After Travis Snider, Everth Cabrera might be the second most likely new Oriole to start the 2015 season. He can play everywhere and has some legit speed. Also the O's don't pay players $2.4 million to play in Norfolk. He's had a few minor hiccups during his time in Sarasota following a few major life-choice blunders during his time with the Padres over the past few years, but I am very confident that he will play in Baltimore at some point in the near future.
Dariel Alvarez, who obviously took some time out of his baseball schedule to sign quite a few autographs, at least for my dad, has made quite the mark in Sarasota. He seems to have the strongest throwing arm in camp and can certainly hit. Buck has mentioned his issues with the English language, confirmed by my dad while trying to get Dariel to personalize one of these cards, as well as some showmanship issues with him, but I can fairly well guarantee that he will make at least an appearance in Baltimore this summer.
I'm not really sure how this trio of infielders, Paul Janish, Jayson Nix, & Chris Parmelee fit into the mix. A lot has been made of improving the defense at AAA Norfolk and I have a feeling that these guys will be playing there to start the year at least. A lot has been written about the quality of Janish's defense at short, Nix has had a good spring at the plate, and Parmelee sounds like a smooth operator with the glove at first. All of them or none could really appear in games for the O's.
Matt Tuiasosopo (who has to have one of the most fun names to say in baseball) and Rey Navarro have both already been sent to the minor league camp and are long shots to make it to Baltimore. It seems like there might be more utility infield flexibility or openings than in the outfield, so who knows is Tuia ever plays in Baltimore. Either way I'm prepared!
The one player that I'm confident who will not play in Baltimore, at least in 2015, is Alex Hassan, who the Orioles lost on a waiver claim to the Athletics when they had to make room on the roster for Everth Cabrera. But if he ever makes his way on to the team, I have a signed and personalized Orioles card ready to slide into the collection!
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