Orioles Winter Meetings Rumors: Pete Alonso, Nick Pivetta, Brenton Doyle

Orioles Winter Meetings Rumors: Pete Alonso, Nick Pivetta, Brenton Doyle

No big moves quite yet at the winter meetings, but plenty of rumors are swirling, and we’ll get to them coming up on this episode of the Locked On Orioles podcast. [Music] You are Locked on Orioles, your daily Baltimore Orioles podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hey there Orioles fans. Today is Monday, December 8th, 2025 and welcome back in to the Locked on Orioles podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. As always, I’m your host Connor Nukem and coming up on today’s live episode of the Lockdown Orioles podcast. If you’re watching here on the Lockdown Orioles YouTube page, we’re going to talk about despite, you know, nothing happening yet at winter meetings day one. We’ll discuss the Orioles being involved in a lot of rumors so far on this first day, touching on Pete Alonzo and Kyle Schwarber. We’ll talk about some players who the O’s should certainly be interested in, like Brentton Doyle and Nick Paveta, who it’s been reported today that they might be on the trade block. Talk about a couple of waiver claims the Orioles made late last week and what they could bring to the O’s. Finally, a mailbag segment at the end of the show. So, make sure you put your Orioles questions right here in the chat as you’re watching live on YouTube, and I will get to them in the final segment. But that is all coming up on this episode of the Locked Orioles podcast, which is brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. So, thank you to everyone who is in here live with us on the Locked on Orioles YouTube channel. Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe while you are here. Trying to get to 10,000 subscribers before the new year. If we do, we’ll have a fun giveaway here for subscribers only. We’ll talk about uh some other exciting podcast news coming up in a little bit on today’s episode. But first, this is kind of the plan for this week, at least for Monday through Wednesday. And then Thursday is going to be kind of TBD of doing a live episode around 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on each day of the winter meetings. They kind of started today, day one in Orlando, Florida. All the baseball executives, a lot of the baseball media convening down there for the winter meetings. And this is generally when the most action of the off season happens. All the GMs, all the front office people, all the media and and a chunk of the players as well are all together in one place. makes it even easier to wheel and deal with agents and other teams, and you eventually get a lot of moves being made. Now, 8:00 p.m. on Monday, no moves yet. Generally, day one is a little bit slower as everybody kind of gets into Orlando. There might be more moves into the night. Knowing my luck, I’ll sign off here at about 8:30 and immediately an Orioles news will break, but we’ll have plenty of time to get back on here and talk about what that could be instead. The rumor mill generally heats up before these moves happen as everybody kind of convenes on the winter meetings. And that is where I want to start today’s episode. Just kind of go around the league because there really weren’t a lot of signings even at all today, right? Like it’s not like it’s just, oh, the Orioles haven’t done anything. It’s it’s mostly that no one’s done anything. I mean, the Diamondbacks signed Mike Soka to a one-year deal to be a starting pitcher. That was probably the biggest move that’s been made so far today at day one of the winter meetings. It’s been a lot of rumors. So, let’s begin with an interesting trade piece the Orioles could potentially go after. That is Nick Paveta. As Dennis Lynn of the Athletic reported on Monday that the Padres’s are reportedly willing to trade Nick Paveta. He’s going to make $19 million this year. And the Padres’s are in a tough spot where they need to shave some payroll. Now, Paveeta does have an opt out after the 2026 season. So, he could be theoretically a rental if he pitches well enough. He can opt in. That would add another two years and $32 million on his contract to take him through the 2028 season. But if he pitches anywhere close to as well as he did in 2025, he’s going to opt out. And if you’re trading for him, you’re hoping he pitches well. So you’re probably treating him as a rental. Now Paveta is 32. He’ll be 33 in February. And he’s coming off his best season ever. 31 starts with the Padres’s this year, 181 and two/3s innings. That was a careerhigh. 