MLB’s winter meetings are officially under way. Executives, agents, players, and other baseball bigwigs began arriving in Orlando over the weekend for an eventful few days that will bring plenty of talk and hopefully even more action. With decision makers from all 30 teams housed under one roof until Wednesday, there’s the potential for a lot of news to be made.

For Mike Elias and the Orioles, who have already sprung a few significant roster moves this offseason, these meetings are a chance to continue making key additions to the team, or at least lay the groundwork to do so. What will the next three days bring for the Birds?

The Orioles’ offseason so far

Notable additions: Manager Craig Albernaz, RHP Ryan Helsley, RHP Andrew Kittredge, OF Leody Taveras, OF Taylor Ward

Notable departures: Interim manager Tony Mansolino, OF Dylan Carlson, RHP Zach Eflin, C Alex Jackson, IF Jorge Mateo, RHP Grayson Rodriguez, C Gary Sánchez, RHP Albert Suárez, RHP Tomoyuki Sugano

The Orioles have wasted no time addressing a few of their more glaring holes. They started by hiring a new skipper, bringing in Cleveland Guardians associate manager Craig Albernaz for his first MLB managerial opportunity. Under Albernaz, the O’s are overhauling much but not all of the coaching staff. The Birds’ trio of 2025 hitting coaches is gone, replaced by former Phillies assistant hitting coach Justin Lind, among other changes. Pitching coach Drew French and third base coach Buck Britton are expected to remain on staff.

Roster movement has been active. The Orioles signed former Cardinals All-Star Ryan Helsley to a two-year, $28 million deal to serve as their closer, with the injured Félix Bautista’s immediate and long-term future both in serious doubt. Elias also reacquired Andrew Kittredge, who pitched 31 games for the Orioles this year before they traded him to the Cubs at the deadline. He’ll slot in as a setup man.

And in a shocking trade, the O’s dealt Grayson Rodriguez, the talented but health-challenged former #1 pitching prospect, to acquire outfielder Taylor Ward from the Angels. Whether Ward was worth the price the Orioles paid will be debated in Birdland for quite some time, but he does make the lineup more well-rounded, providing a right-handed power bat that the O’s were lacking in 2025. Meanwhile, the unheralded addition of Leody Taveras adds speed and defense to the bench.

As far as departures, the Orioles haven’t lost anyone who was a key contributor to the 2025 team. Perhaps the closest to fitting that description is Sugano, one of just two O’s starters (along with Dean Kremer) who pitched at least 30 games this year. The former NPB MVP was reliable but not hugely effective in his debut season in the U.S., and it remains to be seen whether the free agent will find another MLB team or return to Japan. The Birds’ 2025 Opening Day starter, Eflin, has also reached free agency after an ineffective, injury-riddled campaign.

The Orioles’ winter meetings shopping list

Despite the Orioles’ additions so far, they’ve yet to address their stated top priority for this offseason: starting pitching. A paper-thin rotation was one of the many issues that plagued the 2025 Birds, whose 4.65 starters’ ERA ranked third-worst in the American League. Last offseason, Elias attempted to replace departing ace Corbin Burnes and injured star Kyle Bradish by signing mid- to back-end starters Sugano and Charlie Morton and hoping that Eflin could step into the #1 role. All of those moves backfired badly.

The Orioles can’t afford a repeat of last winter’s mistakes. They need to bring in some legitimate rotation help, preferably a top-flight starter. Several available free agents would fill that need, including Framber Valdez — who has a previous connection to Elias from his Houston Astros days — as well as Ranger Suárez and Tatsuya Imai. Other experienced starters on the market, with varying levels of upside, include Michael King, Zac Gallen, and Lucas Giolito. The O’s won’t necessarily leave the winter meetings with a starting pitcher in hand, but with any luck they’ll be able to make significant progress toward adding one. Or, even better, two.

But pitching isn’t the only thing the Orioles will be pursuing at the meetings. At least, it shouldn’t be. The Birds’ offense, even with Ward, could benefit from another thumper to deepen the lineup further. On paper, they seem to have every position accounted for, but in practice, it’s hard to feel totally confident in an O’s offense that saw so many players underperform in 2025. Elias, depending on how big a swing he wants to take — pun intended — could kick the tires on premier free agent sluggers like Kyle Tucker or Kyle Schwarber. I’m just saying, if the Pittsburgh Pirates of all teams can offer Schwarber a nine-figure deal, why can’t the O’s get involved in the bidding?

Notable winter meetings events

Besides the wall-to-wall meetings and media availability, a couple of noteworthy events will take place during the Orlando meetings.

On Tuesday, MLB will hold its lottery drawing for the 2026 draft to determine which teams will receive the top six picks. The drawing will be aired live on MLB Network at 5:30 ET. All teams that missed the 2025 playoffs are eligible for the lottery — except for the Rockies, Nationals, and Angels, who are ineligible for various reasons that you can read about here — and teams get better lottery odds in reverse order of their winning percentage.

The Orioles, who had the fourth-worst winning percentage of the lottery-eligible teams, thus have the fourth-best odds of getting the #1 pick. Their odds are 9.24%, behind only the White Sox (27.73%), Twins (22.18%), and Pirates (16.81%). One in 10 isn’t great odds, but it’s not nothing. Last year, the Nationals had a very similar 10.2% chance and ended up winning the #1 pick.

Finally, on Wednesday, the Rule 5 draft will wrap up the meetings. Most Orioles fans are well aware that the O’s were once rabid devotees of the Rule 5. Seemingly every year they would pluck unprotected prospects from other teams and attempt (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) to keep them on their major league roster all season. It’s how the Dan Duquette-era Orioles acquired Anthony Santander, Ryan Flaherty, and T.J. McFarland, among others.

The Elias-led Orioles, though, have shown much less interest in the Rule 5, especially since the team started winning. Elias did have one Rule 5 success in 2020 by selecting right-hander Tyler Wells, who remains with the Birds and could play an important role in 2026. But the O’s haven’t made a pick in the Rule 5 draft since 2022 and again may not this year.

The Orioles don’t figure to have any significant prospects drafted away from them by other teams, either. The O’s added pitchers Cameron Foster and Anthony Nunez and outfielder Reed Trimble to their 40-man roster this offseason to protect them from being selected in the Rule 5.