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Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! We start another day without any news from the Orioles. After a flurry of activity in the early offseason, things have come to a halt. If you think the Orioles still need changes to be successful this season, it is frustrating for sure. But as each day passes, with or without a move from Orioles, we get one day closer to the 2026 baseball season.

The Orioles pitchers and catchers report on February 11th and the first full-squad workout is February 16th. The team’s first Grapefruit League game is on the 20th vs the Yankees. There will be a month of spring games, along with the World Baseball Classic from March 5-17. Then, finally, the Orioles will host Opening Day on Thursday, March 26th. Spring training games aren’t too exciting, but the WBC should be a good time.

But speaking of the WBC, news broke over the weekend that Puerto Rico may pull out of the game over insurance issues. A league-approved insurer would cover a player’s salary if he is hurt in the WBC, and the insurer is declining to insure at least eight players scheduled to play for Puerto Rico. That includes superstar Francisco Lindor, who has had multiple surgeries in the recent past.

It would be a real blow to the tournament if Team Puerto Rico has to pull out. They are one of the powerhouse teams in the tournament, and the first round of the tournament is being hosted in San Juan. Talk about awkward. I am actually traveling to Puerto Rico to attend two WBC games, but don’t have tickets to Puerto Rico’s games. They sold out too quickly.

In former Orioles news, there have been a pair of signings. Austin Hays signed a one-year, $5 million deal with the Chicago White Sox. The contract comes with a mutual option for 2027. And the Dodgers agreed with a minor league deal with pitcher Cole Irvin. The deal includes an invitation to big league camp at spring training. Irvin spent 2025 in Korea with the Doosan Bears. He made 28 starts with a 4.48 ERA.

Links

Bunch of questions for the 2026 season – MASN Sports
Roch Kubatko’s post from yesterday morning raises many questions about the upcoming season. For his question about who will hit the most home runs, I am going to go out on a limb and say Pete Alonso.

Top candidates for Orioles’ utility role – Baltimore Baseball
While the rest of Birdland waits to see if the Orioles sign Framber Valdez, Rich Dubroff is ready to talk utility guys.

More Orioles played through injuries last year than we knew. How might things change in 2026? – The Baltimore Banner
In case you missed this over the weekend, Jon Meoli took a look at how this year could be different when it comes to injury.

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have six Orioles birthday buddies, including two Orioles Hall of Famers. Today is Don Buford’s 89th birthday, so happy birthday to him! Buford played for the Orioles from 1968-1972. For the first four of those years, Buford played All-Star caliber baseball, though he made the All-Star team just once. He excelled in the postseason as well, with an .851 OPS over 22 games. In 1970, when the Orioles won the World Series, Buford reached base 12 times in six games with two home runs.

The second Orioles Hall of Famer celebrating today is Melvin Mora (54). Mora was a late bloomer who didn’t make his major league debut until age 27. He came to the Orioles in 2000 as part of the Syd Thrift fire sale and spent a decade with the team. He was a bright spot on a bad baseball team, with single-season bWARs over 4 in each of 2002-2005. In 2003 and 2004, his OBP topped .400, which was unheard of on those mid-aughts teams.

The other former Orioles born on this day in history are Travis Snider (38), Scott Erickson (58), Pat Clements (64), and Paul Kilgus (64).

On this day in 2005, the Orioles trade for Sammy Sosa was made official. The Orioles sent Jerry Hairston, Jr. to the Cubs for Sosa. Sosa was awful for the Orioles in a painful season for the team.

In 2009, the Orioles sent cash to the Cubs for Rich Hill. Hill had a 7.80 ERA in 14 games that year at age 29, his only season in Baltimore. He went on to pitch for 16 more seasons. That’s right, he appeared in two games with the Royals last season at age 45. Hill announced just a couple weeks ago that he will not attempt to pitch in MLB in 2026.

In 2021, the Orioles traded Alex Cobb to the Angels for Jahmai Jones. Cobb had 2.5 disappointing seasons with the Orioles, but bounced back for a bit with the Angels and later the Giants.

The Pittsburgh Pirates came up empty once again in their search for a marquee third baseman with Eugenio Suarez signing with the division rival Cincinnati Reds.

According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Suarez signed to a one-year deal worth $15 million that includes a mutual option for 2027 with the Reds on Sunday. Suarez previously played with Cincinnati from 2015-2021.

