What's the Baltimore Orioles' Biggest Lingering Question Heading Into 2024 Season?
The Baltimore Orioles are coming off one of their best seasons in recent memory. The 101-win team is looking to improve in order to keep pace in the ever-competitive American League East.
Since the beginning of the winter, Orioles general manager Mike Elias has said that the point of emphasis for the team this offseason would be to acquire pitching. But not just any pitching but impact pitching.
Many believed that Elias meant they would be playing in the deep end of the free agent pool for players like Aaron Nola, Yoshinobu Yammamoto or Blake Snell. Two of those players have already signed and the free agent pool looks thin.
There is of course still the trade market and Chicago White Sox ace Dylan Cease's name leads the pack when it comes to rumors and Baltimore.
But according to MLB.com, the largest question that still lingers around the Orioles is "how will they upgrade their rotation?"
"General manager Mike Elias has repeatedly made it known he’d like to add a big-league-caliber starting pitcher to upgrade Baltimore’s rotation for the 2024 season," writes MLB.com's Jake Rill. "But nothing has materialized so far this offseason, while free-agent pitchers continue to come off the board."
"The market for starters has been a bit pricey, as quite a few teams have been giving out lucrative deals. Because of that, it still seems more likely the Orioles acquire a new rotation piece in a trade. They have a glut of talented position-player prospects in their stacked farm system to use as trade chips, and starters such as White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease and Brewers righty Corbin Burnes continue to be involved in rumors."
As Rill points out, perhaps the trade market is the best way to go in order to use the capital the Orioles have the most of - prospects.
That's why you create a stellar farm system, not only to promote impact players but to use others as trade chips to fill in holes within the roster.
Still, what the Orioles do to address their rotation remains the biggest question for this team ahead of MLB Spring Training.
