Steve On Baseball Podcast

For a pitcher that was signed after the 2023 MLB Draft out of Liberty University, right-hander Trey Gibson had quite the 2025 season on the O’s farm.He started with High-A Aberdeen, making nine appearances before he moved to Double-A Chesapeake and rolled through 10 starts with an ERA of 1.55 for the Baysox. He ended the year with seven starts for Triple-A Norfolk.For the full year, Gibson, age 23, went 5-8 with a 4.26 ERA in 120 1/3 innings. He fanned 12.4 batters per nine innings on his way to earning the “Jim Palmer Award” as the Orioles’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year.This spring he has made two outings for the Orioles in MLB games. That includes his three scoreless in the first exhibition game of the new season on Feb. 20 versus the Yankees. He recently added a third outing in a live BP session. Gibson keeps expanding his repertoire, this spring adding what he called a “true cutter” and that adds to the two-seamer and “death ball” he started to throw last year. Depending how you classify the offerings he throws six or seven pitches now. The “death ball” is kind of a gyro slider that has become a real putaway pitch for Gibson. It breaks down more than side-to-side and he used it all last year but it really improved for him as 2025 went on. As he will explain in this podcast, he threw and played catch with a “higher volume” this winter in the offseason and came into camp ready to pitch three innings in the first game. It was a bit of a change to his usual offseason routine. Gibson should begin this season in the Triple-A rotation and his day to make the O’s roster for the first time should be coming in 2026.Gibson is widely considered the organization’s top pitching prospect right now. Per ESPN, he is the O’s team No. 2 prospect and No. 46 via their national top 100. Per Baseball America he is team No. 3 and No. 72 in the top 100. Per MLBPipeline.com he is rated as the O’s No. 5 prospect.Enjoy the latest edition of the podcast and learn more about O’s top 100 pitcher Trey Gibson. Spring breakout rosters releasedGibson is one of 16 pitchers and 40 players named yesterday to the Orioles’ Spring Breakout roster for their game March 20 vs. Boston.The full roster is here —Pitchers:Micah Ashman LHP, Zane Barnhart LHP, Boston Bateman LHP, Braxton Bragg RHP, Luis De León LHP, Joseph Dzierwa LHP, Nestor German RHP, Trey Gibson RHP, Chandler Marsh RHP, Esteban Mejia RHP, Tyson Neighbors RHP, Anthony Nunez RHP, JT Quinn RHP, Patrick Reilly RHP, Juaron Watts-Brown RHP, Levi Wells RHP.Catchers:Ethan Anderson C/1B, Samuel Basallo C/1B, Yasmil Bucce C Creed Willems C/1B.Infielders:Wehiwa Aloy SS, Aron Estrada 2B/OF Wilfri De La Cruz SS, Cobb Hightower INF, Ike Irish 1B, Joshua Liranzo INF, Jaiden Lo Re INF, Griff O’Ferrall SS/2B, José Peña INF, Colin Yeaman SS.Outfielders:RJ Austin OF, Dylan Beavers OF, Enrique Bradfield Jr. OF, Vance Honeycutt OF, Nate George OF, DJ Layton OF, Stiven Martinez OF, Jordan Sanchez OF, Thomas Sosa OF, Reed Trimble OF.The Spring Breakout 40-man player pool rosters, which will be reduced to 27-man rosters on March 16th , were announced yesterday on MLB Network, and feature 91 of the top 100 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

The Orioles have back-to-back wins for the first time in the Grapefruit League after beating Tampa Bay 4-3 on Wednesday afternoon.It was a well-pitched game, as seven Baltimore pitchers combined on a four-hitter with 12 strikeouts. Reliever Andrew Kittredge allowed a three-run shot in the fourth and was the only Baltimore pitcher to give up any runs. Here is a video entry today noting good days for two O’s in lefty Trevor Rogers and minor league outfielder Vance Honeycutt.Rogers has fanned six in five scoreless frames over two games now and looks in mid-season form before we get to March 1.Baltimore pitchers have fanned 66 over six games in spring training to lead MLB.For Honeycutt, he is 2-for-2 with two homers. He had two homers over his last 33 games last season for High-A Aberdeen and has matched that with a couple of nice swings under the Florida sun.After he struggled so badly last year - a .559 OPS and 40.8 strikeout rate - over 101 games for Aberdeen, it is nice to see him do this early on for the Orioles.It should build some confidence and maybe jump-start a better season for him.Click here from the O’s X feed for the Honeycutt homer and click here for Tyler O’Neill’s RBI double in the third. He went 2-for-2 yesterday and is 4-for-6 to start his spring.Leave a comment with any early impressions you have on O’s spring training or any thoughts on the team right now. