Baltimore Sun Orioles reporter Jacob Calvin Meyer will answer fan questions every Friday during baseball season. Here are JCM’s thoughts on several questions from readers:

Editor’s note: Questions have been edited for length and clarity. Email jameyer@baltsun.com with questions for next Friday’s mailbag.

Is it time to consider that maybe — just maybe — the Orioles are not as good as advertised? — Bob K.

It is always time to ponder that possibility. But it’s important to not rush to conclusions.

Is this team’s regular-season ceiling lower because of how the start to the season has gone? Of course. The high-end outcomes — winning 95-plus games, for example — might not be possible because of this languid opening and, most importantly, the injuries the team has suffered.

Whether Orioles general manager Mike Elias did enough this offseason aside, any team that loses players as good as Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez and Colton Cowser is markedly worse as a result. It is quite possible the Orioles don’t have enough in the tank later this season to overcome this sluggish start.

However, Jackson Holliday said something insightful after the Orioles’ 9-1 win Wednesday. No, it wasn’t about how he dedicated his grand slam to his dog, Coconut, though any pro-puppy propaganda is approved in this space. The 21-year-old expressed why he’s still bullish about this team, noting the heights the club has already reached this season.

“We’ve shown some signs of being a super awesome team,” he said.

The most concerning part of Baltimore’s first 18 games is how bad the team has looked in its losses. At the same time, the most encouraging part of Baltimore’s first 18 games is how powerful the team has looked in its wins.

Which side of that seesaw has more weight to it?

Is the lineup made by Brandon Hyde or by the front office? — @sageemarioo on X

Elias actually answered this question Tuesday during his first news conference of the regular season.

“I am not involved in lineups,” Elias said before saying that he was “in total support” of the ones Hyde has put out this season.

This isn’t the 1970s, though. Hyde isn’t sitting alone in his office with a pen and a napkin, arbitrarily writing lineups a few hours before first pitch. For better or worse (a.k.a. for better), the process is much more collaborative.

The front office provides analytical information to Hyde. The advanced team — a group of scouts who compile information on the upcoming opponent — provides a report to Hyde. And Hyde works with his coaching and training staff about how his players are feeling mentally and physically. Then, he makes lineups for every game in the upcoming series, but that can change daily based on how the series progresses.

Of course, none of this means the fans can’t have opinions about the lineups Hyde puts out. But it’s important to note that they aren’t thrown together haphazardly.

With seemingly no return date set for Zach Eflin or Grayson Rodriguez, do you see the Orioles looking to make a rare April/ May trade for starting pitching? My fear is they could be 10+ games back by the time many players return in late May or June. — @OriolesFansSay and @Boone_Goon_ on X

The word “rare” here is accurate. It could be more possible than in past years, but the answer is almost certainly no.

Here’s what Elias said when asked Tuesday about that possibility:

“There’s still chatter. I mean, as recently as today, talking to other GMs, trying to line up on trades. It’s just rare in April, the motivation and sort of the clarity is not usually there. Doesn’t mean you don’t try. Doesn’t mean you don’t have the conversations and certainly gathering the information helps. But we’re working.”

Let’s address the second part of the question: If the Orioles are bad enough to be 10 games back in late May or June, then perhaps this team isn’t worth trying to bolster. The sentiment is correct, though. Because of the injuries, the Orioles need to spend the next several weeks treading water, playing .500 ball to put themselves in a position to make moves at the deadline and push for a playoff spot in the second half.

How does a Japanese pitcher (Tomoyuki Sugano) communicate with a Spanish-speaking catcher (Gary Sánchez)? — Paul W. from Hanover, Pennsylvania

Sánchez, the Orioles’ backup catcher, has ample experience catching Japanese pitchers, including Masahiro Tanaka with the Yankees and Yu Darvish with the Padres. He likely won’t be Sugano’s personal catcher, but it wouldn’t be surprising for Hyde to line up Adley Rutschman’s rest days with some of Sugano’s starts.

Communication would be a challenge if Sugano and Sánchez didn’t share at least some understanding of English, but they both do to different degrees. While Sánchez does his interviews in Spanish, he can speak English to communicate with Sugano’s interpreter, Yuto Sakurai, in the dugout and during mound visits. Additionally, Sugano does know some English, and he often shows that by smiling during interviews before Sakurai translates the question for him. During spring training, when asked who the better golfer was between him and Rutschman, Sugano answered “me” in English while smiling.

But if Sugano keeps pitching like he did in Kansas City and in Baltimore on Thursday, not much communication is needed. Sánchez didn’t make a single mound visit during Sugano’s 5 1/3 innings in Kansas City as he cruised to his first MLB win, and neither did Rutschman in Sugano’s seven-inning gem Thursday.

Who should be the Orioles’ leadoff hitter? — Paul from Garrett County

During spring training, MLB Network did a segment previewing the Orioles’ season. The lineup shown had Cedric Mullins batting third, and reporters waiting outside Baltimore’s clubhouse in Sarasota, Florida, mocked the lineup.

Mullins had only been a No. 3 hitter once in his career, and it was against a one-inning opener in September against Detroit. It made little sense at the time for Mullins to be hitting in the heart of Baltimore’s order rather than its bottom third.

What a difference a few weeks can be.

Mullins has spent basically all season hitting between Baltimore’s Nos. 3-5 spots after his scorching-hot start. As a result, Hyde made a big change Thursday that could stick: He put Mullins back in the leadoff spot, bumping Gunnar Henderson down to No. 2 and Rutschman to the three-hole.

Hyde said he made the move for two reasons:

Henderson is off to a slow start, and the skipper wants his best hitter to have a quick breather to open the game.

Mullins has earned the return to the spot he occupied for most of 2021 through 2023.

“Cedric, how he’s playing the game right now and his ability to get on base and the power-speed threat — if you can have that before Gunnar and Adley, that’s a big factor,” Hyde said.

Hyde said he’s “always had this in mind.” Henderson isn’t a traditional leadoff hitter. He’s perhaps too good to lead off. It makes more sense to put someone who will likely lead this team in on-base percentage and home runs in the Nos. 2 or 3 hole. But Hyde deferred to having Henderson lead off most of 2024 because no one else who made sense for the leadoff spot (Mullins in particular) was playing well enough to justify it.

However, so far this season, Mullins is doing the opposite. After Thursday’s win, Mullins is hitting .291 with a .443 on-base percentage, a 1.043 OPS and a team-high 17 RBIs.

As long as he keeps playing like peak Mullins, having him lead off against right-handed pitchers makes sense.

“That’s an All-Star player,” Hyde said when asked if Mullins could become the Orioles’ regular leadoff hitter if he keeps playing this way. “That’s a Gold Glove, All-Star player. That’s a guy that plays in the [World Baseball Classic]. That type of player, you want up as much as possible.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.