As we’ve learned through years and years of testing and experimentation, you can’t have an offseason mailbag without an offseason. It’s literally in the name.
Let’s break out the first one here, the latest sequel to the beloved and often celebrated 2008 original.
As you’d expect, many of the questions pertained to the pending managerial and GM hirings and specifics about the roster. And as you’d expect, I can’t provide many definitive answers because it’s too early or the club hasn’t shared the necessary information.
It’s hard to see clearly in the dark.
What’s much more obvious is that my mailbag sacks quarterbacks and your mailbag wants its quarter back after tipping a waiter.
Who are your ideal pitchers that could realistically join our rotation next season? I just realized Zack Littell is also a free agent and he was rock solid with the Rays for the last three seasons with a 3 ERA in each season. Could he be a solid choice?
Littell would be solid. He’d be fine. But let him be “the other guy” acquired over the winter. The list of free agents also includes Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen and Framber Valdez – the first two coming off down years and the other developing a reputation for being a pain in the butt. USA Today reported that one team crossed him off its list of free agents after he was accused of intentionally crossing up his catcher and drilling him in the chest. Michael King, Shane Bieber and Ranger Suárez also will hit the market, and Brandon Woodruff is a No. 1 if healthy. A big ol’ “if.” A trade still seems like the best way to bring in a No. 1 or 2 starter after the Orioles deepened the farm system via the draft and deadline moves.
Any minor league signings? They tend to go unnoticed.
Maybe I just didn’t notice them. Wait, the Orioles brought back infielder José Barrero. They announced it yesterday. The Orioles signed him on July 2 after he appeared in 22 games with the Cardinals, and he batted .190 with a .605 OPS in 53 games with Triple-A Norfolk.
Got any projected arbitration figures that you can share?
I do, I do. MLBTradeRumors.com used its model to come up with the following: Ryan Mountcastle: $7.8 million; Keegan Akin: $3 million; Dylan Carlson: $1.5 million; Trevor Rogers: $6 million; Tyler Wells: $2.7 million; José Castillo: $1.7 million; Dean Kremer: $5.1 million; Adley Rutschman: $6.8 million; Félix Bautista: $2.1 million; Kyle Bradish: $2.8 million; Yennier Cano: $1.8 million; Gunnar Henderson: $6.6 million; Alex Jackson: $1.8 million; Albert Suárez: $900,000. Remember when that amount for Rogers seemed absurd? He made $2.6 million this season.
How likely is it that Heston Kjerstad is on the Opening Day roster? I wish the best for his health, but he absolutely can't be part of our future plans.
He can be as long as he’s in the organization. He turns 27 in February. He’s got time. But the Orioles can’t make the same assumptions about him as they did last spring, when he was given a long runway and his Grapefruit League numbers didn’t seem to matter. They aren’t sharing much information about his health. I asked Mike Elias about Kjerstad at the season-ending press conference and he said, "Heston has been working with our doctors and other doctors on a medical condition. He's responded favorably to some treatment and some different treatments that they've done recently and he's in a good spot right now and pointed in the right direction. We're going to see him in spring training and I'm really looking forward to that, because we missed the real Heston Kjerstad this year.” Perhaps Kjerstad will be comfortable enough to reveal more in Sarasota.
Will Elias hire a GM before he makes any roster decisions?
Besides Barrero? Elias is in more of a rush to hire a manager. The same urgency isn’t attached to a GM. “It's got to be the right person, the right fit, for the Orioles, for the org, for the whole situation, and it may not happen imminently, but that is a pathway that's available to us and it's something that we may be interested in doing,” Elias said. “It may be this offseason, it may not be.” Later, Eliais said, “That's not something I'm going to force on a certain timetable, and it's going to have to be right.” So roster decisions are likely to come ahead of a new GM.
If you could have a bobblehead day, how would you want to be depicted?
Standing in the middle of an empty clubhouse and staring at my phone.
Are the Orioles more likely to seek a manager outside of the organization or do you think they will keep it in-house?
If I’m making predictions, I say that it’s an outside hire because they want more experience. Tony Mansolino is the only one who’s done this, on an interim basis for 119 games. But he’s a real candidate. Let me quote Elias again: “That process is going to include him and he will be a real candidate.” See?