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Just two Polish guys from Baltimore on the podcast today talking Orioles.Like myself, Dan Szymborski is from Baltimore and is a popular radio and podcast guest this time of year to discuss his ZiPS projection system which can be found on FanGraphs.com. That stands for Zymborski Projection System.Dan, a 1996 Towson High School grad and 2000 grad of Loyola College, is a Senior writer for FanGraphs.com and also still contributes to his former employer at ESPN. No projection system is perfect or completely accurate but ZiPS has been at it since 2003 and when I interviewed Dan for MASNSports.com ahead of the 2023 season, ZiPS was very accurate then on several players.The system projected Adley Rutschman for a 126 OPS+ and the actual number for that 2023 season for Rutschman was 128. He pretty much nailed it for several others then to include Gunnar Henderson, Ryan Mountcastle and Anthony Santander.Spoiler alert - ZiPS is very bullish on several O’s on offense but a bit less so on the pitchers. We get into all of that today with Dan.He feels Baltimore could have a top five AL offense and maybe a top five MLB offense.Enjoy the latest addition of the Steve on Baseball podcast! Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

At the ripe “old” age of just 31, Anthony Villa is about to begin his third season as one of the top front office members running the O’s farm system. He is the club’s Director of Player Development.Villa, hired by the Orioles ahead of the 2020 season, has been a fast riser in the organization, spending time as a hitting coach and as the O’s minor league hitting coordinator for the 2023 season. The next year he moved into his current role.Villa makes a second appearance on my podcast after joining me for an interview at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen in the middle of last summer.If you want to go back and hear that interview from last June, click here.Villa oversees just about all aspects of the Baltimore farm, involved in everything from the staffing of coaches and managers to instruction throughout the farm. If there is a player on an O’s farm club he knows him and wants to help that young man advance to the majors.Last year Villa and his staff were proud of and thrilled for instance to see Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers both make the Orioles. These are two players they worked closely with from the first day they joined the organization, all the way through the higher minors and on to Baltimore.Getting a player to the “show” is a big moment for any farm system. This podcast was first a radio interview on 105.7 FM the Fan, when I recently filled in for Ryan Ripken on the “Hot Stove League” show and Villa was a guest on the show.We discussed many topics to include how the O’s keep tabs on the minor league players over the winter to a rundown of some players recently named top 100 prospects.Late in this podcast you may find his answer quite interesting when I asked Anthony how much the O’s practice bunting on the farm?The Steve on Baseball podcast is back and hopefully will become a more regular feature here as it was all throughout the 2025 season.Enjoy the interview with Villa! Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Now that the Super Bowl is in the record books for another year, many sports fans, and certainly our baseball-loving fans here, turn their attention to hardball.O’s pitcher and catchers report tomorrow to Sarasota and the first workout is set for Wednesday.In this video entry today I discussed FanGraphs.com’s playoff odds and where the O’s are rated in addition to some Zips projections for O’s batters which are quite favorable for fans around Birdland.Please take about six minutes to watch and leave some questions and comments.Thanks for the continued support of this Substack. At the end of the month I will celebrate one year on Substack. That year went fast! I will have more to say about that later.Have a great week everyone and enjoy the fact that baseball begins this week! Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

When it comes to covering international amateur signings, few do it better and with more experience than Ben Badler of Baseball America. Ben is my guest this week on the Steve on Baseball podcast, the initial edition of calender year 2026.Next Thursday, Jan. 15, is the first day of the new international signing period. Under the Mike Elias front office the O’s have signed six players to million dollar bonuses since 2021.This year they have four such players in this one class, per Baseball America.We will get into that a whole lot more today with Ben, who has been at Baseball America since 2007.