Suarez was a name that was reportedly on the Pirates’ radar for the entire offseason. Following the team’s trade of Ke’Bryan Hayes the club has been pursuing another strong corner infielder that can also add a quality bat to their lineup. Suarez was one of the best power threats in baseball in 2025 as he finished with 49 homers, 118 RBIs and a .526 slug rate. Only five other players have hit more home runs than Suarez since 2018.

Pittsburgh Pirates beat reporter, Alex Stumpf, reported that the Buccos offered the same AAV to Suarez in their pitches that the Reds did and were even willing to do a multi-year deal. Stumpf cited that the familiarity Suarez had with the club and the favorable hitting venue of Great American Ball Park played a factor as Suarez signing with Cincinnati. Given that this kind of player is not often on the market for that price, the Pirates should have done more than just match the Red’s offer and went all in on signing the best bat left on the free-agent market.

Because of how late in the offseason that Suarez signed with a team, it leaves the Pirates very little options left in free-agency, especially considering the fact that pitchers and catchers are going to be reporting for Spring Training in about a week. The clock is not on the Pirates’ side, nor is the shrinking market.

General Manager Ben Cherington has been aggressive in the trade market but the organization is running out of pieces that they can move without sacrificing too much from the core of the team. Pittsburgh may have arguably already traded away too much from their pitching stock this offseason so that will be off the table, and all of their top position players are still prospects. These factors will make it difficult for Cherington and company to find many trade partners.

With Spring Training coming quickly, all signs are pointing to Jared Triolo being the Pirates’ starter at third base. As a defender Triolo is world class. In the past he’s been primarily used as a utility player, but he has shined in that role and won a Gold Glove Award in 2024 when MLB started recognizing utility fielders for nomination. There were many times when Triolo filled in for an injured Hayes and excelled defensively.

Triolo’s offense has been largely underwhelming, which is a big reason why Pittsburgh was looking to add a power bat at their hot corner. Triolo’s numbers last year were average at best, but perhaps with a more consistent role in the lineup he will show more improvements in 2026. Triolo appeared in 107 games in 2025, slashing .227/.311/.356 with seven home runs and 24 RBIs.

Pittsburgh’s offseason is far from over though they are running out of time. Management has hinted at wanting to add another arm to their rotation, preferably a lefty, as well as adding a depth piece to their outfield. With that being said it is not looking likely that the Pirates will be getting their next third baseman of the future this winter.

We're less than two months from non-fake baseball. And almost every gain to be had over the winter has been spoken for.

With that, USA TODAY Sports rolls out its first power rankings for 2026, an alignment with many nods to the year that passed, yet allowances for all that transpired since the Los Angeles Dodgers converged in a disbelieving dogpile on the Rogers Centre infield, their consecutive World Series championships narrowly secured.

No, nobody "wins the winter," but it's impossible to ignore the many seismic shifts that unfolded. Check back around Opening Day, but for now, here's how Major League Baseball's 30 title hopefuls (well many have such hope) stack up:

Hello everyone! Welcome to our new Daily Question series for the month of February. With Spring Training around the corner, we want to hear what you think 2026 holds for your Minnesota Twins. Let’s get excited for baseball!

If the Twins are going to compete for a division title in 2026, they’re going to need some young players step up and take the reigns. We all know what Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan, and Pablo Lopez can do, but a big part of Minnesota’s underperformance in recent seasons came due to the lack of development from the young bats in particular.

In fact, the Twins’ two best seasons in recent memory came on the backs of those breakouts. 2019 saw Mitch Garver (3.9 fWAR), Max Kepler (3.9), Jorge Polanco (3.3), and Jake Odorizzi (4.3) emerge for the best seasons of their careers in their mid-to-late twenties. 2023 saw the same from Edouard Julien (2.7) and Willi Castro (2.5), while Lopez (4.6) and Sonny Gray (5.4) took a massive leap from mid-rotation arms to All-Stars.

The obvious candidates are ones who have shown flashes but need to be consistent. Ryan Jeffers is in line to get there with his projected increased workload. Matt Wallner, Luke Keaschall, and Zebby Matthews should reach the 3.0 fWAR threshold if they can stay on the field. Royce Lewis made big strides in the health and defense departments in 2025, but he hasn’t hit well since before the 2024 trade deadline. Brooks Lee is in line to play shortstop every day and, without a clear backup, will get every opportunity in the world to prove he can stick.