What is your percentage guess that the Orioles bring back Cedric Mullins or Ryan O'Hearn?
I won’t say zero because there’s always a chance. So, five percent. O’Hearn would help in the leadership department and the Orioles like the bat, but Samuel Basallo also hits from the left side. He’s going to play a lot of first base, along with Coby Mayo. Mullins struggled with the Mets, batting .182/.284/.281, but the Orioles love the glove and maybe they’d consider him as a fill-in until, say, Enrique Bradfield Jr. is ready. Yeah, five percent.
Does Jeremiah Jackson understand why people call Jeremiah a bullfrog and get the lyrical reference?
I’ll add it to my list of spring training questions. Jackson was born in 2000. The Three Dog Night song “Joy to the World” was released in 1970. But maybe he’s had enough people say it that he’s in the know.
How many catchers between six and 23 will sign this offseason and get invited to spring training?
The 40-man roster holds five catchers, but Gary Sánchez will disappear after the World Series. Silas Ardoin and Jakson Reetz are on Norfolk’s roster. Creed Willems is on Double-A Chesapeake’s roster, along with Ethan Anderson and Adam Retzbach. David Bañuelos elected free agency yesterday (along with infielder Emmanuel Rivera.) And I just realized that you were making a joke. OK, carry on.
How high is David Rubenstein willing to take the team’s payroll? Will there continue to be limitations on how much they spend?
A budget isn’t shared with the public. We’re just told that ownership is supportive. The payroll will increase. But we’re also reminded that the Orioles will spend responsibly and avoid handcuffing the franchise down the road. They will spend but must do it smartly. More Elias: “I’m extremely impressed with this ownership group, the people that are in it, the way that it’s set up, the wherewithal financially but also business acumen that they have. … I’ve seen a lot of high-performing, well-regarded ownership groups, and this group has a chance to be very elite and impactful for Baltimore. So I’m excited about it. It’s a plus, and they’re going to make available everything that we need to responsibly invest in the team and the baseball operation and the stadium and the facilities. You don’t want to be wasteful and you don’t do it for its own sake, but these guys are a huge positive for us and I’m very blessed to have that behind me.”
How many different stadiums have you covered a game in?
Unlike some colleagues, I don’t bother to keep a running tally. I’ve been to every current stadium, not counting Sacramento, but I attended a game at Dodger Stadium as a fan back when Fernando Valenzuela was pitching. I’ve covered games at ballparks that don’t exist anymore. The Rangers have one built every couple of years, so it’s hard to keep up.
Why can’t the Orioles draft a pitcher in the first round like this Trey Yesavage kid?
He’s no loner eligible for the draft.
Why can’t the Orioles draft a pitcher …
They haven’t had a pitcher rated that highly on their board. They zero in on position players early but also insist that they’re taking the best available. They selected a pitcher this year at 58, the earliest in the Elias era, and 69 overall.
We have no idea how much better things might look for the 2026 O’s at the end of the offseason, but … any guesses/hunches?
It’s gonna look a lot better on paper because they’ll be healthier with the exception of Félix Bautista, unless they’re hit with some unexpected injuries again, like Trevor Rogers’ knee, Gunnar Henderson’s intercostal and Samuel Basallo’s elbow. I’m expecting an impact starter to join the rotation. The pressure to bounce back from a last-place finish could make the Orioles more aggressive this winter. We’ll see.
Do you know anything about the new development thingy they're building at Ed Smith Stadium and how they'll use it?
I appreciate you using the technical term “thingy,” but it might confuse some readers. Try to dumb it down a little. The $21 million player development facility will feature modernized labs for both hitters and pitchers, office space, conference rooms and locker rooms. The Orioles can better use the motion capture technology and other tools to collect and analyze biomechanical data. Everything will be indoors to combat the temperamental Florida weather.
Are you considered a celebrity?
Famous Light, as my wife calls it. For every one person who might recognize me, there are a whole bunch of others who don’t.
What priority should be the offseason acquisitions? I think closer should only be acquired once the lineup and starting pitching have been solidified.