2.87 RA and a 3.49 49 fif were both career lows for Nick Paveta. Overall, the stuff was a little bit down, but it’s still a four seam fast ball with really good ride. It’s one of the best four seam fast balls that plays at the top of the zone. Gets a ton of pop-ups, lazy fly balls, swings and misses, good curve ball, and a good sweeper to go with it. And he tried adding a splitter to his repertoire late in the season as well, which could give him another weapon moving forward. Now, Paveet was a guy who bounced around as both a starter and a reliever with the Phillies and then the Red Sox. the Orioles faced him a good chunk of times uh when he was in the division and he he was always a pitcher with good stuff but always had a serious home run problem. That was that that was really the issue for Paveta. I always thought like there was another thing for him to unlock and then all of a sudden he would get himself in a little mini jam and instead of giving up a base hit for one run, it was generally a three-run homer and things would sometimes start to melt down from there. But he came to San Diego and that home run problem kind of went away. Now some of that is because Philly and Boston, his last two places, very much hitter friendly ballparks. San Diego a much more pitcher friendly ballpark. So that could be the big change there. Just pitching in a different place for half of his season. But when your RA goes down by that much, I mean, he was sitting in the low fours for most of his career. You got to think it’s more tweaks than just that. And I was really in on Nick Paveta last off seasonason when he hit free agency before he signed with the Padres’s. I actually put him I didn’t rank Corbin Burns because I was like, “Yes, of course Corbin Burns is the number one target.” But among right-handed starters, I put Nick Paveta number two behind Corbin Burns among the free agents last year and he probably outperformed the rest of them at least in year one. Now with him heading to 33, I’m not sure if Paveeta is your best starting pitching addition of the offseason. I’m not sure if that’s good enough. He’s a guy who’s kind of teetering on the brink, but probably I I wouldn’t consider good enough to be number one. But if he’s your second best starting pitcher addition, like throw out some of the guys I talked about last week like the Mel Kelly’s and you know the Chris Bassets of the world. If Paveta is your second guy because you add, you know, a Ranger Suarez on top of him, that’s a fantastic second starting pitching addition. If the Orioles can go and get that and say, “Hey, Padres’s like we’ll take on all of those n that 19 million. we’ll give you a couple prospects and we will get him. Now, it’s going to be tough because the Padres’s want to shave payroll, but they also need starting pitchers and they’re a team that’s still planning to compete in 2026. They have too expensive and talented of a roster. They’re not tearing it down, but they’re in kind of a weird spot. And Pavet is kind of an easy guy to shed payroll. It’s just that how do they weigh how much they need him to be in the rotation versus how much they need to clear up those $19 million that he is owed? If they go the money way, I think the Orioles should certainly try and capitalize. Yeah, I I’d put him in, you know, that top six trades list I did back on Friday. I would probably remove Mackenzie Gore and at least throw Nick Paveta in that top six of guys the Orioles should be chasing. Also, another uh report from The Athletic, the Mets are quote reluctant to give out long-term deals to free agent starting pitchers this winter. Now, I bet the Orioles probably are, too, cuz generally long-term deals to pitchers aren’t good business. But Mike Elias did say they’ve offered a lot of them. That’s what he said today at the winter meetings and said they’re going to continue to do that. But that could maybe take the Mets out of the running of it. It seemed like the Mets have been big on Framber Valdez. Maybe that takes them out of that writing. Definitely in on Tatsuya. Maybe that knocks them down a peg right there. And even if the Orioles are willing to just give out one long-term contract, they could be in a good spot here. Andy Kuska of the Baltimore Banner on Monday reported the Orioles are showing interest in all four of the big free agent starting pitchers. That’s Michael King and Imi and Suarez and Valdez. Everything and you know the things Mike Elias continued to say here on Monday. Everything just feels like the O’s are going to sign one of these guys. But it’s not just pitching. And that was another good thing that Elias said to the media on Monday. He said they they feel they have plenty of room in the budget to not just sign a big time starting pitcher, but a big time hitter if they’d like to as well. He had a lot of kind of non Eliaslike quotes where he talked about, you know, to paraphrase him, that, hey, we’re not we’re trying to add a bat. We’re trying to to make our lineup better because it was not good in 2025. And we’re not as concerned about what position that bat plays. We’re more so looking for someone who’s going to make our lineup better and be a good bat. And we’ll figure out a way to fit him into the lineup defensively or at DH once we get him if we want to target him. That’s not the way Mike Elias generally talks about free agents. And it makes me truly believe they’re in on these next two guys. The first one is Kyle Schwarber. We’ve already talked about this a little bit, but multiple reports continuing to come out this week. The Orioles are interested and in on Kyle Schwarber. Now, Ken Rosenthal did report today that the Pirates actually made Schwarber an offer of four years and at least