Or perhaps an advanced prospect will come up and surprise us like Julien, Lewis, and Wallner did in 2023. Consensus top 20 prospect Walker Jenkins is on the doorstep should any of the regular outfield starters miss extended time. The same can be said for Emmanuel Rodriguez, though he’s much more in the Wallner feast-or-famine mold and won’t have as much runway.

Personally, my money is on Lee who has a chance to settle into the position he’s played his whole life and has shown great bat control already. If he can improve his eye at the plate and take a few more walks, his big frame should allow him to tap more into his power as he’s more selective with the pitches he attacks. But which Twin do you see taking a leap in 2026?

Continuing our February Daily Question series, we’re beginning today’s conversation with the question, “Which trade still bothers you the most?”

The Brewers haven’t had many terrible trades, at least in recent memory. But every fan seems to have at least one lingering trade that haunts them from time to time.

Whether it be the Josh Hader trade (remember, though, it ultimately netted Milwaukee William Contreras), sending Nelson Cruz and Carlos Lee to the Rangers, or a straight-up Kevin Reimer-for-Dante Bichette swap back in 1993, there’s sure to be at least one deal you’d like to talk about.

My personal least favorite Brewer trade? Sending Khris Davis to Oakland for Jacob Nottingham and Bubba Derby. Davis would go on to put together consecutive solid seasons with the A’s, slugging 133 homers over three seasons and 159 homers over six seasons. The return in that deal? Derby reached Triple-A Nashville in 2021, but never made it to the majors, while Nottingham played in 43 games across four seasons with Milwaukee, hitting .205/.293/.477 with seven homers, 21 RBIs, and 13 runs scored to total just 0.7 bWAR (Davis, just for comparison, had 2.4 bWAR in his first season in Oakland and 7.4 over the six seasons).

Not as dismal as some other teams’ worst trades (looking at you, Miami Marlins), but you can’t win them all. So what’s your white whale? Is it a guy (or guys) who ended up with great careers, or just a trade that left you with a bad taste?

Weigh in in the comments, and join us throughout the month as we keep these conversations rolling into spring training.

Good morning everyone, we’re one day closer to actual, bonafide MLB baseball being played. As we draw nearer, we’ll be using our first posts of the day to ask One Big Question about the Yankees. Today, let’s focus on Cody Bellinger. The offseason saga of Bellinger and the Yankees was a slog, but after months of posturing, the two sides managed to reunite, as was expected after the partnership proved so fruitful in Bellinger’s first year in the Bronx.

Bellinger may have been the Yankees’ best position player not named Aaron Judge in 2025, hitting 29 homers and providing capable defense across the field. His 4.9 fWAR trailed only Judge on the Yankees, and indeed was a top-ten figure among all American League hitters. Suffice to say, Bellinger’s contributions were vital last year, and the Yankees will expect something close to a repeat as they pencil him in as their starting left fielder.

So, will Bellinger be able to repeat his superlative 2025? Bellinger certainly did enough in his Yankee debut to make one optimistic. At age-30, he’s not at the point on the aging curve where decline feels inevitable, and Bellinger’s athleticism looked, at least to the naked eye, to still be largely intact last year. Moreover, even though Bellinger’s been inconsistent throughout his big-league tenure, his strong 2025 came in right around his career averages, with his .813 OPS last year in line with his career .817 OPS. Why shouldn’t we expect Bellinger to continue trucking right along near that mark?

On the other hand, the unfeeling projections forecast some regression, with FanGraphs pegging him for a solid yet unspectacular 3.3 fWAR. Plus, Bellinger arguably ran a little hot last year, his expected wOBA of .322 lagging behind his actual mark of .347. Where will he ultimately land in 2026? Lay out your case in the comments below.

And today on the site, gear up for the 2026 season with the start of our season preview series! Leading off, Jeremy will preview David Bednar’s upcoming campaign. Also, Matt will celebrate George Halas as part of our Yankee Birthday series, Josh will look back at a tense negotiation between Derek Jeter and the Yankees during The Captain’s first foray into free agency, and Madison will put out the call for this week’s mailbag.