Friday, October 10

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

How will the Orioles bounce back from a difficult 2025 season -- one marred by injuries that featured the dismissal of manager Brandon Hyde and ended with a 75-87 record -- and immediately return to postseason contention in ‘26?

That’s the overarching question that will impact every decision Baltimore makes this winter.

Here are five more specific questions facing the O’s early in their offseason.

Who will be the manager?

The first decision the Orioles need to make is who to hire as manager. Tony Mansolino (who went 60-59 as the interim skipper this year) is expected to be under consideration, but president of baseball operations Mike Elias is exploring all options -- including potential candidates with a bit more managerial tenure.

“Experience is usually -- overwhelmingly usually -- a big positive. In our particular situation, I think it’ll definitely carry a lot of weight,” Elias said. “It is not a requisite for managerial success, and it's not necessary, nor does it guarantee success. It’ll all be weighed in the portfolio of the candidate and their other perceived strengths and areas of lacking. 

“We'll just look at the whole picture and the person and try to decide who's best for us right now. But experience will definitely be an attractive feature by and large."

Will Elias hire a general manager?

Elias is technically carrying two titles at the moment: POBO and GM. But the 42-year-old -- who came to Baltimore in November 2018 and was promoted earlier this year -- is in the market for a front-office addition, potentially somebody who can serve underneath him as GM.

“We have room to grow, and we're also very interested in outside perspectives and outside talent,” Elias said. “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.”

How much pitching needs to be added?

Teams can never add too much pitching. The Orioles remembered that the hard way in 2025, when 16 hurlers spent time on the injured list.

Baltimore could use another frontline starter to group with right-hander Kyle Bradish and left-hander Trevor Rogers near the top of the rotation. But the O’s also need additional depth, with righties Zach Eflin and Tomoyuki Sugano becoming free agents.

Meanwhile, the Orioles need to almost completely reconstruct their bullpen, an area of the roster depleted by the club’s July Trade Deadline sell-off. They’ll also need a closer, as Félix Bautista will miss most (if not all) of the 2026 season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn right rotator cuff and a torn labrum in August.

Who will be the center fielder?

The O’s moved longtime center fielder Cedric Mullins in a Trade Deadline deal, sending the 31-year-old to the Mets. For the final two months of the season, the starting job in center mostly belonged to Colton Cowser, though Baltimore prefers to play the 25-year-old in a corner.

At this time, Cowser is the leading internal choice to start in center in 2026. Enrique Bradfield Jr. (the Orioles’ No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline) reached Triple-A Norfolk this year and played 15 games at the level, but the 23-year-old is unlikely to be an option for the big league club until the second half of next season at the earliest.

It would make sense for Baltimore to acquire a veteran center fielder (ideally one who bats right-handed to balance its lineup), but the options on the free-agent market are limited. It could be a hole the O’s look to fill via trade.

What is Ryan Mountcastle’s future?

After playing his first six MLB seasons in Baltimore, Mountcastle could be on the move for the first time this offseason. The 28-year-old is entering his final year of arbitration, so he’s under team control for the 2026 campaign.

However, Mountcastle appears to likely be the odd man out in a logjam at first base, which should feature a platoon of right-handed-hitting Coby Mayo and lefty-hitting catcher Samuel Basallo (the Orioles’ No. 1 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 7 overall) next season.

Perhaps Mountcastle is used as a trade chip early in the offseason. But if the O’s are unsuccessful in finding a partner, Mountcastle could become a non-tender candidate.

Five days after the end of the World Series at 5 p.m. ET: Free agency begins

Nov. 10-13: General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas

TBA in mid-November: Qualifying offer deadline

Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. ET: Non-tender deadline

Dec. 7-10: Winter Meetings in Orlando featuring Draft lottery and Rule 5 Draft

“Managing under the interim tag will be the hardest thing I do in my career, in a lot of ways. In a sense, it is your team, especially after the Trade Deadline and all the guys that came in. It did start to feel like my team at that point. Up until the Trade Deadline, with the players that were here under the previous leader, it didn’t in a lot of ways, and I think that’s fair. ... There’s things that you’re going to do under the interim tag, you’re going to come in and make some changes, turn the dials. And there’s things you have to leave alone, just because if you turn all the dials that you want to turn, it’s going to upset the room and it’s going to change the culture in a lot of ways, and maybe in some ways that you don’t want. Huge challenge in a lot of ways. Thankful I got to do it.” -- Mansolino, on his run as interim manager

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