a hundred billion dollars. Not very pirates like to do that. Now, they’re still reporting the Phillies certainly want Schwarber back, and I am still convinced he’s going to end up back in Philadelphia, but the other reporting has been the sides are not super close right now, Philly and Schwarber. And it would take a lot for the O’s to go and get Kyle Schwarber, but like, does he really want to play for Pittsburgh? We know the Reds are also in. That’s kind of Schwarber’s hometown team. I just if the O’s really, really wanted him, I think this would be the time to strike early and go and get him. And another guy in that category is Pete Lonzo. We already know the O’s had some reported interest. But John Haymon reported on Monday that Pete Alonzo, who actually lives in the area in Florida, is physically driving to Orlando for the winter meetings to meet with teams in person. And Haymon reported that he knows of at least two teams that Allonzo is meeting with, the Red Sox and the Orioles. So, how about that? Not only the Orioles interested, they’re getting a one-on-one in-person meeting with Alonzo sometime this week. Now, Haymon and Mike Puma at the New York Post and both reporting that the the Orioles and Red Sox are on Alonzo schedule. Again, you’d have to shuffle things around. You’d probably have to trade one over Mount Castle or Mayo to make Pete Alonzo work. But if they’re able to get a guy like that, just like Schwarber that’s going to just be a powerhouse in the middle of your lineup, I’m on board with what Michaela said today, like get the big time hitter, sign him, know he makes your lineup better, and then figure out the kind of positioning log jam after that. That is not the way the Orioles have operated since Elias took over. And again, nothing’s going to change until we actually see it happen this off seasonason. But all signs are pointing to something big happening. And all signs and everything everybody’s saying and not just Elias is saying, but that national reporters are reported and local reporters are reporting is that the Orioles are are acting differently this off seasonason. And that’s what you love to see when it went so poorly in 2025. You want them to do something different. One more potential trade piece that is out there is that the Denver Post reported on Monday that the Colorado Rockies reportedly could listen to offers on their outfielders, including center fielder Brenton Doyle, who the the report said was asked about a lot at the trade deadline, but of course they didn’t move him. And the Rockies are also looking for short-term first base help and controllable starting pitching. Would you do Ryan Mount Castle and Cade Povich for Brentton Doyle? Brentton Doyle, 27year-old right-handed hitting center fielder who plays absolutely elite defense in center field. He’s probably been the best center field defender in baseball. Maybe you could make a strong argument over the past two years. That’s how good he’s been. He’s not a free agent until after 2029. So you’d get, you know, what is that good math there, Connor? I believe that really good math is four years of team control you would get from Brenton Doyle and he’d be pretty cheap throughout those four years. He kind of had his breakout year in 2024. He was a four- war player. He was basically a league average hitter. Hit 260, 23 homers at Kors Field, but he was the best defensive center fielder in baseball by far. And he acrewed four war. He did not have the same season this year. He was almost as good defensively, was still elite, but his average dropped to 233. His strikeout rate went up, walk rate went down, power went down. He stole 12 less bases. He posted just a 65 W wrc plus as a hitter, making him 35% worse than league average this year. Now, he was kind of a strikeout guy before. He didn’t swing and miss or strike out really any more than he did in 2024. He just didn’t make nearly as much solid impact when he contacted the baseball this year as he did last year. So, not sure it’s something that can be fixed easily. Not sure something that, you know, the Rockies don’t do a great job of player development. the track record is the Orioles are much better at that. So you get a guy who’s still 27 into the system, you could probably make him even better and you have the baseline of an elite center fielder you can put out there every day and not have to worry about because there are questions about the Orioles outfield defense right now, right? Like I am a bigger believer than I used to be about Cowser defensively in center field. But if you’re putting, you know, on some days Taylor Ward and Tyler O’Neal around him in the outfield, you’re not going to run down a lot of balls in the gaps. Brettton Doyle would completely change that. would be definitely be an interesting guy for the Orioles to look at. But those are the rumors of the day so far. I’m sure they will continue to come on and hopefully, hey, maybe we’ll get some sort of move that happens while I’m live right here. That would be a fun way to continue this live episode. But we’re going to talk about some moves the Orioles did make. Not big time move, just kind of waiver claim moves that uh you know improve the depth of the team. We’ll talk about two of the newest Orioles from late last week. That’s coming up next. But first, this episode of the Locked Orioles podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. You think the Ravens have the lead and then the NFL decides you actually have to take five steps, be able to sit down, make yourself lunch, pour yourself a nice glass of lemonade, finish the meal, stand back up, clean off the plate, put everything in the dishwasher, run the dishwasher, let the dishwasher finish, then unload the dishwasher, and you have to maintain possession of the ball the entire time for it to be considered a touchdown. But either way, that’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. 