ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orioles want an impact bat. They’ll figure out the rest later.
President of baseball operations Mike Elias has made upgrading the lineup one of his top priorities, and he continues to engage in contract discussions with free agent hitters even after acquiring outfielder Taylor Ward from the Los Angeles Angels last month.
“We’re talking to a whole bunch of hitters, and we just view it as: Do they improve the team? Do they improve the roster? Do they raise the ceiling of the team? Do they have an impact? If the player’s good enough, we can figure out ways to accommodate them,” Elias said at MLB’s winter meetings Monday. “We have a lot of conversations going on, mostly in free agency but also some in trades, on guys that we view as impact bats.”
There isn’t an obvious hole for Elias to fill, not when every position on the diamond has a former or current top prospect vying for playing time. But after spending last offseason plugging specific holes in their lineup with the additions of outfielder Tyler O’Neill and since-departed catcher Gary Sánchez, Elias is weighing offensive production over positional fit this time around.
That includes being open to signing a designated hitter, despite the logjam Baltimore already has at the position between their ample first basemen (Ryan Mountcastle, Coby Mayo), catchers (Adley Rutschman, Samuel Basallo) and injury-prone corner outfielders (O’Neill). Yet the Orioles’ offense was one of their most disappointing units in 2025, averaging 4.18 runs per game after 4.85 in 2024 and 4.98 in 2023.
“We had a couple more vacancies this year on the position player front,” Elias said. “Taylor Ward was a big addition to plug one of those but our lineup underperformed their talent level last year and so just kind of injecting more hitting talent into the batting lineup is kind of item No. 1 and the positional aspect of it is something that, like I was saying, we can adjust to after ID’ing the hitter that we want to bring in.”
Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger are the most logical fits for their ability to play the outfield, but branching out could put the Orioles in the market for bat-first types such as Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso. A lack of power was a key factor that contributed to the Orioles’ offensive drop-off. Schwarber and Alonso combined to hit 94 homers last season, nearly as many as the Orioles’ top six home run hitters combined (97).
It’s why Elias is no longer attempting to find puzzle pieces that fit perfectly into his roster. He indicated that the Orioles still have plenty of payroll space to make multiple splash moves, even if they force difficult roster decisions down the road. A full-time DH would make it difficult to fit both Mountcastle and Mayo on the roster, and it would prevent the Orioles from carrying three catchers — something that appeared logical in order for Rutschman and Basallo to play every day.
“We haven’t exactly finalized our plan there yet,” Elias said of catcher. “We’re looking at what’s available over the winter and we’re going to have to figure out the plan before spring training. But we’re going to need catching depth. … We’ve got some guys on the 40-man roster now and some other players in the organization, but I’m sure there’ll be some external catching additions and whether we carry a third catcher all year, continuously or not, I don’t know the answer to that right now.”
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