At the end of this month MLB rosters will expand for the last month of the season. The Orioles have a bunch of players on the IL about to return as well as a few top prospects that are banging on the door of being called up so it will be interesting to see who gets the 2 new spots and who gets optioned/DFA’d as the Orioles position their roster to be ready for the rest of the season.
I want to run through all the moves the Orioles will likely make over the next month
Cedric Mullins up Ryan McKenna down
This is the most obvious move that the Orioles will be making. Cedric Mullins is the everyday centerfielder when he is healthy and Ryan McKenna was only brought up once both Mullins and Hicks went down with injuries. When it comes to their top prospects the Orioles have shown they are not going to send them down because of a tough start so even though Cowser has struggled at the plate he is not going to be sent back down. So once Mullins is healthy McKenna will be back in the minors.
Aaron Hicks up Jorge Mateo DFA’d
All signs point to the Orioles keeping Hicks and I really can’t see them getting rid of any other position players on the roster. Mateo’s OPS currently sits at .607 and his defense has been rough ever since he lost his position as everyday shortstop so I don’t have faith in him as a defensive replacement/pinch runner type. Recently they have been putting him in centerfield and even though he made a tremendous catch last night to rob a homerun later in the game he took a bad route and let a ball fall that should have been caught fall that ultimately cost the Orioles the game and with Mullins and Hicks back that means we have plenty of centerfield depth. I know that the coaching staff likes his speed and it is not unprecedented for a team to have a designated pinch runner on the roster but with everyone else on the roster hitting so much better than him I think he is the one who has to go. I like Jorge Mateo and I hope that he finds a way to be the version of himself that he was in April but I’m afraid it will have to be for another team.
John Means up Cionel Perez DFA’d
After a long road to recovery John Means is set to start his rehab stint in the minors. I’d be stoked to have Means back with the team even though I am not sure what we can expect from him after such a long time off. I think having him be a long relief type of guy would be a great asset and if he can be the starter he was before his injury he probably pushes Kremer out of the rotation. With lefties Means and Hall (spoiler alert) probably joining the bullpen Perez’s role as a left handed specialist becomes much less necessary and he has been bad enough this year that if he gets DFA’d I doubt anyone would claim him.
Tyler Wells up Jacob Webb DFA’d
Wells was sent down to double A Bowie after struggling coming out of the All Star break. He has only pitched once since getting sent down and it was a short outing where he pitched well except for giving up a homerun (typical). I’m not exactly sure what the Orioles plan with Wells is but I expect they are looking to rest his arm and get his stuff looking sharp before calling him back up for the postseason. It will be interesting to see if he reclaims his starting spot or if he finds himself back in the bullpen, I imagine they will call him up so he can get a start or two before the playoffs to see how he looks before ultimately deciding. As far as Webb being the corresponding move I am assuming the Orioles will operate on a last one in first one out sort of basis but it is possible that Webb turns out to be another waiver wire gem so it is possible he gets to hang around and Irvin or even Baumann ends up being the corresponding move.
Heston Kjerstad and DL called up when rosters expand
With Cowser, Westburg and Rodriguez all getting called up this year Kjerstad is the Orioles best prospect still in triple A where he has been absolutely mashing with a .337 average and a.999 OPS I think that he is the obvious choice to be called up when rosters expand. DL Hall has had a weird year dealing with injuries and control issues and a lack of velocity on his usual blazing fastball but he is back at Norfolk and his stuff looks more like what it looked like when he was a top 100 prospect. I think the O’s are hopeful that he can be a dynamic left handed arm that they can turn to in the bullpen.
Some other names to watch for
Joey Ortiz
Joey Ortiz is another top prospect that has been very good in Triple-A this year. He had a short stint with the Major League team where he didn’t really have time to get into a groove at the plate but his defense looked really solid. As of right now I am not sure how they can get him onto the postseason roster. Personally I would rather have him than Hicks but I think the Orioles like the veteran presence on such a young team and I also don’t see them moving on from Urias or Frazier so Ortiz could remain blocked which is too bad because I think he makes a ton of sense on the roster if we are going to move on from Mateo because he plays an elite defense at shortstop.
Nick Vespi
Nick Vespi has been good this year in every opportunity he has gotten but he has been relegated to the minors for most of the season because the other members of the bullpen don’t have any options left and Vespit does. If DL Hall can’t get it together in time I think Vespi would be the lefty that the Orioles would look to add to the bullpen.
Bryan Baker
Bryan Baker is probably an in case of emergency option at this point but if one of Means, Wells or Hall don’t look quite right by the time the post season starts he is someone the Orioles could call back up to bolster the bullpen.
Kyle Stowers
Kyle Stowers had a rough start the year and got banished to Triple-A where he has been very good this year. I don’t think it is likely he gets called up but if there is another run of injuries in the outfield I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing him called up instead of McKenna
Jackson Holiday
It would be so cool to call up Jackson Holiday for the playoffs. I don’t think there is any way the Orioles would do it but man it would be awesome. I hope I’m wrong.
To recap here is what I think the Orioles 28 man september roster will look like
Position Players:
- Adley Rutschman
- Ryan Mountcastle
- Ryan O’Hearn
- Jordan Westburg
- Adam Frazier
- Gunnar Henderson
- Ramon Urias
- Anthony Santander
- Cedric Mullins
- Aaron Hicks
- Austin Hays
- Colton Cowser
- Heston Kjerstad
- James McCan
Pitchers
- Kyle Bradish
- Jack Flaherty
- Kyle Gibson
- Grayson Rodriguez
- Dean Kremer
- Tyler Wells
- John Means
- Cole Irvin
- Mike Baumann
- DL Hall
- Danny Coulombe
- Shintaro Fujinami
- Yennier Cano
- Felix Bautista
Edit note: I had some details about players remaining options and how the roster expansion works that I had to go back and fix.
The Dishwasher 
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