Monday, October 12

Welcome to another edition of the Orioles Beat newsletter, which will continue to land in inboxes throughout the offseason.

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles’ 2026 season has been over for more than a week, so there’s been plenty of time to digest what was another disappointing year for Baltimore.

With the O’s offseason underway, here are five questions facing the club.

1. Will Mike Elias hire a new general manager?
If this feels familiar, it’s because this was an exact question in this same exercise last October. The answer then was no, as Elias retained both of his titles: GM and president of baseball operations.

This time around, it feels more serious. Entering last offseason, Elias said he wanted to use the GM title as a potential tool to add to Baltimore’s front office. This year, he has made it abundantly clear that he wants to bring in new, fresh voices.

Additions are coming, whether it’s a person to serve as a GM or with a different title.

“That’s something that I’m working on right now,” Elias said on Sept. 28, “just in terms of overall staffing to the baseball operations department.”

2. Will Trevor Rogers return? If not, how will he be replaced?
Rogers has been the Orioles’ best starting pitcher over the past two seasons, recording a 3.16 ERA in 48 starts. Now, the 28-year-old left-hander is set to hit free agency for the first time.

There’s been mutual interest expressed publicly in Rogers returning to Baltimore, but that hasn’t led to an agreement. The southpaw could be a candidate to receive a qualifying offer, and while it feels likely the O’s will extend it to him, Rogers sounded interested in testing the free-agent market based on his comments after his last start of the season on Sept. 25.

“It’s going to be fun talking through that with teams,” Rogers said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

If Rogers leaves, the Orioles must fill his spot in a rotation that should be constructed around right-handers Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz and Brandon Young.

3. What happens to all these third basemen?

A potential logjam could be forming at the hot corner in Baltimore for 2027.

The Orioles are hopeful to get back Jordan Westburg, who missed all of this past season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May. The 27-year-old hasn’t played in a game since Sept. 28, 2025, but when he’s healthy, the former All-Star is one of the team’s best players.

“We don’t want to overly plan around him, just given that he’s still early in a Tommy John rehab,” Elias recently said.

That’s fair. But if Westburg is ready to go for Opening Day 2027 -- and assuming he’d play third base with Jackson Holliday still at second -- that would make it challenging to find spots for Coby Mayo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, two of the O’s best players in the second half of ‘26.

Mayo (24 home runs and a .759 OPS in 132 games) can play first, but Pete Alonso is the everyday starter there. Encarnacion-Strand (11 homers and an .838 OPS in 58 games) has less positional flexibility. 

As those in baseball often say, this is a “good problem to have.”

“I think it gives us really good depth at that position now,” Elias said. “And then, you’ve got Jordan coming back, hopefully you feel pretty good about our options at third.”

4. Could Blaze Alexander play more outfield than infield?

Here’s another guy capable of playing third base, though he won’t need to if the aforementioned trio stays healthy. Alexander can also start at second or shortstop, but those spots are manned by Holliday and Gunnar Henderson, respectively.

It feels like there could be more opportunity for Alexander in the outfield than in the infield in 2027. The 27-year-old utility man has made only 17 starts in the outfield during his three-year, 228-game MLB career -- nine in center, four in left and four in right -- but he has shown he’s athletic enough to play anywhere out there.

Perhaps Alexander becomes a primary outfielder next season, given Baltimore’s current roster construction. Regardless of where he plays defensively, the O’s will want his right-handed bat in the lineup as often as possible, as he hit .303 with a .772 OPS over 93 games during his first season with the club.

5. How does the back end of the bullpen shake out?

The Orioles have two relievers who are former All-Star closers -- right-handers Félix Bautista and Ryan Helsley. So, which one will close out games in 2027? And what happens to the other?

The favorite to be the closer remains Bautista, who returned from right shoulder surgery to make two lower-leverage appearances in late September. The 31-year-old hasn’t pitched much in recent years -- he missed all of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery and has made only 37 appearances over the past two seasons -- but he can be dominant when healthy.

Helsley signed a two-year, $28 million deal with Baltimore last offseason and then made only 17 appearances during an injury-plagued 2026 campaign, recording a 4.11 ERA and eight saves. The 32-year-old can opt out of his contract this offseason, but that feels unlikely to happen.

If both are healthy in 2027, Helsley could serve as the setup man for Bautista. And it wouldn’t be surprising if the O’s are in the market for another high-leverage arm or two.

On Monday, Alonso was named among the 20 finalists for the 2026 Hank Aaron Award (10 from the American League, 10 from the National League). The honor is awarded by MLB to the most outstanding regular-season offensive performer in each league.

Fans can cast their votes at MLB.com/Aaron until Monday at 11:59 a.m. ET.

The winners will be announced live from The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Nov. 11 at 9 p.m. ET during a presentation at the MLB Awards, which will air live on MLB Network.

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