Yesterday ranked as one of the busier days of the season, with multiple roster moves, president of baseball operations Mike Elias taking questions from media for close to 20 minutes, and Trey Mancini signing his one-day contract and retiring as an Oriole.

The emotions had more range than Mark Belanger. My patience at times is just as thin.

Some things we learned:

Elias and manager Craig Albernaz are back in 2027

As I stated yesterday, this seemed more like confirmation than breaking news, and especially with Albernaz. The Orioles didn’t hire him on a one-year trial basis. He isn’t Lum Harris with an interim tag or Phil Regan on … whatever he was on.

Actually, it was thin ice after he tried to change the relay and cutoff system in spring training. You lose Cal Ripken Jr., you lose the team.

Anyway, Elias and Albernaz were expected to return. Control owner David Rubenstein is quite vocal in his support of Elias, who’s squarely in Albernaz’s corner and will try to give him a better team in 2027.

That’s the most important task.

Only one closer joins the bullpen

The Orioles reinstated Félix Bautista from the 60-day injured list but shut down Ryan Helsley, which seemed like the inevitable outcome.

Helsley made one rehab appearance, on Sept. 12, and the inactivity suggested that his return from a second elbow injury would have to wait until 2027.

We’ll assume that Helsley is going to exercise his $14 million player option and try again in free agency next winter.

“Helsley was doing pretty well in his rehab,” Elias said. “With the calendar where we’re at, we got to the point where we had to kind of decide whether to push the envelope a little bit and compress his time between outings and ramp him up and get ready for the big league level. And taking a look at that, just taking everything into account, we decided that might not be the wisest play. So we’re gonna shut him down basically and conclude his season.

“He’s healthy. We want go gear him toward 2027 at this point, so we’ve made the decision to do that and he’s gonna begin his offseason.”

The reasons why the Orioles are on the outside of the playoff picture are plentiful, and Helsley’s multiple elbow injuries and 17 appearances rank among them. The ideal outcome was for Helsley to dominate and test the market again. Both sides win.

No one came out ahead.

Jackson Holliday’s return remains iffy

Holliday is with the team, slumped in a chair yesterday watching college football, but he’s still got some inflammation in his left wrist.

The Orioles are losing reasons to push for his return. There isn’t much to gain while sacrificing ground in the Wild Card race.

Asked whether Holliday will play in the final series, Elias said, “I don’t know.”

He probably has a hunch.

“I think it depends on where we are in the standings,” Elias said. “His wrist has been bothering him. He’s postseason-eligible if we bring him back before then, but I don’t know what decision we’re going to make there yet.”

This is one of the few times, perhaps the only time, that Elias referenced the playoffs. That’s a deviation from past media scrums.

Kjerstad didn’t get a trial run

Does that mean the jury’s still out on him? Or have the Orioles made a decision?

Kjerstad was recalled for the expanded roster on Sept. 1 and optioned yesterday. He didn’t play much, going 4-for-19 with nine strikeouts in 11 games. The second-overall pick in the 2020 draft got into the lineup four times.

The outfield alignment yesterday in another must-win game had Christian Franklin in left, Leody Taveras in center and Rece Hinds in right. Hinds misplayed a ball because he wasn’t wearing sunglasses and lost it in the sun, and the Orioles were beaten 1-0.

(There’s a hindsight joke in there somewhere.)

Franklin was reinstated from the injured list yesterday and he provides better defense and versatility. He’s also 5-for-37 with 12 strikeouts. Taveras is batting .218/.289/.342. Hinds is 5-for-20, which jumps off the page on a team that’s struggled to get much production from the outfield.

(That sounds like a story for another time.)

My initial assumption for Kjerstad’s limited exposure had to do with the team fighting for the last Wild Card and figuring the others, especially on the defensive side, offered a better chance to win in the organization’s eyes. But are we still there with the Orioles four back and only seven games remaining? And, not to pile on, but he probably makes that catch yesterday.

Kjerstad is out of options next season. It hasn’t worked out. We don’t know if his 40-man spot is secured.  

“It’s been kind of a difficult road for him and he’s missed a lot of time,” Elias said, “but he’s a very talented player and he’s got a really good bat, and right now we’ve decided on a little different roster mix with Franklin.

“Heston’s got a lot of talent and he’s still at the forefront of his career.”

We’ll find out later whether that’s with the Orioles.

Trevor Rogers is gonna get paid

Rogers is making $6.2 million, so he isn’t strapped for cash. But he’s a pending free agent and MLBTradeRumors.com put him third in its power rankings, with this notation at the end:

“A deal north of $100MM isn’t out of the question.”

Is he out of the Orioles’ price range?

They seem assured of making him a qualifying offer, which he can reject and allow the team to receive a compensatory draft pick if he signs elsewhere. He wants to stay. They should want to keep him. His agent may cringe, but it’s out there. Rogers has stated his desire to remain with the organization that rescued his career.

It’s gonna cost ‘em.

Rogers tallied his fifth career 10-plus strikeout game yesterday and second of the season after not doing it since Sept. 21, 2021. He allowed one run in eight innings and lost. Since the start of June, Rogers has permitted three earned runs or fewer in 16 of 19 starts.

He isn’t Tarik Skubal, but being Trevor Rogers is placing him among the most sought-after free agents in baseball. Good things are happening to good people.

Tyler O’Neill won’t be back in 2026

But there’s always 2027.

O’Neill was transferred to the 60-day injured list yesterday to create room on the 40-man roster. He made a diving, game-saving catch in right field and really took one for the team, straining his right rotator cuff.

O’Neill has one year left on his $49.5 million contract. He’s hit .206 with a .680 OPS in 139 games, with five trips to the IL.

He begins to get hot and, unfortunately, gets hurt. He leads the club with seven outfield assists and had a role in a right field platoon.

O’Neill’s role in 2027 is one of the more intriguing subjects whenever spring training starts.

Trey Mancini’s one-day contract didn’t get him in the lineup

We’re having fun here.

I joked that Mancini might be batting fifth yesterday and asked whether he read over his entire contract.

Get loose, just in case.

Mancini’s return, and what it meant to him and his family, provided one of the highlights in 2026. It was great to see him with wife Sara Perlman and baby daughter Sadie, who scores an 80 grade on the scouts’ adorable scale.

No one on the team or in the media could be prepared for Mancini’s Stage 3 colon cancer diagnosis in 2020, but he beat it and resumed his career. Assistant athletic trainer Pat Wesley stood in the back of the room yesterday, and Mancini pointed him out.

Former head athletic trainer Brian Ebel returned to Camden Yards yesterday. He also was part of the group that tagged an issue with Mancini’s blood work in spring training, which explained the first baseman/outfielder’s fatigue during workouts.

Mancini has said many times that the Orioles saved his life.

He played back the many highs and lows in his mind yesterday, saying it was “some of the best and worst moments of my life.”

“You know,” Mancini continued, “I always say it and I’ll never stop saying it, I owe my life to those guys.”

Mancini met Perlman here nine years ago, forging a friendship that led to dating, marriage and parenthood.

“It’s just so amazing to come back to be where everything started,” he said. “and I owe my life as I know it to this city and this franchise.”

Not your typical one-day contract.