Fans understood what the Orioles were doing when they tore down the chunk of the team that had expiring contracts. They also knew trading away Bryan Baker, Seranthony Domínguez, Andrew Kittredge, Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Laureano, Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, Gregory Soto and Ramón Urías meant that the white flag was being waved on the season.
And while I get that Dylan Beavers’ production in 2025 has probably far surpassed what the Orioles anticipated he’d do, why in the world is he still in Norfolk? I cannot promise that Beavers will be a star, a second-stringer or a total dud.
But I can promise you this: The fans of this team want to see him a lot more than they want to continue to see the likes of Greg Allen, Dylan Carlson and Ryan Noda.
On every broadcast, there’s discussion about how Beavers will be up in the big leagues pretty soon. My goodness, it’s Aug. 11 already. Had the Orioles done the smart thing back at the beginning of the 2024 season and broken camp with a red-hot Kyle Stowers and gave him some regular at-bats, maybe the club would have learned a bit more about him and not traded him away to the Marlins.
Look, we know and accept this is a lost season, but what better time for Beavers to get his feet wet in the major leagues?
The Baltimore Sun‘s Jacob Calvin-Meyer tweeted out this factoid on Aug. 10: The Orioles played five outfielders — Allen, Carlson, Noda, Jeremiah Jackson and Jordyn Adams — during their three-game series with the Athletics and they combined to go 1-for-28.
The most galling addition has been Allen, who was brought in due to IL stints to Colton Cowser and Tyler O’Neill. Remember who stood in the way of Stowers making the 2024 team out of spring training? It was Tony Kemp. Allen is intentionally being used to keep Beavers down on the farm. Why?
It’s Called Baserunning
Who else is sick and tired of the Orioles’ young baserunners being picked off time and time again? The most frequent offender has been Jackson Holliday. Not only has he been picked off on more than one occasion, but his rate of success in stealing bases is pretty bad. He’s been caught stealing nine times in 20 attempts — this with bigger bases, limited disengagements and a pitch clock.
Whoever is managing this team next year needs to bring in a coach who was a prolific base-stealer. I immediately thought of Davey Lopes, but he is 80 years old — although if he wants to do it, I’d have no problem with it. Maybe someone like Kenny Lofton, who is 58 years old and stole 622 bases in 744 attempts as a big leaguer. Or last year’s White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore, who stole 143 bases in 186 attempts.
The art of baserunning is something that can’t fully be taught, but proper techniques and tells can be taught. Baserunning is often under-coached and undervalued. It can bite a team in the backside, as it has time and time again in 2025.
The next manager needs to set a tone to guard against a continued lack of focus.
Listen To Me About Tyler Wells
I get that you don’t get to run a baseball team without an oversized ego. And I get once a GM acquires a player, said GM wants to be right about that player.
Orioles GM Mike Elias took right-hander Tyler Wells in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft from the Minnesota Twins, who had drafted him in the 15th round of the 2016 amateur draft. Elias probably knew about Wells and may have missed out on him when he was with the Astros.
Wells wasn’t seen at all in the 2019 minor league season due to Tommy John surgery, but Elias made a shrewd move in taking him. His talent is obvious and his arm is big. However, the very reason he was available has reared its ugly head. Wells has been unreliable not based on performance but rather by health.
Because Wells hadn’t pitched in 2019 and 2020, the Orioles broke him in as a reliever in the big leagues in 2021. He posted a 4.11 ERA and 0.912 WHIP in 57 innings. The results were not perfect, but he did strike out more than a batter an inning.
Wells then started a combined 43 games in 2022 and 2023. His total workload was 222.1 innings during these two seasons. He appeared in three games and totaled 15.1 innings in 2024 before going on the IL for an eventual repair of his UCL.
Now he is close to coming back to the Orioles. I read in every article that the Orioles want to stretch him out to be a starter this year. Huh? What would the point of that be?
Wells’ goal should be to come back and convince himself he can pitch and stay healthy. The club also has a dire need in 2026 for bullpen arms.
I can’t promise he’ll stay healthy in the bullpen, but Wells is now 30 years old. His best shot at helping the Orioles is as a reliever. He might still hang around long enough to reach $10 million in earnings from this game.
Stretching out Wells and returning him to a starter role is just sheer folly considering he’s never thrown the requisite number of innings to start.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Norfolk Tides