Eight weeks and three outfield injuries ago, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde sat at his office desk in the team’s Sarasota, Florida, spring training complex and hand-waved away the Orioles having more outfielders than outfield spots available with a simple truth.
Since then, DJ Stewart has missed over a month with a hamstring strain, Austin Hays missed two weeks with a hamstring strain, and now the Orioles have lost Anthony Santander to a left ankle sprain for what could be a lengthy stretch.
Those absences laid bare that a position group that rightfully is a point of pride and strength for these rebuilding Orioles also doubles as their most basic and competent piece of roster-building — one executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias is rightfully trying to emulate on the infield and elsewhere in the organization.