“The Orioles this year seem like they are going to have one of the better classes this year. They’ve got some big bats at the top of the class. Arms as well. I think this is going to be one of their better signing classes in recent years,” Badler said. The O’s top signee is expected to be shortstop Jose Luis Acevedo, a right-handed hitter from the Domincan Republic, who turned 17 in November. He’s got a plus hit tool and may be able to stick at shortstop as a solid defender.On BA’s bonus board - they rank these international amateurs based on the amount of their projected bonuses - he is the No. 11 player. He might set an O’s team bonus record for an international amateur. That mark is currently held by Luis Almeyda who got $2.297 million in 2023.Per the BA bonus board, the O’s are also getting players currently rated No. 24, No. 40 and No. 42. The board will be updated and expanded next week ahead of Thursday.With international players making up about 30 percent of major league clubhouses, it is a talent source a team can’t ignore and under Elias and Koby Perez, the O’s do not. They make it a priority.Once it was stunning to see even a few players from the international ranks in an O’s top 30 prospects lists. On the lastest BA O’s top 30 there are 11 international players led by Samuel Basallo at No. 1. So today’s podcast is both very timely and very informative as we were able to grab Ben as the guest. He provided some great insights. Enjoy the lastest podcast Birdland.And click here for Badler’s latest on the BA international bonus big board top 50. (subscription may be required). Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

I really enjoyed recording today’s edition of this podcast, taped about a week ago with O’s minor league player Ethan Anderson.Anderson, 22, was the O’s second-round pick (No. 61 overall) in the 2024 draft out of the University of Virgina.He just completed his first full year and second season on the O’s farm. It ended with him playing well for Peoria in the Arizona Fall League where he hit .300 with an .841 OPS in 19 games. He made the AFL’s Fall Stars game.In 2024 at Virginia, Anderson, a switch-hitting catcher and sometimes first baseman, hit .331/.435/.508/.943 and he was all ACC. For his career he walked one more time than he struck out. On the O’s farm in 2025 with 70 games at High-A Aberdeen and 20 to end the year at Double-A Chesapeake, Anderson hit .248/.338/.339/.677. He made 49 starts catching, 22 at first base and two in right field,Ethan provided some great insights for this podcast and it is well worth your time to hear him talk about the process of trying to improve and make the majors. How the O’s work with their young players, his days at UVA and how he was born in Hawaii, but then his family moved numerous times during his youth.Thanks Ethan for a great interview!Hope Birdland enjoys the latest Steve on Baseball podcast. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Good Monday Birdland!Let’s start the week with a video entry discussing a few topics. More talking, less writing.Friday’s press conference introducing new Oriole Pete Alonso was interesting for a lot of reasons. Alonso was impressive and clearly was impressed with numerous aspects of the Orioles’ organization.He got off to a great start with his new club.Take a few minutes to watch the video and leave some comments or questions. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Hey let’s talk more about the O’s signing of Pete Alonso which became official yesterday afternoon. Alonso will be introduced later this afternoon at a Camden Yards press conference.Once again on this podcast I am joined by my former MASN teammate Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com.He returned from the Winter Meetings late Wednesday after a stunning day that saw the O’s reach an agreement with Alonso on a five-year deal for $155 million.Per Jon Heyman, the deal includes a $12.5 million dollar signing bonus and a 2026 salary of 18.5 million. Then Alonso’s salary is set at $31.0 million from 2027 through 2030 to complete the deal.He is a five-time All-Star, 2025 Silver Slugger Award winner, and 2019 National League Rookie of the Year, all over a seven-year career with the New York Mets.The first baseman is one of six active players with five or more seasons of at least 35 home runs and joins Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber and the New York Yankees Aaron Judge as the only players in the majors since 2019 with five or more seasons of 35+ homers. Since debuting in 2019, he’s driven in an MLB-high 712 runs, 33 more than any other player during that time.To make 40-man roster room, catcher Maverick Handley was designated for assignment.Today’s Oriole Park press conference is set for 4 p.m. Speakers will include Alonso, Mike Elias, Orioles President of Baseball Operations & General Manager, David Rubenstein, O’s Control Owner and Alonso’s agent, Scott Boras of the Boras Corporation.Fans can tune into the press conference on Orioles.com, Orioles Facebook, and YouTube channels. The press conference will also be carried live on MASN and MASN+. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Took a few minutes to talk about the O’s five-year agreement for $155 million today with slugging first baseman Pete Alonso.The fans have waited for this day - the day when the O’s won one in free agency against the big boys.He’s not going back to the Mets or joining the Red Sox. Alonso is heading to Baltimore.Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

