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The first few weeks of the offseason also exist so various outlets can begin ranking free agents and trying to match them with prospective teams.
MLB.com published its top 30 this week, headed by outfielder Kyle Tucker, third baseman Alex Bregman and outfielder/designated hitter Kyle Schwarber. The Orioles have three free agents – pitchers Zach Eflin and Tomoyuki Sugano and catcher Gary Sánchez - and none made the rankings. Eflin was listed among the 11 honorable mentions, which also included Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn.
The Orioles are interested in obtaining at least one starting pitcher, which can be done via free agency or a trade, and multiple relievers. They can sift through some in-house options but have too many holes to fill to operate solely from within. They also will try to strengthen the lineup with a proven hitter, and the outfield seems like the only area with room.
The site lists the Orioles among “possible fits” for five of the 30 players: Starter Dylan Cease (10th), closer Edwin Díaz (14th), closer Robert Suarez (17th), starter Jack Flaherty (22nd) and starter Chris Bassitt (28th). Diáz would have to opt out of the final two years of his contract. Suarez would have to decline his $8 million options for the next two seasons. Flaherty has a $20 million option in his contract, and he did nothing to impress the Orioles during his half-season in 2023.
Perhaps only three teams are allowed to be attached to each free agent. If the above names make sense for the Orioles, so do outfielder Cody Bellinger (No. 5), though a right-handed bat might fit better, starter/reliever Michael King (No. 8), left-handed starter Framber Valdez (No. 9), left-handed starter Ranger Suárez (No. 11), starter Zac Gallen (No. 18), starter Shane Bieber (No. 20), reliever Devin Williams (No. 21), reliever Ryan Heisley (No. 26) and starter Lucas Giolito (No. 29).
PLAYER REVIEW: MITCHELL PARKER
Age on Opening Day 2026: 26
How acquired: Fifth round pick, 2020 MLB Draft
MLB service time: 2 years
2025 salary: $767,200
The American League Silver Slugger finalists will be announced later this morning, with the winners revealed on Nov. 7. The Orioles were shut out in Rawlings Gold Glove nominations. Do they get blanked again today?
Outfielder Anthony Santander won a Silver Slugger last year. Shortstop Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg (utility) also were finalists but lost to Bobby Witt Jr. and Josh Smith, respectively.
Henderson won it as a utility player in 2023. Catcher Adley Rutschman also received the award.
Injuries and underproduction remove an obvious choice for the Orioles this year.
The Angels’ Zach Neto led AL shortstops with 26 home runs, followed by the Red Sox’s Trevor Story with 25 and Witt with 23. Story was first in RBIs with 96, followed by the Blue Jays’ Bo Bichette (18 homers) with 94 and Witt with 88. Witt slugged .501 and Bichette .483. Witt was first in hits with 184, followed by Bichette with 181, Story with 161 and Henderson with 158.
PLAYER REVIEW: CADE CAVALLI
Age on Opening Day 2026: 27
How acquired: First round pick, 2020 MLB Draft
MLB service time: 2 years, 141 days
2025 salary: $760,200
Despite his sluggish second half, James Wood’s total production this season still earned him recognition as one of the best hitters in baseball.
Wood today was named a finalist for the Silver Slugger Award, one of six National League outfielders in the running for the honor. Three winners will be named Nov. 6, along with the winners for each of the league’s other positions.
Joining Wood on the list of finalists are the Diamondbacks’ Corbin Carroll, the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong, the Mets’ Juan Soto, the Marlins’ Kyle Stowers and the Cubs’ Kyle Tucker.
Wood finished the season with 38 doubles, 31 home runs, 94 RBIs, a .256 batting average, .350 on-base percentage and .475 slugging percentage, plus 15 stolen bases. Among NL outfielders, the 23-year-old ranked in the top three in doubles, homers and extra-base hits.
It was a dynamic first half of the season, though, that put Wood in a position to finish with those numbers and earned him the first All-Star nod and Home Run Derby invitation of his young career. He entered the break with a .278/.381/.534 slash line, 24 homers and 69 RBIs, then slashed .223/.301/.388 with seven homers and 25 RBIs after that.
For the first time in his career, Washington Nationals outfielder James Wood has been named one of six outfield finalists for the Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award on Wednesday.
A 2025 All-Star and Home Run Derby participant, Wood, 23, finished the season tied for the National League lead among outfielders with 38 doubles this season. He also ranked in extra base hits (3rd, 69), home runs (T3rd, 31), RBI (4th, 94), walks (5th, 95) and hits (5th, 153).
In his first full Major League season Wood also paced the National League with 56 balls hit over 110 miles per hour, trailing only Aaron Judge in all of Major League Baseball. Wood also led all National League outfielders with 15 home runs hit over 110 mph.
The Rockville, Md., native was one of just three Major Leaguers and one of two National League outfielders with 30 home runs, 35 doubles and 15 stolen bases this season. Wood became just the second Nationals player to hit 30 home runs and steal at least 15 bases in a season, joining Alfonso Soriano in 2006.
Wood looks to become the fourth Nationals outfielder and 11th Nationals player (2005-pres.) overall to win a Silver Slugger.
PLAYER REVIEW: BRAD LORD
Age on Opening Day 2026: 26
How acquired: 18th round pick, 2022 MLB Draft
MLB service time: 1 year
2025 salary: $760,000
The Blue Jays finished in last place in 2024 and are headed to the World Series. They were the top seed in the American League, just like the Orioles in 2023.
The Orioles slipped to the top Wild Card the following year and all the way into the division basement this summer. They won 75 games, one more than Toronto in 2024.
Should parallels be paraded to fans praying for a prolific bounce back next season?
