Camdencast: A Baltimore Orioles podcast.

The start to the follow-up act to last year's 101-win Orioles season begins today with pitchers and catchers reporting to Sarasota to begin spring training. Mark's got the one big question on his mind: Will Jackson Holliday make the team? Also in this episode, thoughts on how almost the whole roster is locked in before camp even opened, hopes for no secret injuries, and who might be the candidate...

The path to success for the 2024 Orioles is built on a variety of assumptions, a few of which are that players who were hurt in different ways over the course of last season will be able to come back looking more like the best versions of themselves. Mark puts Cedric Mullins, John Means, and Dillon Tate in this category and talks through his hopes and worries for each. In a mailbag segment, an exp...

An already-amazing week for Orioles fans with the news of the ownership change was taken to a whole new level on Thursday night as the team traded for 2021 NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes. Mark talks through his stunned disbelief to try to break down what Burnes brings to the Orioles and what the O's gave up in making the deal. There's risk, as there is in everything, but this is the most excitin...

John Angelos haters can rejoice now that reports have hit mainstream media that the Angelos family has agreed to sell its stake of the Orioles to a group led by Baltimore-born billionaire David Rubenstein. This news reached the "Mark's dad called to talk about it" level, and it is big news - hopefully good news for O's fans. Mark discusses what's been reported so far and what might or might not ch...

Not long ago, the late offseason ritual of top prospect lists getting released was one of the most exciting days of the year for Orioles fans. Mark is glad that the Orioles are better so the spring and summer months are fun too, but with six O's prospects still on top 100 lists, there's still a lot to be excited about there. In this episode, we look at who's improved and who's fallen back, as well...

In order for an Orioles pitching acquisition to make sense, the cost of doing nothing has to be greater than the cost of getting a better pitcher. Mark remembers his public policy undergraduate days in tackling a no-action analysis for the O's rotation, a step that national media members complaining about the O's lack of a trade seem to have skipped. Could they actually be good enough without a bi...

Still waiting for the Orioles to do something to improve the starting rotation? Mark is too, but after running through what little is in the rumor mill this week, it's on to discuss the start of the international amateur signing period. If you don't know what that is, there's a quick explainer of what's happening and what it means, with a breakdown of what's happened with the players the O's have...

The Orioles did not bring any Christmas gifts to Birdland fans over the Christmas break, so we're all still left wondering when the big starting pitching move will happen, or if it will. In the meantime, it's the season for Hall of Fame ballots to be revealed, and Mark has noticed something fun: When articles are written speculating on which current players are off to Hall of Fame-level career beg...

The 11th hour reversal of the previous tentative lease agreement was resolved within the span of a week after all. Mark runs through where things stand there and then gets back into the state of the Orioles roster, surveying some of the potentially available starting pitchers and trying to figure out who's a good fit for the O's. Maybe Mike Elias hasn't made a trade yet because he's not excited fo...

It's been a wild several days for Orioles fans that ultimately resulted in nothing changing from the status quo. Mark runs through the saga of the last few days, from a reported possible future sale of the team to a reported tentative lease agreement, on through to the lease being put back on hold and John Angelos telling the governor he's not planning to sell. Oh yeah, and there was all that Shoh...

Craig Kimbrel to the Orioles! It's weird just to say that, but it's true. Baseball's eighth place guy on the all-time saves list, who has a strong chance of being in the top five by the end of 2024, is now an Oriole. Mark is cautiously optimistic about this signing over the course of this episode, because while Kimbrel isn't the elite reliever he was, he's more of a known quantity than many other...

As baseball's winter meetings begin, Mark is convincing himself of why the Orioles absolutely must do something substantial even though he knows better. Discussion in this episode centers around several relievers coming over from Japan, as well as recent Rays pitcher Robert Stephenson. Plus, thoughts on the Jackson Chourio extension with the Brewers and what that might mean for top-ranked O's pros...

