome for Steve Pearce was also great, though his three-hit game not as much.
For all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding the game, the coolest moment for me was seeing longtime O’s radio voice Fred Manfra stroll out to throw a ceremonial first pitch. Sure, the orange carpet was cool and the win is great, but seeing Manfra toss one over the plate was heartwarming.
2. Aside from all of the surrounding distractions of Opening Day, a pretty good baseball game was actually played. It came with something, however, that concerned me a bit. Kevin Gausman was quite obviously amped up, and it showed in his lack of control. A total of 103 pitches over 5.1 innings isn’t going to get it done, but especially when only 57 of those pitches are strikes.
As our own Derek Arnold pointed out earlier this week, some of that had to do with poor pitch receiving from Welington Castillo. Some of it also could have to do with extra movement on Gausman’s pitches. Either way, he looked especially excited by the moment. After all, it was his first OD start.
Let’s just hope the flow of the season gets rolling and he gets into a better, more controlled groove.
3. News on the injury front continues to get a little better, day by day. Wade Miley is on board to make his first start Sunday while Darren O’Day has recovered from the flu. Chris Tillman is progressing slowly and has had no further setbacks as he continues to build up his arm with a target return of early May. He’s headed back to Sarasota for live batting practice soon.
There is however, a bit of a yellow light on that front after the O’s reportedly agreed to a minor-league deal with Edwin Jackson last night. Perhaps the 33-year-old is just being brought on as an insurance policy. His numbers in recent years certainly don’t indicate he’s stepping right in and helping, but it’s nice to have options I suppose.
On the opposite end of the injury spectrum, the bad news for Dariel Alvarez hit yesterday. The former outfielder, who was converting into a pitcher, has the dreaded elbow injury and is likely heading for Tommy John surgery. Alvarez was slated for Single-A Delmarva, but is now sitting on the shelf as part of the 60-day disabled list.
I was very interested to see if Alvarez could develop as an arm for the O’s, something they were able to do previously with Mychal Givens, a former shortstop. That development will now be put on hold.
4. I was only slightly surprised to see Trey Mancini getting the start in right field last night. Many expected to see Craig Gentry in that spot against left-hander J.A. Happ, but Mancini is up in the big leagues for a reason. Buck Showalter obviously wants his bat in the lineup as regularly as he can get it there.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens when moves are needed to get pitchers on the roster down the road. Will it be Mancini who is optioned, or perhaps Joey Rickard? Gentry would have to be passed through waivers, something I’m sure they organization doesn’t want to risk.
The one thing I would be willing to bet on is that the move comes from the outfield. There are so many options there for so few spots.
5. While it may seem like there’s jumping to a lot of conclusions after just two games, that’s the last type of person I am. A 162-game season is long and takes a while to play out. Conclusions take a long time to be resolved. I’m not going to fret too much over Gausman’s short outing in the same way that I’ll do my best not to get too hyped over Dylan Bundy’s brilliance. I also won’t fret over Mychal Givens’ continued inability to get left-handers out or the offensive stretches where the lights seem to go out.
I’m just happy baseball (that counts) is back. I think we all sit on the same side of the fence when it comes to that.