After a season that ended with the Orioles ranked 24th in MLB in runs per game and 19th in slugging, the team recently traded for outfielder Taylor Ward. He hit 36 homers in 2025 for the Los Angeles Angels to rank tied for fifth in the American League.That may not be the only big bat the O’s add this offseason.Several outlets have now reported that the Orioles are expected to meet today with free agent slugger Pete Alonso with a face-to-face meeting in Orlando at the Winter Meetings. Alonso will drive the 90 minutes from his Tampa home to meet with the O’s and Red Sox and maybe other clubs as well.Prying Alonso away from the large market, big spending Mets would be an upset on the order of Super Bowl III, but the O’s at least have a shot to pull that off.Alonso, who turned 31 Sunday, hit .272/.347/.524/.871 last season with 38 homers and 126 RBIs. He was second in MLB in RBIs, eighth in homers and 10th in OPS.The five-time All-Star and two-time Home Run Derby winner produced an OPS+ of 144 last year. Since 2021, that number is 134 and, in that span, he has averaged 39 homers and 111 RBIs.That is a very, very legit MLB slugger who would sure boost an O’s lineup that struggled for much of last year.Clearly O’s president Mike Elias is not just counting on the young core to all bounce back and improve the O’s offense in that manner. One big move has been made and others could be coming.Adding another first baseman would add to a position where the O’s already have Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo.Elias said for now, that is not a concern. If they added a top bat, they’ll sort it out later.“If the player is good enough, we can figure out ways to accomodate them,” Elias told media in Orlando late Monday afternoon.The O’s continue to be linked to top free agent pitchers, including lefties Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez.Could they add both a top bat and a top arm?“Yes, I think so,” said Elias. “You look at our payroll as it stands right now and it’s still well below where we were at last year, and we’ll just consider opportunities as they come up and have those conversions with ownership. But we do have room for more moves, multiple more moves.”Check out the video at the top of this entry for more thoughts from yours truly on the opening day at the Winter Meetings.On tap todayIt’s the MLB Draft Lottery at 5:30 p.m. today in Orlando. The first six picks for next summer’s draft will be determined via this lottery. Heading into this event, the O’s have the fourth-best odds to get the overall No. 1 pick.The Chicago White Sox are listed with a 27.73 percent chance to pick 1/1 with Minnesota next at 22.18 percent, then Pittsburgh at 16.81 and the Orioles at 9.24 percent.The O’s have had the overall No. 1 pick previously in 1989 (Ben McDonald), 2019 (Adley Rutschman) and 2022 (Jackson Holliday).UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky is rated the No. 1 prospect for the next draft by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com. The right to draft him is what is likely at stake today. BA calls him the “one of the better college shortstop prospect in years.” Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Jim Duquette is one of the real bright minds in baseball media today. One reason for that may be the time he spent over the years working in MLB front offices.Today we’re all lucky he took time to do this podcast just days ahead of the start of the 2025 Winter Meetings in Orlando.O’s fans know Jim well, both from his time as Orioles’ co-general manager with Mike Flanagan in 2006 and 2007 to his time now in broadcasting.“Duq” as I call him, is an outstanding commentator and analyst and heard Monday through Friday with co-host Mike Ferrin on their “Power Alley” show on MLB Network Radio via Sirius-XM. That show airs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET. Jim also co-hosts a Sunday show on the network with former GM Jim Bowden.O’s fans also know him from many appearances over the years on MASN and also on 105.7 FM the Fan sports radio.Jim and Mike will broadcast their show next week live from the Winter Meetings.In this podcast we covered a lot of ground and one topic we discussed was will the O’s spend big money on a free agent starting pitcher and who should they pursue?I even asked Jim if it turns out that Mike Elias is concerned that the price of pitching gets too high (after all Dylan Cease already signed for $210 million), could it be that O’s ownership actually has to sort of overrule him to get a big deal done?“I think part of that learning curve and let’s say aggressiveness and push (to spend more for Baltimore now) is coming from ownership now,” said Duquette. “Whether it’s (David) Rubenstein or (Mike) Arougheti or both. “I think for sure in those type of situations, when you have an executive who is maybe not as risk-averse as others within MLB, I think it does help that the owner is like, ‘Listen, I’m not worried about the risk on this one. I’m giving you the permission to go sign him.’”We got into a lot of topics with Jim today and even spent some time talking about Flanagan and Jim’s time working with Mike atop the O’s baseball operations department.A great guy who spent a lot of time to drop some knowledge for us today. Thanks to Duq!Enjoy this one Birdland. