SARASOTA, Fla. — Brandon Hyde couldn’t wait for the end of the question.
“Is this the deepest roster you’ve had since you’ve been he—,” Hyde was asked Thursday during the first day of Orioles spring training.
Like an overzealous student in class, he blurted out the answer.
“Yes it is,” the Orioles’ manager said unwaveringly.
When Hyde took over as Orioles manager, he likely couldn’t have dreamed of a roster like this. Not for the talent at the top of it — though Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg form quite the quartet — but for the names at the bottom.
All 16 of the position players on the Orioles’ 40-man roster have MLB experience. The vast majority of them would crack the opening day roster on most teams. The same could be said for most of the 24 pitchers on the roster, all but two of whom have big league experience. And the list of 30 nonroster invitees includes a dozen with MLB experience, including a few with the Orioles last season, as well as a few promising prospects.
Depth isn’t everything, to be sure. A team’s success is dependent more on its core pieces than on the players at the back of the bench.
But in a sport as fickle and frustrating as baseball, a lack of depth can come back to bite. That’s why over the past decade, MLB’s best organizations have consistently been the deepest — from the frugal Cleveland Guardians to the frivolous Los Angeles Dodgers. This season, few ballclubs are deeper than the Orioles.
“I think it’s one of the strong suits of the roster,” Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said. “We feel like that’s something that we need, something that we’re able to possibly carve out an advantage for ourselves in a very competitive landscape. You never know, but you look on paper, and it’s a very talented group of position players. There’s way more than 13 guys in this organization that probably deserve to be in the big leagues, but a lot can happen here in Sarasota so we don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch.”
Still, this doesn’t guarantee anything. A deep roster — one perhaps more capable of withstanding the breadth of injuries the team suffered in 2024 — doesn’t necessarily make the Orioles more likely to make the postseason or end their 10-game playoff losing streak.
Baltimore is coming off a solid 91-win season, but the club limped to the finish line with a mediocre second half because of, in part, a rash of injuries. After the magical 2023 campaign came to a crashing halt with a sweep in the postseason, 2024 ended the same way.
Will 2025 be any different?
“The last couple of years our team was very good and good enough to win playoff games and it just didn’t happen. It’s not something I really want to dwell on,” Elias said. “We felt the pain of that the last couple of years. It’s a fresh season, a fresh mindset, a fresh group in a lot of ways. I believe very strongly in the potential of this team, but we’ve got games to play, we’ve got to stay healthy. There’s a long way to go.”
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Depth might be most crucial this year in the starting rotation. Last season, the Orioles were without Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells for the majority of the season. Then, with two months left, Grayson Rodriguez went down with an injury.
The club got by thanks to the surprise emergence of journeyman Albert Suárez, the trade deadline acquisition of Zach Eflin and the dominance of ace Corbin Burnes. This season, Burnes won’t be there every fifth day to save the Orioles.
While the Orioles have eight MLB-caliber starting pitchers on the 40-man roster in addition to two solid prospects in Triple-A, the rotation is without that horse at the top. Last spring, Elias said Burnes “changes the whole complexion of our team.” This spring, he’s saying not having an ace like Burnes is OK, instead relying on veterans Eflin, Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano and hope for next steps from Rodriguez and Dean Kremer.
“No, it’s not necessary,” Elias said. “I said it at the time, it’s nice if you have one. But it’s not something you’re going to have all the time. There are other strengths and weaknesses of rosters. The important thing for us is putting together a team that projects as playoff-caliber, championship-caliber, and that can come in different shapes and sizes.”
Have the Orioles built a “championship-caliber” roster? Is this rotation, one without a traditional No. 1 starter, good enough to win the American League East? Is the lineup, one without Anthony Santander’s steadiness and strength, able to bounce back after a trying second half? Is the bullpen, one that’s relying on closer Félix Bautista to return to form, able to hold up?
Those answers, Elias believes, are yes.
“Yeah,” Elias said when asked if he believes the roster he’s compiled is a “championship-caliber” one. “I think we’ve put ourselves in a really good position to continue to play towards the top of our division. Obviously the competition’s really stiff, and Major League Baseball, we all know what the landscape looks like. But we’re really excited about where the team’s at, where the organization’s at, where the franchise is at. I think we’re going to have a great season.”
As Hyde thought about his roster, he remarked how Henderson, his 23-year-old shortstop, is entering his third full season, while Morton, his 41-year-old starting pitcher, is attending his 17th big league spring training.
“There’s way more experience in that room,” Hyde said.
The one constant across spring training every year for all 30 teams is that there’s no predicting what will happen — from injuries to breakouts to acquisitions. At the end, Hyde hopes he and Elias have “tough conversations” with the big league-caliber players being left off the roster — a sign that the Orioles are right where they want to be.
“That’s never a fun day,” Hyde said, “but that means you’re deep.”
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.