Baltimore Orioles: Final Predictions for 25-Man Roster

As spring training winds down, teams are starting to get a clearer view of who is going to be on their Opening Day roster.

The Baltimore Orioles, however, don't have a clear-cut roster formed yet, at least not to their fans.

Roster battles have been fierce this spring. Even with the handful of players who have been injured and taken out of Opening Day roster consideration, there's still plenty of guys to fill the open spots, and many of them have been performing well.

Manager Buck Showalter has his work cut out for him deciding which players will head north for the April 6th opener.

Here's who I think will make that trip.

Infield

The five guys who will be patrolling the infield diamond were pretty much set before spring training began.

Matt Wieters will be entering his third full season as the Orioles' starting catcher, while Chris Davis will likely get his first shot at a full-time job at first base.

Big thumper Mark Reynolds will move back across the diamond to play third, where the O's hope that his defense will improve.

J.J. Hardy (pictured) will be playing shortstop, where he proved to be the most consistent defensive player in the American League last season. Robert Andino will likely be the every-day second baseman in the absence of Brian Roberts.

With a few certainties and just as many question marks, the infield of the Orioles should be pretty interesting this season.

Let's just hope that they're interesting in a good way.

Outfield

Two of the three outfield spots are set.

Adam Jones (pictured at right) will be manning center field, as he looks to continue to improve. Maybe this will be the year that the young, outspoken leader of the O's takes his first steps toward super-stardom, much like the Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp did in 2011.

After having abdominal surgery, Nick Markakis (pictured at left) will be in right field, hoping to improve his offensive numbers that have been in decline the last three seasons, while maintaining his Gold Glove-level defense. At 28, Markakis is entering the prime of his career. So a bounce-back season definitely isn't out of the question.

Left field is the only spot that isn't set in stone. But Showalter has pretty much given the job to Nolan Reimold, who will be looking to improve on defense and finally establish himself as a good major-league player.

It's an exciting bunch, all still with high ceilings.

Starting Rotation

The group of starting pitchers who were brought into camp was extensive, but it seems like a smaller group has emerged as the favorites to be heading north with the team.

Jake Arrieta (pictured) has impressed, both with his velocity and control, since having elbow surgery toward the end of the season last year and is likely to be the Opening Day starter.

Lefty Wei-Yin Chen will be in the starting five; that's all but official. The Orioles hope that he will provide a solid rotation arm. And at just 26 years old, they see room in him to grow.

Tommy Hunter will take his turn every five days to help keep pressure off the bullpen. He's shown before that he can be an effective major-league starter, even in a hitter's ballpark, having done so with the 2010 Texas Rangers.

Newcomer Jason Hammel is being counted on to provide what Jeremy Guthrie did: plenty of decent innings that keep the O's in the game.

That leaves one spot up for grabs, and in reality, it's pretty much come down to lefties Brian Matusz and Tsuyoshi Wada, and young righty Chris Tillman. At this point, I feel as though Matusz has the edge, since Wada was delayed in camp due to injuries and Tillman still has much to prove.

The only thing that's certain about the Orioles rotation this year is that there's plenty of room for success as well as failure.

Middle and Long Relief

Though Tsuyoshi Wada (pictured) probably isn't ready to be in the starting rotation, he'll almost certainly be on the team as a bullpen arm, likely in long relief and as a left-handed specialist.

Kevin Gregg, last year's closer, probably won't be counted on to pitch in crucial situations, at least not early in the season, and therefore will be used as a middle reliever and for mop-up duty. Unless he gets traded before the season starts, he'll be on the team.

In his September call-up last season, lefty Troy Patton impressed his manager and Orioles fans, and is likely to get a role in the bullpen. He'd be a middle reliever and lefty specialist.

Finally, right-hander Luis Ayala rounds out the middle-relief corps. After he had a very nice season for the New York Yankees in 2011, the O's hope to get some quality out of him.

Not a terrible group.

Late-Inning Bullpen Arms

After his acquisition late last season, young righty Pedro Strop made an extremely strong impression, and since he hasn't had a terrible spring and doesn't have any options remaining, he should be on the 25-man roster. His stuff is perfect for a seventh- and eighth-inning role.

Fireballer Matt Lindstrom, who came to Baltimore in the Jeremy Guthrie deal, will be lighting up radar guns in the seventh and eighth innings as well, looking to get the ball—and the lead—to his closer, Jim Johnson.

With his vast arsenal and spectacular sinker, the closer's job will be Johnson's until he loses it, which I wouldn't say is likely.

Those three combine for a pretty solid back-end of the bullpen. Any team could certainly do worse, and hopefully, the O's will be able to preserve leads on a consistent basis for the first time in years.

Bench

Seemingly healthy and having a great spring training, Nick Johnson will be with the team as the semi-regular DH and backup first baseman. His high OBP is an awesome asset to any team and the sole reason he keeps getting chances with teams, even with his injury-prone state.

The other half of that DH combo, Wilson Betemit, will be providing relief at the corner infield spots as well as second base. His solid bench bat makes him a nice pickup by GM Dan Duquette.

Endy Chavez (pictured) will be the fourth outfielder and expects to get plenty of starts, mostly in left field to give Reimold a break.

Rule 5 draft pick Ryan Flaherty will be the utility infielder. Orioles management is high on him, and through the spring, he's proven to be a good draft selection.

With Taylor Teagarden not expected to be ready for Opening Day, Ronny Paulino will take his spot as the backup catcher. While Teagarden is the superior choice, Paulino certainly is going to provide a decent backup option up until Teagarden can return.