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Spring training has officially kicked off for the majority of MLB teams, and they are all excited to see what players of theirs will step up and put them above preseason expectations.

For the Baltimore Orioles, not much talent was brought in this offseason, which means they will have to hope for several of their younger guys to take the next step in reaching their individual potentials.

Last season, the Orioles saw a few players break out to make considerable impacts on the club.

Steve Pearce is the perfect example of a breakout player who was not expected to do much in the 2014 season.

Last season, Pearce hit for a .293 batting average, nearly 40 points higher than his career average, and hit 21 of his 38 career home runs while helping the Birds to an ALCS appearance.

Orioles ace Chris Tillman was another player who broke out in a big way.

Tillman posted a career-best 3.34 ERA when pitching a full season’s worth of starts and managed to pass the 200-inning milestone for the second time in two seasons.

Who will be this year’s breakout performers for the Orioles?

Let’s take a look into the three best candidates to do so.

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The Baltimore Orioles had a fantastic 2014 season, as they won their division and went to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 1997.

After experiencing success and entering the offseason with just a few players hitting the free-agent market, fans hoped to see the O’s jump on their window of opportunity and build their roster for an even deeper postseason run in 2015.

Unfortunately, the offseason was probably the opposite of what Birdland was hoping to see. The team lost veterans Nick Markakis, Nelson Cruz and Andrew Miller, and the biggest name it added was Travis Snider.

That, coupled with the ugly rumors that surrounded Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette from the beginning of December through the end of January (that were ultimately silenced), made for quite a disappointing offseason for the O’s.

There wasn’t much available on the market that made sense for the Orioles, but there were some moves that the team could have made this winter.

Let’s take a look at a few opportunities the team missed this offseason.

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The Baltimore Orioles are set to put on an encore performance of last year’s ALCS run. A majority of their team is intact, and they are banking on many of their players taking the next step forward in their individual progressions.

While the Orioles have been extremely quiet this offseason, they will be looking to finish the 2015 season as a top 10 team in both offense (runs) and pitching (ERA), just as they did in 2014. Despite losing two of their lineup stalwarts in right fielder Nick Markakis and designated hitter/outfielder Nelson Cruz, the Orioles will have more than enough firepower returning to the lineup from the get-go.

Down on the farm, there isn’t much depth past the top echelon of prospects, but the boys at the top expect to be game-changers at the major league level.

Spring training officially kicks off when pitchers and catchers report down in Sarasota, Florida on Feb. 19. The rest of the club reports on Feb. 24, and the first full squad workout takes place the following day.

Here is your complete spring training preview for the 2015 Baltimore Orioles.

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We are now less than three weeks away until pitchers and catchers report to their respective teams for spring training, and players and fans everywhere are gearing up for what should be another exciting MLB season.

For the Baltimore Orioles, they’ll be looking to return to tip-top shape and pick up where they left off at the end of one of their most historic postseason runs in team history.

In addition to shaking off the rust, spring training will offer manager Buck Showalter and Co. time to evaluate some of their fringe players who are on the cusp of making the major league roster.

Their decisions won’t be easy considering the Orioles’ brass needs to take into account minor league options available to some of their major league players, as well as a pair of Rule 5 selections in right-handed pitchers Jason Garcia and Logan Verrett.

A large portion of last season’s roster will be returning, however, and there are still a few key decisions that will eventually need to be made regarding starters.

As of right now, right field seems to be the position that will be most highly contested come spring training.

It seems as if Alejandro De Aza will be the everyday leadoff man and starting left fielder for the Orioles in 2015, with incumbent All-Star Adam Jones manning center field per usual.

That leaves a bit of a question mark for who will end up with the starting right fielder gig.

The Orioles acquired left-handed hitting outfielder Travis Snider in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, which involved sending left-handed pitching prospect Stephen Tarpley to the steel city.

Snider, who hit for a .264 batting average with a .338 on-base percentage, seems like the best bet to win the job when you add in his above-average defensive ability.

Snider totaled just 13 homers in 2014, but it isn’t hard to imagine him hitting at least 20 in a hitter’s haven like Camden Yards.