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Now it’s time to take it up a level and go adree. Join the Everydayer Club today and get Locked on Orioles with no interruptions, membersonly Discord access, and more. All for just $5 per month or for a discount $50 per year. Go to lockedonorios.supcast.com. Again, that is locked onorios.supcast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more about the Everydayer Club. Fun stuff we got coming up here. Making moves here at the Locked On Orioles podcast. Speaking of moves, the Orioles did make a couple of much smaller ones last week than the ones we’re expecting to make here at the winter meeting. So, do want to talk about two players the Orioles brought in on waiverss last week. The first one is outfielder Will Robertson, who the Orioles claimed off waiverss from the Pittsburgh Pirates last week. He’s a 27year-old left-handed hitting outfielder who he will be 28 on December 26. So, happy early birthday to him, who’s now been DFA by the Pirates and the White Socks so far this off seasonason. Not a a banner list for you. Robertson, a former fourth round pick of the Blue Jays in 2019. He was DFAD by Toronto this July after he had debuted in the big leagues finally this year, played in three games and then was DFAD. But at that point, he had been crushing AAA. A 157 WRC plus in AAA Buffalo in 62 games at that point. And the data on him was outstanding. 49% hard hit rate, a 115 mph max exit velocity. Was running a 16% walk rate, 13% barrel rate, 25% pull air rate. These are all the numbers of like, you know, some of the top 10, 15 hitters in Major League Baseball is what they’re putting up. That’s what he was doing in AAA. But couldn’t cut it in the big leagues. The Blue Jays, as we know, had a lot of good position players this year, so he was claimed by the White Socks, and he was pretty good in AAA there, too. But the White Socks actually gave him his first chance in the majors, and it didn’t go so well. 27 games, 75 played appearances. He struck out 36% of the time, hit just 129. That was a negative 13 WRC plus. Now, it was still elite bat speed, great underlying data in AAA, but he’s already 27, about to be 28, and he’s unproven in the majors. He plays solid defense in the corner outfielder, not really a center fielder, but there are questions about the swing and miss in his game and and a lack of a hit tool. Now, he does have minor league options remaining, so the Orioles could keep him as depth. But I’m pretty certain the Orioles will DFA him at some point, probably relatively soon this off seasonason, and hope that they can sneak him through waiverss as the Pirates and White Sox try to do and keep him in the system as depth. Basically, someone where the O’s had an open spot on their 40man roster. They said, “Hey, this guy has amazing underlying data in AAA. We’re really good at developing hitters. Maybe we can turn Will Robertson into the next Ryan O’Harn.” And so, they grab him. They’re going to try to pass him through waiverss and then work with him if they do. But then the Orioles made another waiver claim and that was catcher Drew Romo who the Orioles claimed off waiverss from the Colorado Rockies. Romo, a 24year-old switchhitting catcher who was a high draft pick for the Rockies in the 2020 COVID draft out of high school picked him 35th overall in the draft. That was the competitive balance A- round. And in 2023, he was a top 100 prospect at Fan Graphs, honestly, for his elite defense and contact skills alone. But he had an interesting run through the Rockies minor leagues. He was advancing really quickly, was playing really well, but he got the yips in the minors, but not the yips of hitting or not the yips of throwing to second base. He got the yips of throwing the ball back to the pitcher as a catcher. I believe this was a storyline in major league, but it actually happened to Drew Romo and he did a lot of work. I mean, you got to credit to the Rockies player development and minor league coaches and whomever else helped Romo with this. They got him. It’s a very unorthodox throwing motion he has now back to the pitcher, but they got him to be able to throw the ball back to the pitcher again. Now, it never affected his ability to throw runners out at second. He still has a cannon for an arm. He’s still an elite defensive catcher, great blocker, great framer, amazing pop time. All