Good morning Birdland,<\/p>\n
It was bound to happen at some point, and on Friday night it finally came to be. Trevor Rogers had a bad game and led the Orioles to an 8-4 loss in the Bronx<\/a>.<\/p>\n Home runs were the killer for Rogers. He gave up three of them, two to Giancarlo Stanton and the other to Aaron Judge. The lefty is the not the first pitcher to be victimized by that duo, and he is unlikely to be the last.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n In an ideal world, Rogers would have finished off his impressive season with yet another dominating performance. He would have helped the Orioles spoil the Yankees pursuit of the AL East crown, and given the fanbase at least a mental boost heading into the offseason.<\/p>\n That didn\u2019t happen, but it also doesn\u2019t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Rogers will still finish the season with a ridiculously good stat line: 109.2 innings, 1.81 ERA, 103 strikeouts, 29 walks, .180 batting average against, 0.90 WHIP. He has successfully resuscitated his career and set him self up to have a big contract year in 2026.<\/p>\n In my view, Kyle Bradish is the still the \u201cace\u201d of the current staff. Despite the Tommy John surgery that cost him most of the last two seasons, Bradish still feels like the most dependable arm in the organization. He finished fourth in Cy Young voting back in 2023. Prior to his injury last year, he looked just as good. And ever since coming back this year he has been fantastic. While Rogers has been dominant this season, consistency and longevity concerns will linger until he proves otherwise.<\/p>\n Regardless, the Orioles head into this offseason in a far better position with their starting staff than they did a year ago. Bradish and Rogers are a good 1-2 punch. Dean Kremer is a solid back-end arm. Hopefully an injury update of some kind is coming on Grayson Rodriguez. But even if he is healthy\u2014don\u2019t hold your breath\u2014the front office should still be pursuing at least one more impact arm this winter.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Honestly, the rotation will probably be the least of the team\u2019s worries this winter. Meanwhile, they still need to rebuild the bullpen and figure what happened to a lineup that was supposed to be one of the game\u2019s best.<\/p>\n Links<\/p>\n Maryland investor Mark Ein adds minority Orioles stake to growing sports inventory | The Baltimore Banner<\/a> This, that and the other | Roch Kubatko<\/a> Advertisement<\/p>\n
It feels important to keep tabs on the people added to the Orioles ownership mix. Control person David Rubenstein is 76 years old. He is unlikely to own the team for as long as the Angelos family did, and it\u2019s not clear what the succession plan would be.<\/p>\n
Rico Garcia has been a nice little find for the Orioles this year. Does that mean we should pencil him into a 2026 role in the bullpen? Eh, maybe initially. The 31-year-old is out of options and has played for three teams this year alone. Relievers are fickle. As good as he has been recently, he could fall apart next year. But if the club likes what they see, there is no harm in holding onto Garcia until the spring.<\/p>\n