The annual MLB Winter Meetings came and went with a little less action than many thought around the baseball world.
With the immense anticipation of where two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will sign, along with Japanese pitching phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto, this year’s meetings were highlighted by just one big move.
The New York Yankees made the biggest splash during the week-long festivities, acquiring outfielders Juan Soto and Trent Grisham from the San Diego Padres. They also acquired outfielder Alex Verdugo from the rival Boston Red Sox, something very rare between the two organizations.
However, it was the Baltimore Orioles who made the first major move of the meetings, signing veteran closer Craig Kimbrel to a one-year, $13 million deal with a club option for 2025. But what exactly did we learn about the Orioles from the meetings?
Let’s review how the Orioles proved to be a differently-ran organization than in the previous years under executive vice president and GM Mike Elias.
1. The O’s acted first
Though this will be evaluated more after the 2024 season, the Orioles made the first major signing, contract wise, of the meetings.
Agreeing to terms with Craig Kimbrel on a one-year deal with a club option, the Orioles proved not to be shy after the last few Winter Meetings.
Kimbrel, who will be 36 next May, is a future Hall of Famer, who currently ranks eighth (417 saves) on the all-time saves list and second for active players (Kenley Jansen, 420), slots in as the 2024 closer with Félix Bautista out recovering from Tommy John surgery.
2. Mike Elias is doing his due diligence
Almost immediately, the Orioles became the darlings of the meetings. With names such as Josh Hader, Robert Stephenson, Aroldis Chapman and Kimbrel being mentioned and nearly every starting pitcher tied to the Orioles’ name, GM Mike Elias is doing his due diligence in any move he has made or will make.
Once again, the Chicago White Sox were mentioned as a trade partner and though the Orioles can pretty much win any trade they desire, Elias is not just going to throw top prospects away for a player just because the name has been tied to the Birds.
Proof being that as the talks with the White Sox continued, it is now believed that Chicago will wait for Yoshinobu Yamamoto to sign to see what suitors are still standing. Elias easily could have nailed this trade shut, but he isn’t about to give up top talent for just anyone.
Elias is not going to just throw money at players either just to fill a hole in the team. While the Orioles could have paid $20 million a year for a Hader type arm, they found a solution for a fraction of the price, who will benefit from a stronger defense and the new dimensions of Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Elias is not in the game of filling just to fill, he is trying to calculate the pieces the organization needs, as well as fill the holes with players who make sense without overpaying or reaching just because he can.
3. The Rule 5 streak is over
The Rule 5 Draft has been good for the Orioles. They have selected such stalwarts as Paul Blair, Elrod Hendricks, Jay Gibbons, Ryan Flaherty, Tyler Wells and Anthony Santander over the years.
The Orioles went 17 seasons with at least one selection in the major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft. In need of pitching, there is little wiggle room to bring on a project this year for the Birds.
With Mike Baumann, Cionel Pérez, Cole Irvin, Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb out of options, and Yennier Canó cementing his place as the team’s set-up man, the Orioles do not have the fortune of seeing if a player can possibly develop at the big league level.
The organization did select right-hander Nelvis Ochoa in the Triple-A phase, but the streak of selecting a player in the big league phase has officially ended.
4. The Orioles are in a different place
When GM Mike Elias arrived in Baltimore, he assured Birdland that this rebuild would be a long and painful process. After enduring a stretch of 100-loss seasons in between a shortened 2020 season, Baltimore was not a place where free agents were flocking to.
After competing for the playoffs in 2022 and winning the AL East with 101 wins last season, the Orioles’ young and exciting nucleus of players is attracting the eyes of players who are looking to reach and compete in the postseason.
Young corner stones Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson have taken the league by storm and provided fans and major leaguers alike an exciting and never-say-die style of baseball that should make them contenders for years to come.
With future stars in Jackson Holliday and Samuel Basallo rising through the minor league system and Grayson Rodriguez and Jordan Westburg leaving their marks already, the Orioles offer an opportunity for star players that most clubs can’t.
What once was a place where plan b and c free agents could try to earn their next big deal, is now a place where if the Orioles call, players and agents are going to listen. It’s been a while since the Orioles were this exciting and had the kind of opportunity players look for when trying to chase that World Series dream.
5. Elias is trying to get extensions done for key players
Scott Boras is easily the biggest agent in baseball and manipulator of contracts. As good as he is for most of his players, he also has a penchant of trying to maximize free agency by keeping his clients holding out.
That being said, it was rather eye-opening when Boras admitted that the Orioles call once or twice a day to try and work on contract extensions for young stars Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday.
Now, we’re not sure if Adley Rutschman applies to this (he has a different agent). But what this shows is the willingness for the Orioles to try and hold on to cornerstone building blocks.
Many fans thought that John Angelos was the one who would hold this back, but it now appears to be the other way around. Whether news of the Angelos family considering a sale has anything to do with this or not, it’s great to see that Boras openly admitted that the O’s do reach out and have tried to have these discussions.
Whether this ends up happening or Boras plays his usual games and keeps his players from signing is something that Birdland will be paying close attention to.
While the Winter Meetings offer opportunities for teams and players to meet and GMs to feel out the trade market, they can gauge where teams are in the sense of competing and taking the next step towards being a contender.
For the Orioles, the meetings showed where the Orioles are headed and how Mike Elias is approaching the team now that the rebuild is over. What happens next is all from the foundation laid at the meetings. The next step is finishing the house that sits on this foundation.
What do you think of the O’s approach during the Winter Meetings? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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