A few other candidates for the right field position include Steve Pearce, David Lough and Dariel Alvarez.

If the Orioles were to start Snider in right field, they would then remove the need to play Pearce in the outfield just to keep his bat in the lineup.

Pearce’s everyday role would either be at first or designated hitter with Chris Davis holding down the other slot.

Lough’s hopes at having a starting role in 2015 were essentially torn away after the trade for Snider.

In 197 plate appearances in 2014, Lough only managed to tally four homers and eight stolen bases with a .247/.309/.385 slash line.

Lough’s only true advantage over Snider is his speed and base-running ability, which Snider makes up for and then some with his on-base skills and power from the left side.

With the lack of opportunity given the logjam in the outfield positions, the best option for Alvarez is to get as many at-bats as he can in the minors and fine-tune his skills.

In an interview with MASNSports.com’s Steve Melewski, Jeff Manto, Orioles’ coordinator of minor league hitting, had this to say on Alvarez’s next step in improvement:

His next step is pitch recognition and realizing what pitchers are doing.

It may hurt him, all that swinging. He has to get a little more disciplined.

The best hitting coach for him at this point is going to be the opposing pitcher. They are going to give him all kinds of information as to what he needs to do. That is what is going on right now in Norfolk. He is seeing 1-0 and first-pitch sliders. And if he doesn’t hit them, he won’t need a hitting coach to realize he has to lay off that thing.

No matter how bleak Alvarez’s chances look to earn a starting spot and at the least make the Opening Day roster, he could still earn a call-up midseason depending on his improvement at the Triple-A level.

One thing is for sure, though; you can never have too much depth.

Snider: 80 percent

Pearce: 12 percent

Lough: 6 percent

Alvarez: 2 percent

All statistics provided by Baseball Reference unless otherwise noted.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Baltimore Orioles are heading into the 2015 season with a less-than-below-average farm system after stud righty Kevin Gausman and second baseman of the future Jonathan Schoop shed their prospect labels this past year.

In addition to the loss of a highly ranked lefty in Eduardo Rodriguez, who was involved in a trade that netted reliever Andrew Miller from the Boston Red Sox, the Orioles are going to need to get a lot of value out of some of their prospects outside of the elite tier.

Top prospect Dylan Bundy is hoping to make a significant impact at the major league level this season, after being selected fourth overall in 2011. After several setbacks, Bundy needs an uninterrupted season in order for him to complete his development into a major league hurler.

All is going according to plan with fellow blue-chip Hunter Harvey, who dazzled in his first full professional season, compiling a 3.18 ERA with the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds in 17 starts.

First baseman Christian Walker will be looking at securing a considerable amount of playing time at designated hitter this year, as it looks more and more likely that Steve Pearce will man left field with Chris Davis holding down first.

That leaves us with several prospects who no one has been talking about but could turn a few heads as early as this season.

Here’s a look into the most underrated prospects in the Orioles farm system right now, ranked in order of most major league ready.

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The Baltimore Orioles have had a characteristically quiet offseason so far, but it has been extremely quiet even for a club such as Baltimore that tends to not overspend and rather builds from within.

While other teams have been working the telephones organizing blockbuster trades or courting huge free-agent superstars, the Orioles have been content with what got them to the American League Championship Series in 2014.

If it ain’t broke, they won’t fix it.

Nonetheless, the decision to not bring back either corner outfielder in Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis has opened up opportunities for other players to inherit more playing time than they would have been given had the club chosen to re-sign either free agent.

In addition, the decision not to move any of the club’s impending free-agent starting pitchers has caused a logjam at the position, leaving one man out due to the positional surplus.

While any organizational move has the chance to put a negative impact on any player’s season or even career, it seems that Baltimore’s lack of activity this offseason has opened up a lot of opportunity for playing time across the board.

Let’s take a look into the biggest winners and losers on the Baltimore Orioles this offseason.

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The frustration is understandable.

To watch your team sit meekly by during one of the craziest, most active offseasons in recent memory can make a fanbase stir crazy. That holds especially true when you watch that same team lose pivotal pieces in free agency and not replace them.