of his value is based on him being one of the better defensive catchers in the minor leagues, and that’s why he was drafted so high by the Rockies. Now, he made a lot of contact in the minors, which is good, but doesn’t really impact the ball very hard. Like, his data shows really good swing decisions, which the Orioles love, but a 23% hard hit rate in AAA is like crazy crazy low, especially against AAA pitching. Now, he did debut in the big leagues with the Rockies in 2024. where he hit just 176 in 16 games. Played only three big league games this year and was a pretty bad hitter in his 60A games this season. He does have minor league options remaining, so he could be that optionable third catcher that the Orioles are looking for. Mike Elias did say today they’re not set on carrying three catchers, even though they will have Rutman and Bayio in the lineup a lot. But Drew Romo might be kind of the perfect fit, right, to be that third catcher. He has minor league options. He’s got the youth. He’s got elite defense. He’s a switch hitter. He can handle the bat a little bit. Isn’t really going to hit for power, but you don’t need him to as a third catcher. But again, the Orioles will likely also try to pass him through waiverss, keep him in the or have him compete for that spot in spring training. But once they claimed Robertson, they had a full 40man roster. So when they also got Romo, someone had to get DFA, and that was Ryan Nota, who was DFA to make a spot on the 40man roster. 29-year-old left-handed hitting kind of first baseman/c corner outfielder who the Orioles claimed off waiverss from the White Socks back in August. Played in seven games with the Orioles this year. 14 plate appearances. Went two for 13, but did have that pinch hit RBI game-tying single in the ninth inning at Wrigley Field in his first Orioles game. Then really didn’t do anything after that. He was optioned to triple AAA after two weeks with the O’s. Spent the rest of the season there. 55 played appearances, hit just 152, but had 18 walks and 19 strikeouts. missed some time with injury. It’s huge power. It’s a great batting eye, but there is way too much swing and miss in his game. Had a fantastic rookie year with the A’s in 2023 and then has bounced around since then and really not done much. Again, with the log jam the Orioles have right now at first base and corner outfield. There was really not much for Ryan Nota in the future plans. He was going to be one of the first guys to get DFA this off season. And it’s uh not surprising that that is what happened for the O’s to make those two moves. But that is a roundup of the moves and the rumors from the Orioles from the past couple of days. We just got another piece of news that the Mariners are not planning to trade Luis Castillo. I think the Orioles were probably over going after Luis Castillo, but if they were still in on him. Doesn’t look like he’s being moved. But otherwise, it’s time to take your questions. So, make sure to put mailbag questions right here in the YouTube chat if you are watching live. Try to get to as many as I can. That is coming up next. But first, this episode of the Lockdown Orioles podcast is also brought to you by Game Time. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. That’s why the Game Time app is clutch. Finally giving fans a real advantage when it comes to snagging seats. With Game Time, you can track price drops in real time, get alerts when your great seats open, and buy tickets the moment they hit the app. It puts the power back in your hands, makes going to the World Cup realistic instead of impossible. You can pull up the app, and the layout for each stadium makes it so simple to scroll through these matchups, and compare your seat views before you buy the tickets. So, take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets and every match, concert, or event with game time. All you got to do is just download the Game Time app. All right, that is step one. Create an account and then use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download the app, make an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Game time. So, we’re going to get to your mailbag questions here live on the show in just a second. But first, want to thank you for tuning in today to the Locked On Orioles podcast. Make sure to subscribe and follow the show so you can get all the latest episodes. But did Locked on Orioles make your Spotify wrapped or did it even make your new YouTube wrapped? Prove it on social media to secure a free month of our brand new Everydayer Club. Just tag our National Locked Podcast Network account on any social platform and we’ll drop you a code. Be one of the first to join the Everydayer Club to get your favorite show ad free and exclusive access to the membersonly Discord channel. And for those of you on video, we send you to the first ever 247 national locked on podcast network YouTube channel coming up next. Then make sure on audio you make your second listen locked on MLB. But again, if you got that Spotify wrapped, send it in to locked on podcast on social media and you could win some cool prizes here. A month of our