What the Baltimore Orioles Should Be Thankful for This Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
As the publisher of Inside the Orioles, I wanted to extend a huge heart-felt "thank you" to each and every reader of ours. We launched Inside the Orioles on Oct. 24 and since then we have been proud to call this space home.
Our success comes from you, our reader, so thank you for tuning in and continually coming back! It means the world to my staff and I.
As promised, here are the thing the Baltimore Orioles should be thankful for this year.
Mike Elias
Seems pretty simple, but Elias won the American League Executive of the Year for a reason. Elias has helped build the premier farm system in baseball all while making the right promotions at the right time. Which led the Orioles to the next thing they should be thankful for...
A 101-Win Season
It is always tough going out on the postseason, especially when the expectations were so high heading in. Maybe it helps that the team who ousted Baltimore were the eventual World Series champions?
No, okay, we tried.
Still, a 101 wins in 2023 is a massive stepping stone and a heckuva welcome party for the Orioles. It was the best season they have put together in over 40 years. Meaningful and exciting baseball was played all the way into October. It's hard not to be thankful for that and the experience it brought this incredibly young team.
Adley Rutschman
How can you not be thankful for this stud? In his second season, Rutschman put together a year that any catcher could only hope of. The catcher slashed .277/.374/.435 with 20 home runs and has blossomed into a fantastic clubhouse leader.
Just awesome stuff from such a young man. He is among the brightest of spots on this roster.
Brandon Hyde
It's not everyday you can find a manager who can weather a rebuild and then navigate that same team to a postseason berth after winning 101 games. It's also harder to see a front office stand by and be loyal to a manager.
Looking at Chris Woodward of the Texas Rangers or David Ross of the Chicago Cubs. Both were fired just before the teams really took off (presumably in the Cubs' case). It speaks volumes as to how the front office and the players views Hyde.
It's not everyday you can find a manager as special as him.
