The Opener: Orioles, Rockies, Padres

Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Orioles introducing Albernaz:

The Orioles are poised to officially introduce Craig Albernaz as their new manager later today in a press conference at Camden Yards. Albernaz was serving as the associate manager in Cleveland under Stephen Vogt prior to being hired by Baltimore, and will now take over a club that entered 2025 with high expectations but left the year with a last place finish in the AL East. The press conference is scheduled for 11am local time this morning and will feature both president of baseball operations Mike Elias and club owner David Rubenstein in addition to Albernaz himself. The presser could provide Orioles fans a peek into their club’s plan for the offseason in addition to introducing Albernaz, given the presence of all the team’s top decision makers in one place.

2. Rockies back to square one in their GM search:

As the Rockies look for a new head of baseball operations, they’ve hit a bit of a roadblock as the two people previously viewed as finalists for the job (Diamondbacks assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye and Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman) are no longer under consideration for the job. It’s unclear exactly where the club will go from here or under what timeline a decision is expected to be made at this point, but one surprise candidate could be Adam Ottavino. Ottavino pitched in the majors as recently as earlier this year, but reportedly spoke to the Rockies about the job despite having just exited his playing career. He’d certainly be an unconventional hire, however, and it remains to be seen how seriously he might be considered for the role.

3. Padres still on the hunt for a manager:

The Braves hired from within to replace Brian Snitker yesterday, promoting bench coach Walt Weiss to the top job. That leaves just one managerial vacancy left to be filled, at least until the Rockies hire a front office leader who can decide on interim manager Warren Schaeffer’s fate. That vacancy is in San Diego, where Mike Shildt made the decision to step away from the dugout shortly after the Padres were eliminated in the Wild Card series. It was just last week that a trio of finalists for that job were reported: pitching coach Ruben Niebla, Rangers special assistant Nick Hundley, and future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols. The possibility of a fourth finalist alongside those candidates wasn’t ruled out, as well. At the time, a hiring was expected to be made by the end of last week, so it’s at least possible that process has it an unexpected snag. The Padres are surely hoping to have a manager in place by the time the offseason gets into full swing, however, so a decision could be made any day now.