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The Baltimore Orioles are as well-positioned as they have been in years entering spring training next month.<\/p>\n
The Orioles have been to the playoffs each of the past two seasons, including a 101-win season in 2023. Yes, they still need to win a playoff series.<\/p>\n
But the franchise is filled with talent.<\/p>\n
The farm system that general manager Mike Elias built the past few years has finally borne fruit.<\/p>\n
Plus, the Orioles have new ownership with David Rubenstein, who has committed to spend more money in free agency and on keeping the franchise\u2019s young core of starts together.<\/p>\n
Now, they\u2019re preparing to head to Sarasota, Fla., to start preparing for the 2025 season and the O\u2019s announced the reporting dates for pitchers, catchers and the rest of the roster.<\/p>\n
Pitchers and catchers will report on Feb. 13.<\/p>\n
Baltimore has remade its rotation with veteran pitchers on one-year contracts, signing Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton after losing Corbin Burnes.<\/p>\n
The Orioles still have Zach Eflin, who they traded for at last year\u2019s deadline, along with Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer and Albert Su\u00e1rez from last year\u2019s rotation.<\/p>\n
Baltimore also has a group of young starters that could fight for jobs while they wait for Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells to return from elbow surgery later this season.<\/p>\n
F\u00e9lix Bautista is back to serve as the closer and Baltimore also signed Andrew Kittredge and Roansy Contreras to help fill in a bullpen that still includes Yennier Cano, Seranthony Dominguez and Cionel P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n
The rest of the roster will report on Feb. 18.<\/p>\n
Many of the top position players are home-grown, including infielders like Ryan Mountcastle, catcher Adley Rutschman and outfielder Colton Cowser, who finished second in American League rookie of the year voting.<\/p>\n
The most impressive stars, both current and potential, should be manning the middle infield next season.<\/p>\n
Gunner Henderson was the 2023 AL rookie of the year and finished in the top five in MVP voting.<\/p>\n
Opposite him the Orioles hoped that their 2022 first-round pick, Jackson Holiday, is ready to be an everyday player.<\/p>\n
Baltimore made two significant free-agent signings \u2014 outfielder Tyler O\u2019Neill and catcher Gary Sanchez, who will back up Rutschman.<\/p>\n
The Orioles will open spring training games at Ed Smith Stadium when they host Pittsburgh on Feb. 22. Baltimore opens the regular season on the road at Toronto on March 27 before returning to Camden Yards to open the home portion of the schedule against Boston on March 31.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Baltimore Orioles are as well-positioned as they have been in years entering spring training next month. The Orioles have been to the playoffs each of the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n