Jim Palmer’s latest take on the Orioles’ 2026 season wasn’t gentle.
On the BMore Sports Podcast, the Orioles legend said Craig Albernaz passed on a chance to lean on him while the team was trying to solve Colton Cowser’s struggles, and Palmer’s story landed as another blunt critique of a rough first year for Baltimore’s new manager. The Orioles finished 79-82, a sharp contrast to the Guardians’ run into October after Baltimore poached Albernaz from Stephen Vogt’s staff last offseason.
Palmer said he approached Albernaz in spring training with a suggestion for Cowser: spend the spring studying Cody Bellinger’s at-bats as a way to improve against left-handed pitching and with runners in scoring position. Palmer said that when he raised the idea again in September, Albernaz brushed it off with, “it’s a lot easier to talk about it than do it.”
That response looked even worse once Cowser’s numbers were in the books. He finished 2026 with a .445 OPS against left-handers and a .604 OPS with runners in scoring position.
Cowser wasn’t the only young Oriole who stumbled. Gunnar Henderson posted an OPS+ just 2% above league average despite leading the American League with 623 at-bats, and Jackson Holiday also turned in another disappointing season.
There were some bright spots in Baltimore’s year, including Pete Alonso’s production and Brandon Young’s breakout, but the bigger story was a group of young players who didn’t take the expected step forward.
Palmer’s comments also arrived less than a week after the Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka published a story based on interviews with 10 Orioles players about what went wrong. While some players pointed to underperformance, Chris Bassitt said he believed the issue came from the team’s preparation and a mindset of checking boxes instead of truly putting in work.
For Albernaz, the first season at the top of the dugout came with the full weight of those problems. A first-year manager can spend an entire season trying to install his system, and Baltimore’s developmental issues only made the job harder. But the standard was always going to be high, especially after Vogt won Manager of the Year in his first season with the Guardians.
Albernaz still has time to build a strong big league résumé. But his first year with the Orioles was not the kind of opening anyone in Baltimore wanted.
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