everydayer club. So let’s get to the mailbag questions. Going to get to any that are here in the chat, but first I have a few that came in via email. Do want to get to them first. Remember you can always email me [email protected]. You want to talk some ball, you want to give some feedback to the show, or you want to ask any future mailbag questions. First one comes from Matthew via email who said, quote, “With the rule five draft coming up, is there any real downside of the Orioles drafting the most intriguing arm available just to at least give him a shot in spring training to make the bullpen given the pretty significant need they have?” Matthew, it’s a good question. Rule five draft will be on Wednesday here at the winter meetings. Now, the 40man roster, as I mentioned, is full at the moment, so you would have to open up a spot for a rule five draft, but there’s four or five guys on the 40man right now who could be easily DFAD. We know the Orioles are reportedly still looking to add external bullpen arms, and I don’t think it would be a bad idea to take a swing on an interesting pick. Now, you’re not picking first or second, so you don’t have your pick in the litter of all these guys. There’s not much of a downside, but Mike Elias was asked about this in his media availability in Orlando today. And he did say, you know, at the point of the team, they’re kind of past the point of like definitely making a rule five pick every year. They haven’t made one in a couple of years. You know, when you have less 40man roster space because you’re a good team and you’re building a bullpen in different ways, it’s tough to think that you’re going to be able to hold a guy, you know, for the entire year in your pen who who’s never pitched in the major leagues, right? You’d rather have more of a sure thing in your bullpen. Elias also talked about liking what some of the younger guys showed when they got their chances in the second half of the pen this year. So, it’s possible. I just feel like it’s unlikely the better the team is to actually make a rule five selection, but I don’t think there’s a big time downside if they just grab somebody because they think there’s a chance they could really break out in spring training. Question from Rick B via email who says, “How could an impending 2027 lockout impact this Orioles off season?” I think Ricket certainly has some impact and the owners are almost certainly going to lock out the players next winter, but there’s no guarantee of missing games, right? I don’t believe we’ve missed any games since 1994. Even though, you know, the season a couple of years ago started a little late, they still played 162 games. Rob Manford’s been very proud of not missing any games. Now, the Labor situation is getting more contentious by the minute between the players and the owners. But there’s certainly no guarantee of anything close to a lost full season. I think a lot of people are talking like the full season, oh, it’s just going to be lost. there’s going to be no baseball. Like, we’re not even close to that. Could we not play a full 162? Yeah, that’s certainly possible. We’re well away from that happening. So, yeah, there could be some owners who are worried about losing some games and losing revenue in 2027 and maybe that makes them less likely to give out, you know, longerterm guaranteed contracts that bleed into 2027. But for the Orioles with this low payroll, all they’ve talked about with being willing to spend and spend, maybe they can exploit that as a market inefficiency and with more teams maybe less willing to give out long-term deals, maybe with the Orioles being more willing than ever before to do it this off season, they could snag some guys that maybe normally wouldn’t sign with Baltimore. So, I think there’s a chance it could even help them instead of hurt them in terms of what they could do this off season. This question is from Rick N. The last one was Rick B. This is Rick N. via email. What do you think of Brandon Young? I always see Kade Povich mentioned as, you know, the O’s can’t go into the season with Kate Povich as their number five. Is Povich still considered above Young because he’s left-handed? I feel Young has shown more and was starting to put together something before he got injured last season. I would say Brandon Young and Kate Povich are definitely going to be like tied together for a little while here unless one does get traded. Both had injury issues in 2025, but Povich does lead Young in most categories. First of all, Povich was a top 100 prospect at one point. Brandon Young never really was. Povich made more starts, more innings. He’s a lefty. Had a better erra by a run, better fit by a run. Similar walk rate, but a much higher strikeout rate, better stuff, better fast ball. That is all what what gives the edge to Povich over Young. Now, Young probably has better command. He gives up a little softer contact and has had the best start of the two was when he took the perfect game, you know, into late in the eighth inning in Houston this year and of course had the immaculate inning that he threw. Those were cool moments, but the larger body of work with