Wrapping up the Orioles' stay at the Winter Meetings

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The flurry of blockbuster moves and signings at the Winter Meetings further illustrated the importance of stockpiling prospects in the farm system, of having so much young depth that a team can fill holes in its roster at minimum cost or create a package that brings in a superstar.

Former Orioles executive Andy MacPhail had that vision. Current executive vice president Dan Duquette is 20-20 with it, as well.

The Orioles never were going to come home this week with Chris Sale or Adam Eaton. Check what the Red Sox and Nationals gave up, respectively, in those deals and tell me how the Orioles could have matched up.

You want to raid the major league roster and hand over Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy, Jonathan Schoop? A healthy Hunter Harvey would have been a good starting point in discussions, but he's recovering from ligament-reconstructive surgery on his right elbow and probably won't pitch again until late in the 2017 season, with the Arizona Fall League the ultimate goal.

Teams want catcher Chance Sisco, but he's the eventual successor to Matt Wieters. And you'd still need multiple top pitching prospects thrown into a deal.

The Orioles have four potential free agents in their rotation for next season, with the club holding an option on Yovani Gallardo. They're going to need replacements unless they're really going to think outside the box and go with a 10-man bullpen.

How quickly can Cody Sedlock and Keegan Akin rise through the system? You'll probably find them at low Single-A Delmarva next summer. And can left-hander Chris Lee get healthy? It's a real problem if you find him on the disabled list again next summer.

Taking two outfielders in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft won't impact Duquette's stated goals. He still wants a right fielder. Still wants a left-handed bat. And of course, the search continues for a veteran catcher and pitching depth.

"We're still looking to add to our outfield, obviously," Duquette said. "These are young players that should add to the overall depth of the organization. (Aneury) Tavarez has very good speed, which is additive. And excellent on-base capability. They both have good on-base capabilities. But we're going to continue to look for outfield and also catching."

Duquette described Anthony Santander as the best hitter in the Carolina League and the statistics don't contradict him. Santander batted .290/.368/.494 with 42 doubles, 20 home runs and 95 RBIs in 128 games at Single-A Lynchburg and he's a career .271/.343/.449 hitter in five minor league seasons. But the Indians didn't put him on their 40-man roster and I've been told that he currently projects more as a designated hitter, which further reduces the odds that he breaks camp with the Orioles.

Not that he was a prohibitive favorite to begin with, considering the leap from Single-A and how he's recovering from right shoulder surgery, but the Orioles may as well take a look at him.

"Santander, his best tool is his bat," Duquette said, "but based on the looks that we had of him, he covers the ground in the outfield and it looks like he has a good bat to play left field."

The cost of selecting a Rule 5 pick rose from $50,000 to $100,000 and no one at the Winter Meetings could adequately explain to me the motivation behind the increase. The Orioles can get half of their money back if they don't keep Santander or Tavarez.

(I was guilty of so many Twitter typos during the draft, I'm fairly certain that I called Tavarez "Aneurism" and the other pick "Salamander" or "Sandwich Maker")

The Orioles didn't lose anyone in the major league or minor league phases of the draft. They get to keep pitchers Stefan Crichton and Jimmy Yacabonis and catchers Audry Perez and Austin Wynns, who were left unprotected.

"It's good when you keep your players on your rosters," Duquette said. "Our staff works very hard in evaluating the talent so that we can keep the talent that we sign at the amateur level and continue to develop it. I think it's good that we made the right decisions to protect players and also to leave players off the roster. We still have all the players in our organization that we started with. And we added a couple."

The mission now, of course, is to add impact players to the 25-man roster before opening day. Continue talks that may have started last month at the general managers meetings, hope to find matches with clubs or agents who currently are asking for more than the Orioles are willing or able to give.

"We've met with several clubs," Duquette said. "We met with clubs this morning and we laid groundwork for some potential deals that we can follow up on. It's kind of a process It's a little bit of a puzzle and the deals that you don't make help you put the pieces together for the deals that you do make."

It requires a lot of patience. From everyone.

"We work at building our team year-round," Duquette said. "We're trying to build our team so that we're good in October, but we have to work at it on a year-round basis.

"I'm happy that we added two good young players today and we're going to continue to add to our club. The good news is we have a veteran club. We have a lot of good players back from last year from a team that made the playoffs, so we have all the core players back. We need to add to the outfield, obviously, and address the catching, but the pitching staff, the lineup, the infield defense, that's all intact. That's strong. And the bullpen is still a strength."

Division rivals keep flexing their muscles. The Red Sox traded for Sale and got first baseman Mitch Moreland at the bargain price of $5.5 million, and the Yankees signed Aroldis Chapman to a record deal for a closer and Matt Holliday to serve as their designated hitter.

Does Duquette allow himself to get discouraged? Not if he's judged by the laugh that accompanied his response. Maybe it happens in private. Check for holes the size of his fist in the drywall.

"We're the Orioles and we have a certain way of building our team and doing things and we have to be very resourceful to compete against the behemoths in the AL East. And we've effectively done that for a couple of years," Duquette said.

"We're going to compete and we're going to try to do it again next year."