The first big free agent signing across MLB happened on Sunday as the Phillies re-inked Aaron Nola. That could be the move that sets the top of the market and informs everything below that. Will the Orioles sign someone who is an interesting signing? Mark talks about why he thinks getting a better starter is important, then goes through some of the free agent pool, including the impossible dream o...

By the end of this week, the Orioles will have set their 40-man roster with players protected from next month's Rule 5 draft, and decided whether or not to tender 2024 contracts to each of their arbitration-eligible players. Mark looks at the pool of Rule 5 eligibles and the bubble players on the potential non-tender list. In the mailbag, listeners asked for a "from 1998 to present" ranking of Ori...

The Orioles bullpen did not end up looking a lot like the one we might have all imagined before the 2023 season, with few innings pitched by expected contributors Dillon Tate and Mychal Givens, and an early rough patch for Cionel Pérez necessitating some shuffling through the year. The All-Star duo of Félix Bautista and Yennier Cano were a big part of the success, but so was spring arrival Danny C...

A lot went wrong with the Orioles rotation over the course of the 2023 season, with three of the six pitchers who made the most starts getting demoted to the minors during the season and two others spending significant time with poor ERAs. Mark looks back at how things went for each of the starters relative to expectations and what the rotation should look like next year if everything stays the sa...

The Orioles had a bunch of infield prospects who seemed like they might be knocking on the door in 2023, but by season's end only Jordan Westburg had earned regular playing time. Mark looks back with surprise at how little the O's infield changed through the year, assessing who did what at each position and who might not be brought back for next year. There's a lot to be excited about for 2024, th...

The 101-61 Orioles record this season makes this the best regular season O's team in the Camden Yards era and every part of the team contributed. Mark reviews the performance of the outfielders this season, focusing on the five guys who played the most and how they filled their roles, plus the outlook for each of these guys - Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander, Aaron Hicks, and Ryan Mc...

The 2023 season is over and Mark recorded this episode minutes after the end and is feeling really sad about it. This Orioles team played its way to a great place and wasn't able to make the most of that, or much of anything with it, in the postseason. That's a bummer. Mark looks back on what went wrong over the three days along with why we'll all be happy about this team eventually. It's just har...

The two ALDS games the Orioles have played at home have been absolutely crushing to everyone who's gotten their hopes up for the team. Even Mark, who was already feeling pessimistic as usual, is not immune to drafting on the hype vibe and is now feeling glum that was obliterated. In this episode, some thoughts on what went wrong in Game 2, and why it's not worth getting mad at the team's best play...

If you were to be told ahead of time that the Orioles would only give up three runs to the Rangers, you'd probably feel good about their chances of winning Game 1. They lost anyway. Mark, feeling extra hopeless after getting stuck in Billy Joel gridlock leaving the loss, is thinking about what has the potential to go better but not full of hope that it will go better. Still, the O's didn't play th...

After a week of working to stay sharp, the Orioles begin their postseason with the ALDS against the Rangers tomorrow. Mark previews the series with the AL West runner-up with a focus on how the two teams fit into a recent postseason trend: It's better to score first and it's better to hit more homers than the other team. Based on the regular season, Texas is more likely to do both of these things....

At least until Saturday, there's nothing that Orioles fans need to worry about, and that feels pretty good. Mark offers some thoughts on the wild card games that were played on Tuesday, with the Rays falling on their faces and the Twins finally getting a monkey off their back. Also in this episode, a look at the kind of elite hitters the O's offense lack but could find for the rest of the month if...

Unlike so many recent seasons, the end of the regular season doesn't mean the Orioles are done for the year. They get the week off to rest thanks to their 101 wins. Their last regular season game offered enough to worry about if you want to be a worrier, but Mark is going to try really hard not to worry and instead focus on all the exciting possibilities. No team should want to face these Orioles,...

What does it sound like when a normally pessimistic Orioles podcaster records an episode right after his favorite baseball team wins its 100th game and clinches a division title and first season bye? It sounds like this. Mark goes from top to bottom to try to say something nice about every player who has appeared for the 2023 O's. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices