Who was the best Orioles’ non-roster invite? | MAILBAG

Question: Are there any MLB rule limitations to how many non-roster players can be invited for spring training? Any rules regarding their usage during spring training?

Who is the most famous non-roster player ssociated with the O’s organization history that “stuck” with the club and who would be one across the MLB history landscape? From: John Hall

Answer: John, there is no limit to the number of players invited to spring training, and there are no rules regarding their usage.

But there are unwritten categories of non-roster invitees. There are the players who don’t need to be placed on the 40-man roster yet. Last year, Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers were non-roster invites.

There are veteran players who are no longer on a 40-man roster. This year, Albert Suárez is an example, and there are players who were signed to minor league contracts over the winter because there wasn’t room on the 40-man roster.

Generally, teams try to limit the number to 25 or 30, which is a lot, but last season the Orioles invited 26 non-roster players. Ten played for the Orioles last season: Basallo, Beavers, Jordyn Adams, David Bañuelos, Matt Bowman, Maverick Handley, Yaramil Hiraldo, Jeremiah Jackson, Corbin Martin and Vimael Machin.

Excluding promising young players, who were non-roster invites such as Adley Rutschman, who was second in Rookie of the Year voting after coming to camp on a minor league contract, I think the best example of a long-term success is Ryan O’Hearn.

O’Hearn was taken off the 40-man roster in 2023, and though he did not make the Orioles immediately after spring training, he played the bulk of the season with them and became a valuable part of their team for three seasons. He signed a two-year, $29 million contract last month with Pittsburgh.

Question: Any insight into if the Orioles have been looking to sign Trevor Rogers to a contract extension? From: Greg Fuchs

Answer: Greg, I don’t know if the Orioles have explored signing Rogers to an extension. The guess here is that they’d like to see more than four months of excellent performances before they’d consider it.

Mike Elias is notoriously tight-lipped about contract and trade talks, and if he is engaged in negotiations, we won’t hear about them until they’re completed or nearing completion.

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.