President of baseball operations Mike Elias declined a media request over the weekend to delve into a prospective shopping list if the Orioles are buyers at the deadline. He’d rather have the club’s status confirmed, and even then, he might be hesitant to lay out his plans for public consumption.

“I’m not there yet,” Elias said Saturday while sitting in the dugout. “The deadline isn’t today, and so we do have several more weeks. It could evolve. I don’t want to make any proclamations. We’ve got a lot of guys out here still trying to show exactly what they are and what they’re doing this season. I’d like to take more time before diagnosing that.”

Physical breakdowns and the staggered recoveries also can factor into the team’s business plans.

“It’s repetitive, but we’ve had a lot of injuries the last couple years. It’s impacted us,” Elias said.

“Right now, at this moment, it feels like we’re starting to get healthy, but that could change tonight the way things have been going. So, I’ve got to  knock on wood, keep my fingers crossed that that’s not the case. But we’ve got some guys coming back here soon, and this team being really healthy is something we haven’t had in a while. That will also dictate what’s on the deadline agenda.”  

Elias said this two days before reliever Keegan Akin went on the 15-day IL with a sore right elbow that required an MRI yesterday. The Orioles recalled Josh Walker from Triple-A Norfolk.

If there’s a lockdown left-handed reliever on the market, that’s probably the first area where Elias should do his shopping – unless the Orioles are reduced to being sellers, of course. Last night’s loss was their fourth in a row and sixth in seven games, and it lowered their record to 39-48.

They’re 0-4 since Elias talked about wanting to go for it.

“Firstly, that just shows the tremendous belief in this group, and not just from a player sense, but it’s belief in everything that we have and the whole operation,” said first baseman Pete Alonso. “To have that belief and trust is awesome. The front office and ownership is doing everything that they possibly can to put the right people in the right spot and give people the best runway for success. As the starting nine and whoever comes in the game, we’ve just got to do a better job. That’s what it just boils down to. We’ve got to play better baseball. That’s as simple as that.”

Left-handers are hitting .234 with a .627 OPS against Akin this season, and right-handers are hitting .327 with a .900. Over a career that began in 2020, Akin has produced a .243/.292/.373 line against left-handers and a .256/.326/.446 line against right-handers.

He isn’t a classic left-on-left bullpen arm, but he’s as close as it gets for the Orioles.

Grant Wolfram hadn’t allowed a run in 13 of his last 14 appearances before the White Sox scored twice in the eighth inning Monday night. He faced two left-handed batters, hitting one and allowing a run-scoring double to the other. Rico Garcia let an inherited runner score to complete Wolfram’s line.

The impressive stretch for Wolfram lowered his ERA from 4.85 to 3.33 before Monday, but left-handers are batting .321/.379/.415 against him this season, while right-handers are batting .245/.275/.408. The discrepancy creates another challenge for manager Craig Albernaz, who isn’t searching for more.

The three-batter minimum makes it harder to navigate around the splits.

Yennier Cano has held right-handers to a .145 average and .388 OPS, but left-handers are batting .282 with a .759 OPS. They’ve hit .300/.369/.475 against him in his career.

Andrew Kittredge has been closer to neutral this season. Right-handers were batting .249 with a .676 OPS before last night, and left-handers were hitting .235 with a .731 OPS. Garcia was getting everyone out until his recent struggles. Right-handers were batting .140 with a .509 OPS before he retired the side in order last night in the ninth inning, and left-handers were batting .169 with a .577 OPS.

How much can Walker help in this area? He’s appeared in 31 major league games. Right-handers hit .297/.365/.459 and left-handers hit .259/.355/.407.

Wolfram and Walker are the only southpaws in the ‘pen.

*The Orioles are a season-worst nine games below .500, and a loss this afternoon would equal their longest streak of the season.

Albernaz said the messaging to the team hasn’t changed since spring training and the beginning of the season, when optimism was running high. The Day One mentality is going to carry through the summer months.

“We just have to focus on us, and that’s always been the message,” he said. “We have to control what we can control and go out and play our game and figure out how to win that night. When you have those good days and keep stacking those days, wen you look up at the end of the year, hopefully you’re in the right spot, in the spot you want to be at. And when you start focusing on where we could be and where we’re not, I think that’s where guys press.  

“Sense of urgency is always good, but also, it’s a very thin line between urgency and pressing, so for our guys, we just want to make sure that they’re going out there and competing every night and try to figure out a way to win and making sure that they’re getting better each day. And when our players are getting better, our team collectively will get better, as well.”

Albernaz has noticed that many of the teams are “clustered” in the standings. He knows this because he really does check.

“I don’t look at the standings?” he said with a grin. “I said it to you guys. I look at the standings. This might shock you. There’s a lot of things that I say that I actually do.”

*One of the more surprising stats came out of Monday’s loss to the White Sox.

Adley Rutschman is only the second catcher in Orioles history with two sacrifice flies in the same game. Dan Graham did it on July 23, 1980 in Minnesota.

The franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954. There have been a lot of catchers over the years. They used seven last season. And it’s happened only twice?

Eddie Murray holds the major league record for most sac flies with 128, followed by Cal Ripken Jr. with 127. Brooks Robinson is 13th with 114.

Matt Wieters has the club record for most career sac flies by a catcher with 41. He led the majors with 12 in 2013.

Graham played in 143 games from 1979-81, 141 for the Orioles after debuting with the Twins. Four of his five sac flies came in 1980.

He didn’t have any while driving in a career-high six runs in Game 2 of a July 21 doubleheader in Minnesota.  

The more you know …