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Hey Birdland and welcome to another work week after the extended Thanksgiving break. Hope many of you had a great time with your family as I did. Now back to the business of baseball, which of course continued even during the long weekend.The O’s reached agreement on two-year deal with right-hander Ryan Helsley on Saturday afternoon.Yes he pitched to a 4.50 ERA for the Mets and Cardinals last year. But over a three-year run fron 2022 through 2024 he posted a 1.83 ERA and 82 saves.Twice in that span he got National League Cy Young votes, finishing 12th in 2022 and ninth for that award in 2024.Few more notes on Helsley:He has been on the injured list just four times in his career.He was the longest-tenured Cardinal at the time of the trade.He is one of three Cardinals to ever throw an Immaculate Inning. He did so on Sept. 16, 2022 versus Cincinnati, joining Bob Gibson and Jason Isringhausen in St. Louis history.He is one of three St. Louis closers to make more than one All-Star team joining Lee Smith and Bruce Sutter. Helsley made the All-Star teams in 2022 and 2024.During the 2024 season, when he led the majors with 49 saves, he was named NL Reliever of the Month three times. He won that honor in April, June and September.A fifth-round pick of the Cards in 2015, he turns 32 on July 18.Let’s get your take in the comments below on this addition and how the O’s bullpen is coming together for next season. Plus feel free to pass on any O’s comments or questions. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Happy Thanksgiving Birdland!In and around your family fun today or while you are traveling, hope you can find time to listen to my latest Steve on Baseball podcast.My guest is John Eisenberg, who for 23 years starting in 1984 wrote over 3,000 columns for the Baltimore Sun. He has also written about and worked for the Baltimore Ravens and is the author of 11 books.Wow, yep, 11!His third was titled “From 33rd Street to Camden Yards” which is an oral history of the Orioles.That book came out in 2001 and while writing and researching for that project, John interviewed every big name in club history and many others too.His Substack “The Bird Tapes” rolls out many of those audio interviews for readers of his Substack. It’s a can’t miss for any O’s fan that remembers watching some of the all-time O’s greats. In this podcast we spent time talking about the current team and what this winter could hold for the club in signings and additions. We also discussed his time with the Baltimore Sun. And John told some stories about covering the team then and we also talked about his current venture, the Bird Tapes. Enjoy the holiday weekend and enjoy this latest edition of my podcast. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

O’s right-handed pitching prospect Nestor German is from a school without a big name but one with a big name MLB pitcher among its former players.In 2023, German was the Orioles’ 11th-round pick out of Seattle University. In 2018, the same school sent lefty Tarik Skubal to the Detroit Tigers. They got him in the ninth round and 254 players were selected ahead of him.Now he’s the back-to-back Cy Young Award winner in the American League.German doesn’t talk about winning any future Cy Young Awards, but his strong 2025 season could lead him to talk about possibly getting a shot with the Orioles during next season. And we did talk about that and much more when he joined me for my latest podcast out today.German, age 23, pitched at three levels and in 26 games last season. First for High-A Aberdeen for six games, then for Double-A Chesapeake for 18 and he ended the year throwing two games at Triple-A Norfolk.For the three clubs he was a combined 6-7 with a 3.93 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, .220 batting average against and 10.41 strikeout rate per nine innings.He is currently ranked the O’s No. 11 prospect (and third pitcher) via Baseball America and No. 14 (and sixth pitcher) via MLBPipeline.com.Those outlets give most of his pitches 50 and 55 scouting scale grades, so pretty solid across the board.Here are German’s rankings on the O’s farm last year (min. 80 IP)1st in WHIP (1.18)2nd in innings (123 2/3)3rd in swinging-strike percentage (14.8)3rd in K/BB ratio (3.11)4th in K percentage (28.0)5th in K/9 (10.41)5th in FIP (3.54)8th in ERA (3.93)Today is the 30th episode since April of the Steve on Baseball podcast with many more to come! I hope you enjoy this interview with German, who provided some nice insights on his career and being a pitching prospect