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3 Orioles players who have no business being on the postseason roster
Which Orioles could be watching the postseason from home?
The regular season is coming to a close and the Baltimore Orioles are headed to the playoffs. While the seedings are not yet set, the O's have already clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2016. Furthermore, the Orioles have locked in home field advantage in the first playoff series they play in, as they will either finish the regular season as the number one overall seed and receive a coveted first round bye, or they will be the top wild card seed and have a home series.
The Birds currently sit in first place in the American League East, 2.5 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays. Both teams are off on Monday so Orioles fans can finally take a day to relax after an insane 17 straight days with games this late in the season.
I know my blood pressure could use a day to go back down. The O's magic number to clinch the division is three with only six games left. Three more wins would also bring the Orioles to the 100 win mark for the first time since 1980, and just the sixth time in franchise history.
With the playoffs in mind, the Orioles need to cut the roster back down to 26 players after they were able to expand to 28 players in September. While every member of this O's team has made large contributions, a few will have to stay home as the Orioles make a run at their first World Series in 40 years.
3 Orioles players who have no business being on the 2023 postseason roster
Heston Kjerstad
Heston Kjerstad has been the feel good story of the year for the Baltimore Orioles. He got an early start to the year when he played in the Arizona Fall League, and when I say played, I mean dominated. After being named the AFL's MVP, Kjerstad started the season in Double-A and continued his stellar performance. After playing in the MiLB all-star game, Kjerstad got promoted to Norfolk, where he barely slowed down. Kjerstad got the inevitable call to Baltimore and made his major league debut on September 14.
While he has held his own offensively in his first taste of the majors, he should not be on the postseason roster. The Orioles are full of talent in the outfield and clearly prefer many players defensively over Kjerstad, He has appeared in nine games for the Orioles this month and only played 0.2 innings defensively.
Not to mention that he was not on the 40-man roster before September so he would need to be an injury replacement to even be eligible for the post season. Orioles fans and Kjerstad should be thrilled with the success that he has had this year and excited to potentially make the opening day roster in 2024.
Jorge Lopez
The return of Jorge Lopez was another great story in Baltimore, it will likely come to a conclusion with the regular season. After being the O's sole representative in the 2022 all-star game, Lopez was traded to the Minnesota Twins. Many Oriole fans were upset that the team, who was beginning to show signs of life, traded its only all-star, but we now see the wisdom in it.
The return in the trade was centered around Cade Povich, but the Orioles received four pitching prospects from the Twins. Povich had a very good season in the minors while Yennier Cano, who also came over in that trade, became an all-star himself this season.
Lopez went on to struggle this season with the Twins and was again traded at the deadline, this time to the Miami Marlins. After further struggles in Miami, Lopez was released, and the Orioles signed him off of waivers on September 2.
Lopez has performed well at times and given the regular bullpen arms some rest, but he has not been able to return to his 2022 form, and like Kjerstad, Lopez was not on the roster prior to September so he will not be eligible for the playoffs.
Shintaro Fujinami
Here's where things get a little tricky. The Orioles will most likely use a starting rotation of Kyle Bradish, John Means, Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Gibson. With starting pitchers having a much shorter leash these days, you need arms in the bullpen capable of giving you three or more innings. Having a bullpen with Dean Kremer, Jack Flaherty and Tyler Wells allows the Orioles to put in a pitcher that is capable of just that should any of the projected starters falter.
Fujinami has lights out stuff and has been incredible at times this season, including seven consecutive appearances to start September where he only allowed four hits, walked two and allowed zero runs while striking out nine batters in 7.1 innings. Unfortunately, he has also been disastrous as times.
He allowed four runs on three hits and two walks over his next two appearances which only totaled 0.2 innings combined. Fujinami has been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for the Orioles since they traded for him and even though he can be great, he is just too inconsistent to be trusted in the playoffs. Cole Irvin, Joey Krehbiel, and Mike Baumann would be potential roster replacements.
The Orioles have been the best team in the American League and have done so without any one player being a superstar. There is talent up and down this roster so Brandon Hyde will have some difficult decisions to make when it comes to the post season rosters. Regardless of which players are on the roster, I am just excited to see the Orioles take on October.
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