with more chances obviously and a bigger sample size has been better for Kate Povich. He’s the better prospect. Povich has the higher ceiling. Both are good depth to begin the year. Neither should be in your rotation to begin the year. The O have done a bad job if either of those guys are in the opening day rotation. I think Povich is better long-term, but he has more variance. I think Brandon Young is probably a safer option, but if I had to bet on one being a good big league starter, I would take Kade Povich over Brandon Young. And I love Brandon Young, former uh podcast guest. So was Kade Povich. Both of them have actually been on the Lockdown Royals podcast in the past. And last email question comes from Ethan who asks, “When thinking about the outlook in the lineup, starting rotation and bullpen, I’m wondering who you think is the biggest difference maker in each of these categories.” Now, Ethan said he thought Adley was the biggest difference maker in the lineup. I would agree there. I think the Orioles offense is going to get back on track. It’s gonna be Adley Rutman pulling himself together. I think that’d be followed by some good health from Jordan Westber. In the bullpen, I would say it’s all about the new additions. Ethan said for his was Yenir Cano. I’m not really sure about Cano. I think he could be in Triple A for a while this year. I think it’s going to be how good is Helley, how good is Andrew Kitridge coming back and then how good is probably the other reliever that they will sign at some point this off season. And for the rotation, like obviously whoever they bring in this off seasonason, whether it’s trades or free agency are going to be huge. I really do think Kyle Bradish posts surgery getting back to that 2023, you know, finishing fourth in the AL Sai Young level is going to be what powers this rotation. Like even if they add two good pitchers and Trevor Rogers is still pretty good, Sai Young level Bradish takes your rotation from good to World Series level. All right, let’s get into the questions we have here in the chat. Let’s see a question from Wall Berlin. Casey is looking for outfield bats. Any chance Tyler O’Neal and some cash might help bring back Chris Bubich? I talked about this actually on Friday’s show. I think Tyler O’Neal cash and a prospect, I’d offer that deal to the Kansas City Royals to get Chris Bubich. Let’s see with a question here. Your thoughts on Ryan Hley’s contract structure? I’ve seen some fans not so happy thinking he’ll opt out, but I can’t help if he opts out of that 14 million. It probably means he was incredible in 2026. Yeah, the contract structure is straight up. he gets $14 million in 2026, he can either choose to opt out and become a free agent or he can opt in and he would make $14 million again in 2027 and then after that he would be a free agent either way. The way the closer market is, if Helsley’s really good, he would make a longerterm deal for more than 14 per year. So, he would probably opt out. But even if he’s just okay and like good enough but not, you know, two years ago like top three closer in baseball version of Ryan Helley, there’s a chance he would opt in. Relievers are so volatile, too. I don’t mind not locking yourself in with long-term deals with relievers. I think it’s perfect to get a two-year deal with an opt out. I mean, you hope maybe you get a healthy Felix Bautista in 2027. Who knows if that’ll be the case, but he still is under contract for that year. You could find yourself another closer and the O’s, they need to be focused on 2026 right now. I don’t mind the structure of that contract. Let’s see. Uh Adit with a question here. Is it typically easier for Elias to pair a bat and an arm with guys from the same agency? Like how King and Schwarber are from the same agency? It’s maybe a little easier in just the talks, right? You only have to talk with one agent or one agency. That can make it a little bit easier, but I don’t think it plays a huge factor. It’s about the money. It’s about the fit. It’s about what the player wants. It’s about the openings on the team. But it’s probably a little bit of just like, hey, I don’t have to make as many different phone calls. Uh because hey, I can talk to the same person to talk about these two players that I want. John with a question here. What’s one arm and one bat in our farm system that you would not want to trade this year? I’ll take Bayio and Beavers out of it because although although they are still prospect eligible, they’re both going to be in the big leagues this year. I would say one arm I really don’t want to trade is the fast rising healing of Luis de Leone who’s in double A right now. He’s being talked about like a mini version of Fran Bvaldez basically in terms of onfield performance. The stuff is getting better and better. He was good in the Arizona Fall League. He’s got all the helium in the world at this moment. And one bat in our farm system that I wouldn’t want to trade right now, that one I don’t have as strong feelings about, I would say probably Vehiva Aloy, who was taken with one of the comp round picks this year, just because there’s such a high ceiling on