Baltimore Orioles: Birds Watcher coverage, 2015 (updated)

With this being the final week of spring training, the Baltimore Orioles are putting the finishing touches on everything from the roster, to getting living arrangements set in Baltimore, to any other logistics. And we’re all ready to get geared up for the regular season here at Birds Watcher as well. We take a lot of pride in being the Fansided Network’s home for Orioles baseball, and our aim is to provide the best in-depth coverage that we can.

For those who want a couple of extra sneak peaks at the 2015 Birds prior to the curtain coming up for real, tune into MASN at 7 PM tomorrow and 6 PM on Friday evening; the corresponding games against Pittsburgh and Atlanta will be televised from Sarasota. The O’s will actually travel to Orlando on Thursday evening for a game against Atlanta, and their final spring game will be Saturday afternoon – in Orlando against Atlanta as well.Â

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This coming Sunday is technically an off day for the O’s, however in the past (when they’ve opened in Tampa) they’ve

held a light workout at Tropicana Field. However Sunday morning fans can also catch my “official” Birds Watcher season preview for 2015. Many folks wonder why I always wait so long to do the season preview. The answer is because the roster isn’t finalized until that time. While I think I have a pretty good idea of what’s going to happen, how things will shake down, and how I’m going to predict the season to turn out, I always wait for that final roster.

2014 was one of the most exciting seasons in some time, and Orioles fans were taken to heights to which they haven’t been in some time. And speaking on behalf of the entire staff, I know that we’re all looking forward to taking much of Birdland on that same type of ride this year. You can look for daily game recaps and previews from me, as well as daily updates from my co-editor, Mike Franz on the Orioles’ minor league system. This was a feature that we started full-time here at Birds Watcher last year, and I was really thankful for that addition to the column. I also encourage our fans to follow along with our staff writers, Steve Katz and Jacob Adams, both of whom will provide weekly in-depth analysis of Orioles games.

Incidentally, I would also encourage anyone who thinks they might be interested in joining our team at Birds Watcher to apply by clicking here. We’re always looking for new additions to the staff, however while no prior experience is necessarily required we do look for our staff writers to take a professional tone to their work. While Birds Watcher is a part of the Fansided Network, we don’t come at this from the perspective of fans. That’s your job!

Unfortunately for the Orioles, they found out yesterday that David Lough and J.J. Hardy will probably end up joining Matt Wieters on the DL to start the season. Lough has been bothered by hamstring problems. Hardy has a shoulder muscle strain, and the hope is that he’ll be back sometime in April. However also keep in mind that this is probably why Dan Duquette brought in the likes of Evereth Cabrera and Jayson Nix – depth.

On a personal note, I do want to thank all of our readers for their continued support. I joined Birds Watcher as the Senior Editor in September of 2011, and it’s due to the continued support of our readers that I’m still here plugging away – so thanks to all! I would also encourage readers also to visit MASNsports every Wednesday (starting next week) where I’ll be penning a weekly Orioles’ guest column on behalf of Birds Watcher and the Fansided Network.

In closing, most Orioles’ games this season will be seen on MASN. There will be a few Saturday games here and there on FOX (Channel 45 in Baltimore), however the majority will be carried on MASN. Gary Thorne, Jim Palmer, and Mike Bordick will once again handle the majority of the announcing duties, with Jim Hunter and Rick Dempsey on the O’s Xtra pre/post-game show before and after the games. On the radio side, the Orioles’ flagship station has moved back to the FM dial, returning to 105.7-FM “the fan” (WJZ). (For a full list of radio affiliates, click here.) Joe Angel and Fred Manfra will return to handle the play-by-play duties.

Update: The O’s have formally named Chris Tillman as the Opening Day starter for next Monday’s game at Tampa. This is all but a formality, as there was little doubt that Tillman would get the start among the folks who follow the team. Tillman is also listed as the starter for tomorrow’s game against Pittsburgh in Sarasota, which lines him up to start again on normal rest Monday afternoon.

Next: Baltimore Orioles almost come all the way back