Payroll disparities can’t be ignored – the Blue Jays at almost $242 million on Opening Day and the Orioles at around $164 million.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signed an extension in April for $500 million over 14 years and he was named Most Valuable Player in the Championship Series. George Springer signed a six-year, $150 million free-agent contract in January 2021 and his three-run homer in the seventh inning in Game 7 propelled the Blue Jays into the World Series.
PLAYER REVIEW: JAKE IRVIN
Age on Opening Day 2026: 29
How acquired: Fourth round pick, 2018 MLB Draft
MLB service time: 2 years, 152 days
2025 salary: $774,600
Stephen King wrote a novel in 1979 entitled “The Dead Zone” that became a movie four years later and a television series in the early 2000s. No one had October in mind for baseball’s non-playoff teams, but it applied.
Just sub out Christopher Walken for Christian Walker.
But this is about the Orioles.
A manager wasn’t going to be hired this quickly, but I’ve counted one confirmed interview, Yankees third base coach Luis Rojas, whose brother Felipe Alou Jr. has worked in a variety of roles in the Orioles’ organization. Rojas managed the Mets for two seasons.
Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols reportedly has drawn interest from the Orioles, but that’s it. They like the idea of interviewing him.
PLAYER REVIEW: MACKENZIE GORE
Age on Opening Day 2026: 27
How acquired: Traded with CJ Abrams, James Wood, Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, August 2022
MLB service time: 4 years
2025 salary: $2.89 million
I’m going to continue taking my turn asking questions, knowing that the correct answer is unattainable this early in the offseason.
It’s also another chance to veer away from the constant chatter about a new manager, which is lacking anything concrete beyond reports that Yankees third base coach Luis Rojas interviewed for the job.
Here are two more.
Who’s the center fielder on Opening Day?
This is a new question because Cedric Mullins spent parts of eight seasons with the Orioles and played center in 791 games.
PLAYER REVIEW: DREW MILLAS
Age on Opening Day 2026: 28
How acquired: Traded with Richard Guasch and Seth Shuman from Athletics for Yan Gomes and Josh Harrison, July 2021
MLB service time: 178 days
2025 salary: $760,000
Questions linger for the Orioles beyond their managerial search and whether they hire a general manager this winter.
Should they have matched the Dodgers’ 10-year, $700 million offer for Shohei Ohtani?
OK, maybe not that one.
Here are three randomly chosen inquiries, with many more to come.
How will the Orioles jam their starters into a five-man rotation?
Joe Flacco, age 40, outdueled 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers Thursday night in Cincinnati. The Blue Jays’ Max Scherzer, at age 41 and making the 500th start of his career, earned the win in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series in Seattle.
My mailbag is 17, old enough to drive but not to drink. The fluctuating weight is normal. You fill it and I try to empty it.
Here’s my latest attempt. No editing, no disclaimers about editing. You ask, I answer, and we have the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original.
Also, and this is important, my mailbag stretches singles into doubles and your mailbag stretches the truth.
Your thoughts on Albert Pujols as the manager? I am starting to warm to the idea. Keep Robinson Chirinos as bench coach.
I’m lukewarm to the idea of Pujols as manager, but maybe that’s just my personality. I also think it isn’t happening. Pujols has managed in the Dominican Republic, so he isn’t entirely new to the job. However, if major league experience isn’t important, the Orioles could just bring back Tony Mansolino, who has the advantage of his previous interim status and familiarity with the organization. Or they could hire Ryan Flaherty, who’s worked in a variety of roles, including Cubs bench coach. He’s also a big analytics guy. The Orioles are making it tough to project what they’ll do because their requirements are so broad. Experience is “overwhelmingly usually a big positive,’ as Mike Elias described it, and will carry a lot of weight. But it’s not a requisite for success. I don’t know if anyone constitutes a sure thing in his business, but other candidates would qualify more than a first-timer, which makes someone like Pujols a gamble to a team that must win.
PLAYER REVIEW: PAUL DeJONG
Age on Opening Day 2026: 32
How acquired: Signed as free agent, February 2025
MLB service time: 8 years, 57 days
2025 salary: $1 million
PLAYER REVIEW: NASIM NUNEZ
Age on Opening Day 2026: 25
How acquired: Selected in 2023 Rule 5 Draft
MLB service time: 1 year, 89 days
2025 salary: $760,000
We’ve reached the point in the offseason when we still don’t know who’s playing in the World Series, we don’t know who’s managing the Orioles and we don’t know how far along they’ve gotten in the interview process beyond a couple of reports linking them to Luis Rojas and Albert Pujols.
Rojas had an interview. Pujols might get an interview.
Ryan Flaherty might be among the favorites or he might not.
Here are a few facts from the 2025 season, on another slow day, that we do know:
* The Orioles posted a .235 average this year, 24th in the majors, compared to .255 in 2023 and .250 in 2024 – seasons that concluded with a division title and the first Wild Card, respectively.
PLAYER REVIEW: BRADY HOUSE
Age on Opening Day 2026: 22
How acquired: First round pick, 2021 Draft
MLB service time: 107 days
2025 salary: $760,000
A last-place season isn’t going to bring many rewards. Heartaches, yes, but not rewards.
The Rawlings Gold Glove finalists were announced yesterday and the Orioles suffered another shutout.
Third baseman Ramón Urías was the last Orioles winner in 2022, which ended a six-year drought. Eighteen different players have earned a total of 72 awards since its creation in 1957.
First baseman Ryan Mountcastle and left fielder Colton Cowser were American League finalists last year. Mountcastle was a repeat finalist but went 0-for-2.
Catcher Adley Rutschman and left fielder Austin Hays also were finalists in 2023. Center fielder Cedric Mullins was a finalist in 2022 and right fielder Anthony Santander in 2020.