Yes, the inactivity of the Baltimore Orioles can be maddening for some. It’s no fun not having a ticket to the coolest party of the offseason, especially when teams within your own division are some of the guests of honor.

Then again, when you run away with your division by 12 games and get back a couple of past All-Stars from injury and expect another to return to form, how much do you actually need to add, even if teams around you are getting a bit better?

@SportsonEarth @Orioles slow offseason and still put a winning team on the field. I would like to see a signing or two…but I’ll trust them

— Jake Nazar (@ATVS_JakeNazar) December 30, 2014

The Orioles expect to have third baseman Manny Machado and catcher Matt Wieters back early in the season if not by Opening Day, and both have been All-Stars—Wieters made the American League squad last summer. The team also has high hopes that Chris Davis will return from his amphetamine suspension and get back to being something close to the hitter who posted a 168 OPS-plus—68 percent better than a league-average player—and finished third in MVP voting in 2013.

But it’s not like the O’s are doing nothing. General manager Dan Duquette has explored trades and kicked a lot of free-agent tires, but his most notable move of the offseason has been bringing back Delmon Young. There could be more to come very soon, though.

Manager Buck Showalter is expected to fly to Alabama to meet with outfielder Colby Rasmus over the next few days, The Baltimore Sun beat writer Eduardo A. Encina reported Wednesday. The reason for the meeting is for Showalter to determine if Rasmus, who has a spotty reputation, would be a good fit within the Orioles’ clubhouse. Showalter did the same thing last year with Nelson Cruz and Delmon Young, both players with off-the-field question marks at the time, and both were productive offensive additions en route to the team’s AL East title.

Because Cruz, who hit 40 home runs and had a 140 OPS-plus, is gone, as is right fielder Nick Markakis, the Orioles need outfield help. They are interested in Rasmus on a one-year deal worth between $6-8 million, according to Encina. If Rasmus can get back to the 127 OPS-plus he put up in 2013 with the Toronto Blue Jays, he would give Baltimore their second consecutive award for Steal of the Offseason, Cruz being the first.

Duquette also has interest in Ichiro Suzuki and Nori Aoki at more limited levels.

Orioles still showing interest in Nori Aoki, in addition to Colby Rasmus and Ichiro Suzuki among free-agent outfielders.

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 29, 2014

Also, only partly because the team lost left-hander Andrew Miller, the Orioles are still looking for bullpen help.

#orioles also still looking to add depth to ‘pen & catching (despite 5 catchers on 40-man roster). Exploring major and minor league deals

— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) December 31, 2014

Even with this further exploration of outfield and bullpen options, the Orioles are operating as if time and rehab are their biggest offseason acquisitions. And maybe they are correct in that assessment.

Machado is a star on the rise and still just 22 years old. He suffered his second significant knee injury of his career last August the day the Orioles built a six-game lead in the division. He was done for the rest of the season, but the Orioles pushed the lead to as many as 14 games without him. At the time of the injury, Machado was arguably playing better than he did in 2013 when he was an All-Star, won a Gold Glove and finished ninth in MVP voting in his age 20-21 season.

Having him back and healthy is clearly a positive impact. However, the Orioles did much of what they did last season with Machado healthy. They missed him for only about a month and a half, plus the postseason. It’s not like they played all of 2014 minus Machado, so his comeback is definitely impactful, but not ground shaking.

Wieters is a different story. He suffered an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery last June, although it kept him out of the lineup starting May 11. He was still voted as an All-Star starter, but the selection, while nice, was unwarranted despite him hitting .308/.339/.500 with a 135 OPS-plus through 26 games.

There have been questions about when Wieters could actually return, but his agent, Scott Boras, assured the baseball world his client would be ready for Opening Day. Position players undergoing Tommy John surgery usually are not lost for as long as pitchers who undergo the procedure. Having Wieters in the lineup for the start of the season would be a big addition for the Orioles, and it could help supplement the loss of Cruz if Wieters continues to progress offensively.