for the Orioles. One change on my Substack: This Substack will remain with a mix of free and paywalled articles. The paywalled stories can be accessed by paying subscribers to this Substack. Those subscribers have access to every story and my full archive.Also beginning today a free article will remain that way for a week and then will be behind a paywall. This is obviously one way to grow the revenue generated here and that is my goal with this move. Once again an article that is free to all will remain that way for one week moving forward. And there will always be some free content produced in this space. To everyone that subscribes and reads here, thanks for the continued support.By the way, all audio and video remains free for all and those posts do not apply to this change. That includes, of course, podcasts and videos. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

If you went to bed at a certain time last night, maybe you awoke to a surprise today in that the Orioles pulled off their first big move of this offseason late last night.They acquired outfielder Taylor Ward from the Los Angeles Angels for O’s right-handed pitcher Grayson Rodriguez in a one-for-one trade.Ward, who turns 32 on Dec. 14, has played in 156 and 157 games the last two years. He made 153 starts last season for the Angels in left field while batting .228/.317/.475/.792 with 31 doubles, two triples, 36 homers, 83 runs and 103 RBIs.In the AL stats, he ranked tied for fifth in homers, sixth in RBIs, seventh in extra-base hits, 20th in slugging and 29th in the league in OPS.Check out this video on the deal and leave some thoughts and comments below.Please keep subscribing to my Substack in addition to checking out my Facebook page for this Substack right here. My orginal story on the deal from late last night is right here. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

From the Gilman School in Baltimore to pro baseball on the farm for the O’s and Nats and now onto his media business, Ryan Ripken is the latest from a famous baseball family to make his mark.When your grandad is Cal Ripken Sr., your father is Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and your uncle is former Oriole and current MLB Network star Bill Ripken, you may have picked up a few things about the game along the way.As a player Ryan reached the Triple-A level. He was drafted by the Orioles in 2012 and the Nationals in 2014. He played on the O’s farm from 2017-2021.A couple years ago he started Ryan Ripken media from scratch and now he hosts the Ryan Ripken show a couple of times a week via his YouTube channel which has thousands of subscribers and keeps the posts humming via his social media.He’s making his own name for himself in this famous family and doing it his way. Fans are finding and enjoying his work and he’s also a part of the great baseball coverage during the season on 105.7 FM the Fan in Baltimore.I hope you enjoy Ryan’s comments today as we discussed several players now avaiable to the Orioles and all teams via free agency and several other topics. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Hey Birdland, a new video for my Substack readers and subscribers to watch and react to.It’s been a minute since I posted a video or produced a live video, but both are returning in full force this winter and this is the start.Today the topic - Is there pressure on the O’s to make a big signing this winter? The obvious answer is yes. Could they win without one? Yes. They had a $71 million dollar payroll and won 101 games and the AL East in 2023.But the division is so strong again and Toronto was two outs away from winning the World Series. In keeping up with Jonses in the AL East, a team has to spend some dollars.It’s time for the Orioles.Elias comments at the General Manager meetingsAt the GM meetings in Las Vegas Wednesday, the O’s Mike Elias discussed his club’s ability to pursue players and spend some of those dollars this winter.“We’re still down from where our 2025 payroll was. We’ve got quite a bit to go just to get back to 2025 levels, and I think that’s definitely a possibility if we want to go there, and we’ll assess opportunities beyond that,” Elias told reporters, including MLB.com Wednesday. “I think we’re just going to look at things on a case-by-case basis. The ownership group has a lot of willingness to invest, but also wants to win. ...“This is a group that’s really enabling us to invest. We’re going to go out in the market, see what we’re able to do to improve the team. But we’ll definitely be behaving as buyers this season, whether it’s free agency or trade.”In this article, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand asks - “Will this be the offseason that Baltimore goes all-in?