The first few days after the 161st game is played, one short of capacity due to a storm, can’t resolve a team’s roster issues. Meetings will be held and areas for improvement pinpointed. And the Orioles could hire a general manager with an opinion and voice in the process.

The outfield on Opening Day had Taylor Ward in left, Colton Cowser in center and Tyler O’Neill in right. Dylan Beavers and Leody Taveras were on the bench.

At the conclusion of the season, Ward was in Seattle after hitting seven home runs in 111 games with the Orioles, O’Neill was on the injured list, Luis Robert Jr. was in the lineup for three games and sent to the IL, Heston Kjerstad was recalled, optioned and recalled, Christian Franklin was acquired in a trade, put on the IL and reinstated, and Rece Hinds was slumping at the plate and struggling in right.

The Orioles used 10 players in left and nine in right, including Jeremiah Jackson, Blaze Alexander, Johnathan Rodríguez and Weston Wilson. Seven players were tried in center.

The position never became a strength. Center fielders combined to hit .225/.316/.347 with 12 home runs. Right fielders hit .219/.294/.348 with 15 homers.

O’Neill has another year left on his $49.5 million deal. Beavers and Cowser seem likely to stay. Kjerstad will be out of minor league options and the Orioles barely noticed him during his two stints this month.

He actually would have started in right field Sunday except the weather ruined that opportunity.

The Orioles will address the rotation and bullpen over the winter. The infield is crowded. The catching position comes down to whether they’re comfortable with backup options to Samuel Basallo.

Meanwhile, the outfield is lacking a player projected to be full-time and platoon-proof unless the thinking changes. The Orioles would need to commit to Beavers or Cowser against right-handers and left-handers. And we don’t know when Enrique Bradfield Jr. will debut and how he’ll be used.

Bradfield was the 17th-overall pick in the 2023 draft. Cowser was the fifth overall in 2021 and Kjerstad was No. 2 in 2020. Beavers was 33rd in 2022.

“I think outfield is something that we’ll have to look at,” president of baseball operations Mike Elias said at yesterday’s press conference. “Looking at the draft, some of those guys, I think in terms of like the first-round picks, there are only two that are up here so far from the outfield category. I think Bradfield is somebody that we’ll see this coming year.

“The draft is not a settled science in baseball, and you look at the picks around where those guys went and those guys are doing really well, relatively speaking, for draft picks. So it’s no shortcoming of theirs, but I think, statistically, we could have gotten more production out of the outfield this year. We had health issues out there. We had players with wavering performance, and it’s definitely a part of the field we’re going to be looking at as we look at this roster over the offseason.”

The part about Bradfield jumps out. The Orioles expect him in the majors at some point in 2027.

The infield could be set other than making room for everybody.

Jordan Westburg is beginning a hitting progression this week after undergoing ligament-reconstructive surgery on his right elbow in May. He would have been the regular third baseman if healthy, but injuries keep sidetracking him.

In Westburg’s absence, Coby Mayo and later Christian Encarnacion-Strand became huge contributors. Mayo tied Gunnar Henderson for the second-most home runs on the team with 24, and he hit .322 with a 1.105 OPS against left-handers.

“We don’t want to overly plan around (Westburg) just given that he’s still early in a Tommy John rehab, but he is doing well,” Elias said. “Obviously, that was extremely concerning to lose him unexpectedly right at the outset of (spring training), but everyone else stepped in spectacularly. I mean, everyone that we handed the ball to, basically, at third base did it in one way or another for us, so that was a bright spot.

“I think it gives us really good depth at that position now. And then you got Jordan coming back, hopefully you feel pretty good about our options at third with the guys that you mentioned.”

Alexander will be available for infield and outfield duty. Jackson Holliday is expected to break camp as the regular second baseman after undergoing hamate bone surgery last spring and suffering an injury to his left wrist that required surgery this week to repair a partial triangular fibrocartilage complex tear.

“Injuries with Jackson, you certainly keep it in mind,” Elias said. “He had two upper-extremity injuries on either hand this year. That’s a pretty big deal on both sides of the ball. He did a great job working his way through it. Enormous talent, great head on his shoulders.

“As I’ve been talking about with the draft picks, you look at where he is and the age, and then the other top picks around him that year, he’s way ahead of the curve and we continue to believe in him and build around him. He is very athletic. We started him at shortstop. He ended up at second base. To the degree that evolves in multiple different directions, I think he’s so early in his career that we’ll see, but we absolutely believe in his ability at second base and him as a second baseman will be a big part of our planning this winter.” 

The Collective Bargaining Agreement expires on Dec. 1 and baseball could shut down again, which also silences the business that’s usually done.

“We don’t have our head in the sand about possibilities, but we proceed with the confidence and assumption that we’re going to have normal operations,” Elias said. “So it doesn’t affect our planning.”

“We have to operate as if it’s business as usual,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “For us, we’ve already started the groundwork of what the offseason is going to look like, both for myself, the staff, and for the players. We want to make sure we set our players up to have a successful season, and that starts in the offseason. You have to build the foundation there and I’ve had one-on-ones with each player before they left. We had group coaching meetings about each player to make sure there’s a plan in place, and we’re going to be talking with each player in the offseason moving forward to make sure they have what they need.

“This is a time where a lot of our players across the game have their own guys and facilities they work out to, so it’s reaching out to them and partnering with them to make sure we’re all on the same page for the player. That’s something I feel strongly about, and the groundwork is already being laid, because we have to set the groundwork for the offseason so we can hit the ground running in spring training.”

Front office additions are pending, including a general manager hire that was put on the back burner. Elias said the decision will be a “collaborative” effort.

“That’s something that I’m working on right now,” Elias said, “and just in terms of overall staffing to the baseball ops department, however that’s gonna shake out, I don’t know. Can’t control every aspect of it. But they’re very involved.”

Asked what type of executives Elias is seeking, he replied, “Well, the answer is ‘good people,’ and it’s case-by-case and it’s individually based, like every hiring is.”

“We have a small operation,” he added. “It has been. I’ve seen in some metrics it’s like 29th in the league in terms of size in baseball operations. … Baseball operations has been growing very, very rapidly over the last few years just with the way the game’s evolving. And I think with our ownership group now, we have a good opportunity to sort of participate in that growth a little bit more than we’ve been doing. And there’s parts of our baseball operation that I think I could use some different voices and ideas in more than others.

“I don’t know that I want to get into it here on the stage, but you’ll probably be able to see as these hires come in where we’re looking for some impact.”

*Pete Alonso was named American League Player of the Week after batting .s389 (7-for-18) with five homers, a .500 on-base percentage, 1.222 slugging percentage, eight RBIs, three walks and eight runs scored in five games.

Alonso is a seven-time recipient of the award. He’s won it twice this season.