As for Davis, the Orioles had him for nearly an entire season before his suspension, and the only reason he was even an average player was because he managed to hit 26 home runs in 127 games. Aside from that, he hit .196/.300/.404 with a 98 OPS-plus and struck out 173 times against 60 walks.

The suspension was for Davis’ use of Adderall, a drug for which he previously had a therapeutic-use exemption. Davis failed to get one for 2014 and was suspended 25 games, which will keep him out of the Opening Day lineup this year as he has one more game to serve. Davis will have the TUE for 2015, and the Orioles are hoping his allowed use of Adderall will help get the former home run champ back to his 2013 form.

In an offseason filled with blockbuster trades, big-time free-agent signings and some improved rosters in the AL East, it can be maddening to watch the Orioles stand pat. But while the headlines might be going to the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays for their offseason moves, the truth is none of those teams have gotten that much better. They all still have holes and serious questions about their rosters.

Meanwhile, the Orioles are cruising through the winter, content with minor tweaks rather than huge overhauls because they expect their own players to be back healthy and productive come next spring. And that just may be enough for their repeat performance in 2015.

Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News, and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It is officially the year 2015, and with the holiday season in the rearview mirror, the countdown to spring training, as well as Opening Day, has begun.

The offseason is just over halfway through at this point, and many free agents are off the board. What’s more, plenty of trades have been made, making that market a little bit tougher for interested teams as well.

The Baltimore Orioles are a team still looking to improve before the start of the 2015 regular season. With a strong and deep team already in place, it won’t take much for the O’s to field a roster they believe will win them a second consecutive AL East title.

They do still have some work to do, however, as they’ve had a relatively quiet offseason after losing some key pieces to their success this past season in Nick Markakis, Nelson Cruz and Andrew Miller.

The O’s don’t need to take a “new year, new team” mentality into 2015, but they do need to do a couple of things.

Here are a few New Year’s resolutions for the Birds.

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After a consistent season in a limited role during the 2014 season, free-agent outfielder Delmon Young signed a one-year deal to remain with the Baltimore Orioles.

Roch Kubatko of MASN reported the news on Young’s decision:

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman added financial details:

Young, 29, has been a journeyman throughout his career, playing with five different teams over the last nine seasons. Last season was one of his best, batting .302/.337/.442 with seven home runs and 30 RBI in just 83 games with the Baltimore Orioles.

Following that season, Young made it known that he wanted at least a two-year deal, per Orioles on MASN:

During his career, Young has been a formidable player but comes with some baggage. Most recently, Young was charged with a hate crime in 2012 after a few minor league incidents when he was 19 and 20 years old.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter spoke about taking the risk on Young last season, via John Lott of the National Post:

If you look at Delmon, he would be the first to tell you that some of his challenges have been self-inflicted. But you look at him just purely statistically, and you go, ‘Why is this guy available? … What are we missing here?’

We’re always one bad decision away from something, you know? Like I told him, none of us like to have our lives judged by our worst decision. And the big thing is, if you get an opportunity, you better run through that door, and he has. I’m proud of him.

His talent overshadowed the question marks during the 2014 season, as he came up clutch again in the postseason. Now, the Orioles have him in the lineup for late-game at-bats and potential playoff heroics.

ESPN Stats & Info points out how well Young has performed as a pinch-hitter and in the postseason:

Luckily for Baltimore, the team gets back a critical player to the lineup. After already losing both Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz this offseason, Young will be an integral part of the team.

It should be interesting to see whether or not he gets more at-bats next season. Regardless of his role, Young is another asset for the defending American League East champions.

Follow @RCorySmith on Twitter.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The MLB offseason is roughly halfway to the start of spring training in February. Plenty has happened over the course of the last couple of months, as teams work tirelessly toward building a better franchise for 2015 and beyond.

The Baltimore Orioles have attempted to build off of a successful 2014 season in which the team reached the American League Championship Series for the first time since 1997, but they haven’t had much luck swinging any deals this winter.

The team has made some smart moves, though, by failing to make certain rumored moves. Sometimes, the best thing that a team can do is to not make a certain move.

We’re going to take a look at some of the smartest and dumbest things the O’s have done so far this winter.

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