him being the golden spikes winner that it would really hurt to just barely see him play and then trade him away this off season. Let’s see. Chase with a question here. How much do you think Alonzo would be asking for? Well, if we go to the free agent matrices from John Becker over at Fan Graphs, we can see that contract projection for Pete Lonzo right now sitting at four years $120 million. He might be asking for that, but that’s a projection of around where he would get. So, we’ll see. And I think the Orioles are kind of willing to spend up to a point whatever it takes to make this team better in 2026. Jim, with a question, do you think they’ll sign a major free agent or complete a major trade first? I would say free agent goes first just because it’s easier to do that, right? It’s just about paying enough money for a guy rather than completely agreeing with a whole another team about prospects and money and all of that other stuff. So, I just think logistically wise, it’s probably going to be a free agent over a trade, but I I wouldn’t be surprised if they acquire good players via both of those avenues. Still, are they they’ve already done it right with Helsley and free agency and Ward via trade. I think they’re going to do more of that throughout this offseason. We get a couple more questions here. Let’s see. Rank in the order of Orioles knee. This is from Rolling with Rock. Bellinger, Alonszo, Schwarber. I would say Schwarber number one. I think he’s got the he’s the best hitter of the three. Yeah, him dhing kind of clogs you up a little bit, but he’s the best hitter. I put him number one. Then I’d say Bellinger number two just because of all the versatility he can give you with playing the outfield and first base and Allonzo number three, but I’m still certainly in on there being Pete Alonzo in Baltimore. Where is locked on merchandise available? Not yet at the moment. may be something that can come up in the future uh for locked on merchandise, but right now I believe it is just for the host, but hopefully we can get that out there pretty soon. Let’s see if we’ve got any more questions here. Talked about Pete Alonzo already. Let’s see. Question here. Orioles met with both Alonzo and Frra Valdez. Yeah, we do know they met with Valdez actually back at the GM meetings that was reported. How competitive will the Orioles be in a super competitive AL East if we lock down these two? I think they’ll certainly be way more competitive than they were in 2025, but I still think that the signing these good players and trading for these good players is going to help maybe put the Orioles over the top this season. The biggest factor in the Orioles coming back to being competitive in the division is all the guys who had like career worst seasons in 2025 bouncing back this year. I think that’s even more important than bringing in these free agents, although it’s going to be super important for this off season. Another question from Weman. What do you think about the O’s 2026 innings coverage from the starters? Do you think they’ll target any workhorse types to cover innings or more target upside and acquisitions? I think they’ll do both. I think they’re looking for a little bit of both in the top end starter and I think they could target more innings in the second guy. That’s why I had guys like Mel Kelly and Chris Basset as my top two on my wish list last week for kind of those middle rotation guys. Like those are guys you can plug in 180 innings for them in 2026 and feel good about it. When you have Kyle Bradish coming back from injury, when you have Tyler Wells coming back from injury, even though I think Wells is a reliever rather than a starter, when you have Trevor Rogers who did only make 20 starts last season, you can’t expect 200 innings out of Kyle Bradish, right? you you got to expect to slow play him a little bit and these veteran arms who can eat innings are certainly going to be helpful. That’ll do it for today’s episode. If you got some questions in, hold on to them. Jump back in tomorrow night and put them in the mailbag segment and hopefully we will get to them on tomorrow night’s episode. Again, we will be back here right around 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday night live recapping day two of the winter meetings. will certainly, unless the O’s make a big move, have a mailbag segment as well. So, make sure you can email me the questions, locked on [email protected] or put them right back into the Locked Onoro YouTube chat to get them answered on tomorrow’s show. Remember, if you’re interested in that everyday or club, check out the link in the episode description here on YouTube or wherever you are listening. I’ll be back tomorrow. Until then, I’m Connor Nukem and this has been the Lockdown Orioles podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Host Connor Newcomb recaps all the moves and rumors from Day 1 at the 2025 MLB Winter Meetings, including Pete Alonso meeting with the Orioles, and some more reported interest in Kyle Schwarber.

Then, Connor takes mailbag questions. Put your questions in the YouTube chat!

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