A team should jump at whatever opportunities come up rather than numbering them from most to least important. Closer may not seem as important as starting pitching, which for me is No. 1, but you don’t overlook an orchid while searching for a rose, if I may quote Buck Showalter.
Is the team considering a drastic change to its organizational hitting approach?
The Orioles will consider making changes. Drastic is open to interpretation. I wouldn’t expect the approach to suddenly become unrecognizable compared to past years with Elias in charge. I’ve heard rumblings about the team wanting to be a little less dependent on analytics, but that doesn’t mean going back to previous regimes. Here’s more from Elias: “I think all of us in the org, there’s a lot of soul searching and looking in the mirror individually what could each of us have done better to get a better result for the team. … We’ve talked about it. We’re formulating plans.” And this: “You’ve got to adapt and evolve in this business. The competition is always changing. The landscape is always changing. That applies to players, that applies to front offices, that applies to player development people, coaches. We’re certainly weighing that and addressing it. Are we going to do things exactly the same way next year? Absolutely not.”
If we add a veteran outfielder (like you think we must), who sits every day? Why do you think Elias will design the 2026 offense so that there are two free agent veterans in the outfield and either Dylan Beavers or Colton Cowser is on the bench?
Did I say that? I think they want to add a bat and outfield is the logical spot. Where else? One player won’t sit every day. You move guys around. You use the designated hitter spot. More rest for Tyler O’Neill probably isn’t a bad idea given his injury history. And guys with options could be sent down if they start slow.
Will the new general manager be able to hire the Orioles’ manager, or does that fall under the president of baseball operations?
Going back to this one, I don’t think the GM will be hired in time. Elias and others in the organization will select the manager. Elias mentioned president of business operations Catie Griggs as having input. "You have a real integrated and well-functioning organization, business and baseball, there's a lot of overlap and a lot of cooperation that happens,” Elias said. “There's a lot of interaction with the managers chair, and also, she wants the team to win and be successful and she's had experience in baseball and worked for Seattle and is very bright and has a lot of good judgment on hiring. So we're tapping into that resource.”
What will the new GM's job duties be, since they don't include hiring a manager?
Elias said it “very much depends on who it is.” Again, let’s give him the floor: “I think what's very clear to me is there's a lot of work in baseball operations now running these departments on a day to day basis. It's a ton of work. We have a relatively small baseball operations department still, and we have room to grow and we're also very interested in outside perspectives and outside talent. So that can come in different profiles and backgrounds and job duties and it's something that I think we would tailor depending on who the person is. But there's certainly room for more high-level contributions to our department. We want people that can help us. We also want people that can challenge us in a lot of areas, especially after you come off of a year where the organization didn't meet its goals.”
Tomoyuki Sugano, Zach Eflin, either worth bringing back? Does Eflin pitch in 2026 after back surgery in August?
Eflin could miss the beginning of the season with a four-to-eight month recovery period, if he falls in the latter range. He’d be a nice depth move at the right price, which is quite a change from Opening Day starter in 2025. I don’t think it happens. And I’m not expecting Sugano to return, either. Not impossible but also not likely.
Will Tyler Wells, Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez be on innings limits in 2026?
We’ll know more after camp opens, but Wells and Bradish shouldn’t need special treatment after they returned this summer. Nothing out of the ordinary. Let’s see how Rodriguez is after his debridement procedure. He hasn’t pitched since July 31, 2024 and was shut down after his exhibition start in Fort Myers. The team might need to start slower with him.
Any chance Bobby Dickerson will get an interview to manage the Orioles?
That’s a name we haven’t heard. To say “yes” or “no” at this point would just be speculation. He’s never managed in the majors. I don’t see him making the jump from Phillies infield coach to Orioles manager. He wasn’t kept around after Buck Showalter’s firing. He’s an exceptional infield coach, by the way. Ask Manny Machado and many others. He might be a terrific manager. I just don’t see it happening in Baltimore. My speculation.
Does the warehouse have one long hallway that runs from end to end? And if so, could you throwing bowling ball from one end to the other without hitting either wall?
I’m not sure about the bowling ball, but studies have shown that the Ravens couldn’t carry a football without fumbling it. And this is probably a good place to stop.
When the new GM is in place, will your corresponding story run seven months later?
This is definitely a good place to stop.