Now that Ryan Helsley has been signed to close games for the Orioles in 2026, we probably shouldn’t expect any other massive additions to the team’s bullpen. But that doesn’t mean the unit is a finished product either. For a team that claims to have postseason ambitions next season there are still far too many […]
10 days ago | 0 reads
Happy Monday, Camden Chatters, and welcome to December! The Orioles made a splash over the holiday weekend by signing a new closer. Ryan Helsley got a two-year deal from the Orioles with a player opt-out after year one. Helsley had three outstanding seasons with St. Louis before falling apart with the Mets after the trade […]
10 days ago | 2 reads
Hello, friends. There are now 116 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2026. We’ve already had one piece of news come out of the Thanksgiving weekend, so who knows, maybe today will bring another item of interest. If you haven’t already seen it, a solid report emerged yesterday that the Orioles are in agreement on […]
11 days ago | 1 read
The Orioles marked one big item off of their offseason checklist today, signing two-time All-Star closer Ryan Helsley to a two-year deal, as first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The deal is worth $28 million and includes an opt-out after the first year. Helsley has been one of the game’s top closers since taking over […]
12 days ago | 1 read
Good morning Birdland, It seems that most of Major League Baseball is taking this long weekend to spend time with family and friends rather than working the phones. There has been very little news. Honestly, I get it. Baseball’s offseason is pretty long, and the Winter Meetings are right around the corner. It’s probably tough […]
12 days ago | 1 read
Hello, friends. There are now 116 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2026. We’ve already had one piece of news come out of the Thanksgiving weekend, so who knows, maybe today will bring another item of interest. If you haven’t already seen it, a solid report emerged yesterday that the Orioles are in agreement on […]
12 days ago | 1 read
Good morning, Camden Chatters. Happy Day After Thanksgiving, everyone. Now that you’ve digested your (hopefully) heaping helpings of turkey, we can get back to digesting some MLB hot stove rumors. The latest scuttlebutt comes from the New York Post’s Jon Heyman — so, you know, make of that what you will — who writes that […]
13 days ago | 1 read
Hello, friends. There are now 119 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2026. Probably nothing is going to happen on this particular day, Thanksgiving, in the United States. Or at least I’m going to take it quite personally if Mike Elias or anyone connected with the Orioles makes any kind of news today. I’ve got […]
14 days ago | 1 read
These days, whenever a young Japanese player is posted to come to MLB, the assumption is that he will join the Dodgers. And why not? The Dodgers are good every single year. They have more money than they can spend. They’re in a somewhat Japanese-friendly time zone. And they have a sizeable Japanese contingent already […]
15 days ago | 2 reads
Good Morning Birdland, Over the last week, things have slowed down around the warehouse. Meanwhile, the hot stove remains pretty active throughout the league. The Brandon Nimmo/Marcus Semien deal a few days ago was an interesting one. And then, on Tuesday, the Red Sox traded for Sonny Gray. Gray is a few years removed from […]
15 days ago | 0 reads
The Orioles didn’t have the kind of 2025 season they were hoping for. On the other side of the country, neither did Zac Gallen. Now the two could be a perfect match as they both look to improve their fortunes in 2026. The Orioles’ search for a starting pitcher continues apace, and the longtime Arizona […]
16 days ago | 0 reads
Happy Tuesday, Camden Chatters. There hasn’t been any movement to the Orioles roster since the Grayson Rodriguez trade, but there was some news about the team yesterday. Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic reported that broadcaster Geoff Arnold will not return to the team in 2026. Arnold had been with the Orioles since the 2020 season […]
16 days ago | 1 read
The 2026 Orioles starting rotation is full of holes. Camden Chat writers have written over the last couple of weeks about the ideal candidates to help at the front of the rotation. The back end needs some help too, particularly with even the dim possibility of a healthy Grayson Rodriguez having been removed from the […]
17 days ago | 0 reads
Good morning, Camden Chatters. There was a bit of news on the MLB hot stove yesterday, as the Mets and Rangers made a surprising challenge trade — my struggling, expensive veteran for your struggling, expensive veteran — with a one-for-one swap that sent outfielder Brandon Nimmo to Texas and second baseman Marcus Semien to New […]
17 days ago | 2 reads
Hello, friends. There are now 123 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2026. After Mike Elias pulled off the surprise Grayson Rodriguez trade last week, it seems like anything could happen at any time, which means constant vigilance for me. It’s days later now and I’ve still got Rodriguez being traded for Taylor Ward running […]
18 days ago | 0 reads
Good morning Birdland, One of the more significant offseason deadlines has come and gone. The Orioles have tendered contracts to all but one of their arbitration-eligible players. Albert Suárez was the only one left out. He will now become a free agent. The one move that is getting more attention than the others is the […]
19 days ago | 0 reads
The Orioles came into the tender deadline day with a number of decisions to make about players who are on the bubble of the roster without a lot of flexibility. In the morning, well ahead of the deadline, they sent catcher Alex Jackson to Minnesota for a minor league infielder. When the choices were finally […]
20 days ago | 1 read
The Orioles have made another trade. The team announced on Friday morning that catcher Alex Jackson has been traded to the Twins in exchange for a minor league infielder, Payton Eeles. With the Orioles committed to Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo as their catchers and with the 29-year-old Jackson being out of minor league options, […]
20 days ago | 1 read
After Tuesday’s trade of Grayson Rodriguez—which was puzzling or just startling, depending on your perspective—the Orioles’ rotation needs have become even more pronounced. Starting pitching was already at the top of Mike Elias’ offseason to-do list, but the departure of Rodriguez means Baltimore now has one fewer established arm to pencil into next season’s rotation. […]
20 days ago | 1 read
A year ago, there was an argument to be made that Devin Williams was the best relief pitcher in baseball. He had just wrapped a six-season stint at the back of the Brewers bullpen that saw him compile a 1.83 ERA and save 68 games over 235.1 total innings. All that stood in between him […]
20 days ago | 3 reads
Good morning, Camden Chatters. The dust is still settling on the Grayson Rodriguez-for-Taylor Ward trade and everyone in Birdland has an opinion. It was perhaps the most unexpected trade of the Mike Elias era, sending away one of the Orioles’ most high-ceiling (but also high-risk) young pitchers for a 32-year-old outfielder with just one season […]
20 days ago | 2 reads
Despite missing the playoffs last year, the Orioles are still entrenched in their “winning window.” Former top prospects Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, and Jackson Holliday all have multiple years of control remaining, and complimentary pieces like Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser are still getting better. The future appears bright for rookies Samuel Basallo and Dylan […]
21 days ago | 1 read
After Tuesday night’s divisive trade of Grayson Rodriguez, the Orioles’ biggest need is now bigger and more obvious than ever before. If Mike Elias has a Charlie Day board with his plans for the offseason, starting pitching was already plastered all over it in bold-lettered sticky notes. Those notes have now been taken down, underlined […]
21 days ago | 0 reads
Hello, friends. There are now 126 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2026. It will probably take several more of those days to digest the Grayson Rodriguez-Taylor Ward trade. That’s going to be a thing that’s prominently on my mind until the Orioles do a bigger move. It’s pretty much all that anyone else is […]
21 days ago | 0 reads
The Orioles traded Grayson Rodriguez last night. Even with a little time to digest this maneuver, that was still a surprising sentence to write out. Mike Elias really went and did it, whatever “it” might turn out to be, bringing in 31-year-old outfielder Taylor Ward from the Angels. The righty-batting Ward has one year remaining […]
22 days ago | 0 reads