3 Orioles who will make the opening day roster but won't last the season

2 of 3

One thing that is a constant in baseball is that roster turnover and change will always happen, no matter how good or bad a team is. Even for the Orioles, they went through a ton of players in 2023 from opening day until the end of the season.

In the spirit of the inevitable roster turnover that happens throughout the year, here are 3 Orioles who will make the initial opening day roster but won't last the entire season.

Cole Irvin

Acquired last offseason in a trade with the Oakland Athletics, Cole Irvin's first season with the Orioles didn't go very well. He had a 4.42 ERA and a nearly identical 4.43 FIP to go with a 1.280 WHIP while not missing a lot of bats and was only worth 0.5 fWAR as he bounced between the rotation, bullpen, and Triple A during the year.

However, the fact of the matter is that right now, Cole Irvin makes the Orioles opening day roster because they currently need him in the fifth starting spot in the rotation given the state of their starting pitching depth.

The Orioles shouldn't count on Irvin in the rotation as a season long plan, last year proved that. Hopefully some pitching additions will come in and be able to better suit the team than Irvin did in 2023.

Ramón Urías

2023 was supposed to be a big year for Ramón Urías, coming off a gold glove season in 2022 in which he also showcased some power with the bat to the tune of a career high 16 home runs and a .414 slugging percentage.

Unfortunately, things never seemed to click for Urías after he came into the season as the starting third baseman on opening day. While his batting average and on base percentage rose compared to 2022, his slugging percentage and home runs took a big dip, with his slugging percentage falling to .375 and only managing to hit four home runs.

He also fell off defensively as well, going from seven outs above average at third in 2022 all the way to -9 in 2023. In 69 innings at first base, he was worth -1 outs above average, though he was good for two outs above average at second base.

There doesn't appear to be a clear path for Urías to get playing time right now as he fell off similar to Jorge Mateo in 2023 and the Orioles can only afford to keep one of them with Jordan Westburg's emergence as an everyday player and Jackson Holliday breaking down the door to the majors.

Oh, Joey Ortiz is still around too. Connor Norby and Coby Mayo are close as well. I can see Urías cracking the opening day roster but being someone who gets DFA'd when one of the infield prospects shows they can stick in the majors.

Dillon Tate

Out of all the players the Orioles have on the roster right now, Dillon Tate is the biggest wild card of them all. He had a great campaign in 2022 and looked like a dependable reliever for the Orioles until literally everything fell apart in 2023.

He spent the entire year on the Orioles 60-day IL, never pitching in a game in the majors. When the Orioles tried a rehab assignment a few times to see if he could heal and return to the bigs, he got hit hard by minor league bats and was pulled off the rehab assignment as he could never recover from his injuries.

Tate was worth 0.5 fWAR in 2022 and has proven to be a reliable middle relief option when he's on the mound. However, with the amount of relief arms the Orioles have, Tate is also someone who is expendable. They have guys like Mike Baumann, Jacob Webb, Danny Coulombe, Bryan Baker, and Nick Vespi who can all serve similar roles.

Add to that the fact that Tate has two years of minor league options remaining and you have someone who could very well be taking the trip from Baltimore to Norfolk and back a few times this season. With the amount of guys in the mix for bullpen spots, Tate will be part of the rotating chorus of arms going back and forth from Triple A to the majors all year.

feed

Home / Orioles News