Orioles play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown recently joined Glenn Clark Radio to talk about Baltimore’s approach to the offseason, what may be in store in 2023 and more.
Brown began working with the Orioles Radio Network in 2019 and was the top play-by-play announcer for MASN by 2022. He also works college basketball, football and softball games for ESPN. He recently called Duke’s 30-13 win against UCF at the Military Bowl in Annapolis.
Brown has seen the Orioles organization grow throughout the Mike Elias era, and Elias’ comments following the trade deadline in early August indicated the club would enter a new phase this offseason by devoting more resources to the major league team. While the Orioles are set to follow through on that, fans were hoping for a bigger splash in order to build on an 83-win season.
So far this offseason, the Orioles have signed infielder Adam Frazier, starting pitcher Kyle Gibson and reliever Mychal Givens to one-year deals and traded for catcher James McCann, who will back up Adley Rutschman. The Orioles reportedly picked up $5 million of the $24 million remaining on McCann’s contract, which runs through 2024.
What does Brown think of the Orioles’ offseason to this point?
Brown: I still think it’s part of the plan. Maybe people are sick of hearing about the plan and sick of being patient, but I would just say look at what being patient got you last year. It got you one of the most fun teams in baseball, one of the [top] farm systems in baseball. I think the Orioles could still do well to add pitching, and … I know most of the big free-agent starters are gone, but there are still plenty of pitchers available. I don’t think they’re done. But I look at every position on the field and I say, “There is either somebody who’s there now or will be there in a year who could be the future of that position for the next seven years.” … Free agency wasn’t just limited to this offseason. There are ways to build the team that are not just free agency, and there are going to be other offseasons to do that, too, if the Orioles didn’t think this was the time to splash all the money down. They will have other offseasons.
Brown believes the Orioles are planning to evaluate young players who either got the big leagues late last season or are now knocking on the door. Those players include infielders Gunnar Henderson, Connor Norby, Joey Ortiz and Jordan Westburg; outfielders Colton Cowser and Kyle Stowers; utility man Terrin Vavra, and pitchers Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall. Most of those players, if not all of them, should have an opportunity in 2023 to prove they should be part of the future.
Brown: I think it’s still a prudent course of action to take some time on what I call a fact-finding expedition. You want to be in the postseason next year, yes, but you also want to learn which of these players are going to be part of your future. Calling up Kyle Stowers last year was to learn if Kyle Stowers was going to be part of a contending team in a couple of years potentially. Calling up Gunnar Henderson as aggressively as they did at a young age, yes, it gave them a little boost in the playoff race, but I think it’s a long-term move to see what you have. I think the right course of action is not necessarily to block everybody right now, and maybe you come out of the season and say, “Wow, Jordan Westburg came up in July and took control of second base,” or maybe you say, “You know what, we called up a couple of infielders and their bat-to-ball skills didn’t work, they weren’t as good defensively, we do need to go put big money on a second baseman or shortstop next year.” There are always going to be free agents out there.
However, as it stands now, the Orioles’ only starting pitcher with a lot of major league experience is Kyle Gibson, signed to a one-year, $10 million deal in early December. The rest of the rotation candidates are light on major league innings, meaning the Orioles still may need to add one more veteran starter to stabilize the rotation. But the top starters on the free-agent market are all gone, and the Orioles were only loosely connected to any of them anyway. Brown understands fans’ frustration about the lack of activity on that front as well as the team’s perspective.
Brown: It’s a hard balance to strike because if you sign a really good starting pitcher, you may squeeze Tyler Wells or Kyle Bradish out of the rotation. You might be better in the short term, but you might thwart the development of Tyler Wells, who was really, really strong in the first half last year and hit a bit of a wall because of the innings jump, which hopefully he’ll be able to get past this year. Or maybe you thwart the development of Kyle Bradish, who’ll be in his second year. The flip side to that is you now rely on more untested arms, arms without as much experience and you’re going to need a couple of extra starters because I don’t think it’s reasonable to say you’re going to get 170 innings out of Bradish, Wells. Maybe [Dean] Kremer can get you there.
But these are still players without a ton of big league experience, that have been moved along very cautiously, so you will need [seven or more] starters to get through a season and you have to reasonably have some depth there. One more year I don’t think is too much to ask in the grand scheme of things, but it’s viewing the organization in the grand scheme of things versus we want to make the playoffs now, and that’s the tough balance. Maybe this is a different conversation if 2020 isn’t a 60-game season and everybody’s innings aren’t so dramatically slashed by 60, 70 percent in some cases. It almost feels like your pitchers are still digging out of that hole.
The Orioles are following the path of the Houston Astros, who bottomed out from 2011-2013, showed marked improvement from 2014-2016 and have been the best team in baseball ever since. Elias was a key figure for the Astros from 2012-2018 prior to being hired by the Orioles. During their ascension from 2014-2016, the Astros leaned heavily on their farm system outside of a handful of acquisitions from outside of the organization, like Scott Feldman and Evan Gattis. The move that signaled the Astros’ arrival — trading for Justin Verlander — did not occur until the 2017 trade deadline. What could be in store for the Orioles in 2023?
Brown: The Orioles can absolutely make the postseason next year — they were close this last year and they had a lot of young players that will have much more major league experience now — but I don’t know if there’s a reasonable combination of moves that immediately vaults you to World Series contender or at least does so without a ton of internal development, and they’re counting on internal development anyway. I still think this is a good chance for a stepping-stone year without needing to say, “We have to go win the World Series this year.” You’d like to. They don’t have to. I think being another playoff-contending team and hopefully taking that step into the wild card would be enormous. But at the risk of mortgaging draft picks and signing super long-term deals, I absolutely get it.
People are I think rightfully very happy with the patience they’ve taken with the young players they’ve brought in, and I would just say if you believe in that and you liked the team last year and you liked the young players, believe in the continued build and believe in the patience to let these guys blossom a little bit, to let the next wave get a shot. I’m an optimist about this stuff by nature, I think. That’s just my personality. That’s not me being blinded by any sort of mandate or anything. I just think genuinely there is a lot to be excited about. Would it be great to have Carlos Correa? Sure. Carlos Correa’s a great player. But I don’t think this all had to happen at once, and this is still a more aggressive offseason than we’ve seen from them. It’s another step forward without going from 0 to 100.
For more from Brown, listen to the full interview here:
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