Late Swell

 

Well, here are some facts about the 2025 Baltimore Orioles. They're not looking like they'll be finishing the season with anybody hitting more than 75 RBIs, or anybody hitting more than 25 homers, or anyone with more than 12 wins, or anyone with more than 150 strikeouts [actually maybe Kremer gets there, who knows]. They did not have a healthy team to make a run at a pennant, and they were without Adley Rutschman, Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, Colton Cowser, Felix Bautista, Trevor Rogers, Ryan Mountcastle, Zach Eflin, Tyler Wells, Tyler O'Neill and Jordan Westburg for large swaths of this season. If your entire core misses more than half the season then you have to just be up front with people that you're taking a year off, and the O's kinda were.

However, a stat that I like better is this: the O's are .500 under Tony Mansolino. It may not have seemed like it at the time, but getting rid of Brandon Hyde may have been the best thing the O's did, because since then, they've been much closer to an actual good baseball team.

And that's kinda where we're at now, a team that's much closer to good because the injured guys are actually contributing, and some of the replacements are still helping as well. Samuel Basallo, Dylan Beavers and Trevor Rogers are as crucial to this team as Kyle Bradish, Ryan Mountcastle and Colton Cowser are, and it makes me excited for a season where they can all be called upon.

Like...Trevor Rogers didn't even look this good in Miami. He'd been hurt so long that we forgot this is just what he can do. Last night he kept the Yankees silent, barely allowing many hits, and reminding people just how crucial he's been for this team since being activated. Kyle Bradish has been very similar. In 4 games back he's had a 2.45 ERA and 30 Ks, he's very much himself again, and hopefully will have more of this material to display next year. Even Tyler Wells has been amazing since getting called back up, 2-0 with a 2.04 ERA in 3 starts. If they'd had this from the start without the injuries they'd have been a playoff team. Now it's...a big swell for nothing essentially. 

I'm really hoping this is a preview for next year. All of this in one place without shenanigans, it's coming. I do worry about the Rutschman/Basallo situation, if this means they might try and shop him for prospects or something, but there's gonna be concrete, healthy pieces next year in position to carry a team to the top. I think something will happen. And if I'm wrong...Mike Elias will never hear the end of it.

Coming Tonight: How the hell do you go from mid-year trade to 'everybody's hero' status in the span of a month? Not since Hunter Pence have I seen something like this...and I'm really hoping that's where the 2011 comparisons end.