Last week’s conference calls with Oriole’ executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde were full of generalities and short on specifics. That’s understandable because so little is known about what the 2020 season will look like. The coronavirus-shortened season won’t be fun, not for players, nor for fans. Elias...
Manager Brandon Hyde was going through his second spring training with the Orioles eight days ago, preparing for the 2020 season. Now, he wonders when the season will begin. “There are just so many things that are not clear right now, and we’re in just a waiting game of what it’s going...
Usually, Orioles general manager Mike Elias has easy answers for questions he gets during conferences with the media. In Thursday’s conference call, he couldn’t give specifics because, like everyone else in this country, Elias doesn’t know when the coronavirus emergency will abate. He said no one in the Orioles’ organization has tested...
Mike Elias is waiting and wondering when the 2020 baseball season will resume, just like everyone else. The Orioles’ executive vice president/general manager is doing his best to prepare for the restart nontheless. It’s been a week since spring training was halted because of the coronavirus outbreak and the start of the...
A week ago, I was in Sarasota preparing for the Orioles’ game in Fort Myers that never happened. Seven days later, the impressions of the truncated spring training are still fresh, and here are five that stood out. Overall, the team just seemed better In 2019, the Orioles were getting to know...
The pandemic that’s about to shorten the 2020 season won’t help anyone. It might hurt the Orioles more than any other team. Every team is used to judging its players on a 162-game season, but that possibility ended this week when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention cautioned against crowds of...
Spring training is over, and the 2020 season is on hold until at least mid-May because of the coronavirus. Here are some things we know, and what could happen next. What are the Oriole players doing? According to the agreement between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association, players...
SARASOTA, Florida—Major League Baseball announced that spring training operations ended on Friday. Players will be allowed to leave their spring training cities if they wish in response to the coronavirus pandemic. MLB announced In an agreement between the Players Association and MLB, players will be allowed to return to their homes, and...
SARASOTA, Florida—The Orioles weren’t in the Ed Smith Stadium complex on Friday because the facility was closed for a deep cleaning. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said that he expects details early next week on how clubs should proceed during this time of uncertainty. On Thursday, Major League Baseball announced that...
SARASOTA, Florida—There was so much to digest from a day with two enormous Oriole stories. Within two hours on Thursday, Major League Baseball announced the postponement of at least the first two weeks of the regular season and the cancellation of the rest of spring training, and the Orioles announced that their...