“Industry sources believe the Orioles will be aggressive in free agency as they look to return to the postseason following a disappointing 75-win season and last-place finish in the American League East.”New coachesThe local media has now reported on and confirmed three additions to the coaching staff of new manager Craig Albernaz.Yesterday, the Baltimore Sun was first to report that Donnie Ecker will be hired as bench coach. He was the Texas Rangers bench coach and offensive coordinator from 2022 through 2024. He was not their bench coach last year and, in fact, was fired May 4 with the Rangers at 17-18.He was on the Rangers staff as the team beat the Orioles in the 2023 playoffs on their way to a World Series championship. He has an extensive background as a hitting coach in the majors and minors and worked with Albernaz in San Francisco for a couple of seasons.Earlier, BaltimoreBaseball.com was first to report the O’s addition of Dustin Lind from the Phillies to serve as lead hitting coach. And the Baltimore Banner was first to report the additon of Jason Bourgeois from the White Sox as O’s first base coach and outfield instructor. Albernaz is building a staff he is quite familiar with and obviously has a lot of belief and trust in. He coached with Ecker and Lind on the Giants staff and played Triple-A ball with Bourgeois. That should make for a close-knit staff with this group already quite familiar with each other. Also last night, MLB.com and the Baltimore Banner were first to report that Buck Britton, Drew French and Ryan Klimek are expected to return and remain with the Orioles. They were on the 2025 coaching staff, but in which exact roles they return is not yet clear.MASNSports.com reported that Grant Anders won’t return as major league development coach.Please leave some comments on my video today here if you are so inclined. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Fans around Birdland will finally hear in depth from their new manager, Craig Albernaz, during next Tuesday’s press conference at Oriole Park.We will soon start to get to know him.But Tampa Bay Rays radio broadcaster Neil Solondz has known Albernaz since his Triple-A playing days. Neil was the radio broadcaster for the Durham Bulls and Albernaz was a player there for parts of five seasons, the first three with Solondz at the mic from 2009-2011.Neil makes a great pairing in the Rays radio booth with Andy Freed, himself a long-time Rays broadcaster who grew up an O’s fan and went to Towson University. Go Tigers!Neil just completed his 14th year on the Rays Radio Network and his second as a play-by-play voice. Before that he hosted pre and postgame shows and was a fill-in play-by-play broadcaster.The Rays have some wonderful people in their media and it seems most of the O’s reporters are always happy to see an O’s-Rays matchup to get to see everyone.We covered a lot of ground today with Neil. Everything from Albernaz’s playing days with the Bulls, to what made him an outstanding minor league manager on the Rays farm to what kind of skipper might be coming to Birdland. To how he might handle the pressure to win in Baltimore. We get great insight today on this podcast from someone that knows Albernaz well.Thanks to Neil for joining me today. Enjoy this one Birdland. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe

Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner just completed his fourth year covering the Orioles as the Banner’s lead beat writer. Andy grew up in Rockville and is a 2020 University of Maryland graduate.His introduction to O’s fans was with the Baltimore Sun for the 2022 season. He was hired by the Banner in December of that year and just completed his third season leading the Banner’s coverage.We got into several topics including his recent stories about Kevin Gausman and Trey Yesavage of the Blue Jays and how those players could be linked to the Orioles. Gausman for obvious reasons. Yesavage as the high-draft pick pitcher - a selection that the Orioles have not made under Mike Elias. We talked a bit about his career and covering a big league clubhouse at a young age. We discussed the pressures that may be facing the organization this winter to sign a free agent to a big contract. “Baltimore needs to make a splash,” said Kostka and I agreed with him. Andy is a proud winner of - the inaugural winner in fact - the John McNamara Sports Writing Award. It is named in McNamara’s honor and Andy was the winner from May of 2019 while he reported for the Diamondback student newspaper. The award is issued by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.Mac, as many of us knew him, died in a shooting in June of 2018 at the Annapolis Capital. He was a long-time, good friend and I saw him often covering the minors in Bowie over the years. We first got to know each other when we were starting our careers - John in Hagerstown and myself in Frederick.No doubt Andy is proud of that honor and being linked with such an outstanding reporter and person.We had a fun conversation and covered a lot of ground on the Orioles. Hope you enjoy today’s podcast. Get full access to Steve Melewski at steveonbaseball.substack.com/subscribe