The Orioles made their first major splash on the free agent market this evening when they agreed with outfielder on a . That signing addre sed their desire to add a right-handed bat to the lineup following the departure of switch-hitting free agent , who was their best hitter in the outfield against left-handed pitching. The clubs biggest need of the winter remains unaddre sed, however: a top-of-the-rotation arm to fill the void left by when he elected free agency last month. While the club has previously been connected to including , a report this afternoon from shed some light on the clubs strategy for this winters pitching market by noting that the club is reluctant to pursue qualified free agent pitchers from other clubs. That stance would seemingly exclude them from not only the Fried sweepstakes but also the market for and , the latter of whom they were to this winter. Theres still a number of interesting free agent starters available this winter who dont fit that description, led by a reunion with Burnes. Re-signing Burnes wouldnt cause the Orioles to lose a draft pick beyond the opportunity cost of not receiving the pick after the first round theyd be in line to receive should he land elsewhere, but Rosenthal and Sammon suggested the chances of Burnes returning to Baltimore seem remote at this point given the po sibility that the winters #2 free agent becomes the center of attention for bidders who fail to land the superstar slugger. For the Orioles part, GM Mike Elias made clear during an appearance on last month that the club would love to bring Burnes back into the fold for 2025 and beyond. Should they find themselves outbid for Burnes, however, hes far from the only viable option to improve the clubs rotation without forfeiting a draft pick. Rosenthal and Sammon describe both veteran right-hander and righty as more appealing to the Orioles than a pursuit of Fried, Manaea, Garrett Stubbs Jersey or Pivetta. Of the two, they report that the Orioles appear to prefer Eovaldi after Flahertys disastrous run with Baltimore following the trade deadline back in 2023, where he surrendered a 6.75 ERA in 34 2/3 innings of work before turning things around with the Tigers and Dodgers this past year with a 3.17 ERA and 3.47 FIP in 28 starts. Eovaldi also figures to be much cheaper than Flaherty this winter; on our annual , MLBTR predicted a two-year, $41MM contract for the veteran while predicting Flaherty would land $115MM over five years. Rosenthal and Sammon also suggest that Flaherty figures to land a contract in the four- to six-year range this winter, and while they dont comment on Eovaldis expected contract its worth noting that deals of that length for a pitcher entering their age-35 season as Eovaldi is are all but unheard of in todays game, with standing out as the notable exception to that rule. Eovaldis platform season saw him pitch to a 3.80 ERA and 3.83 FIP in 29 starts that dont quite match up to Flahertys performance, though the veteran does offer a lengthy track record of mid-rotation succe s that compares favorably to Flahertys up-and-down career in terms of on-field results over the past half decade. It also seems at least plausible that the Orioles could look to get creative as they search for rotation upgrades. Rosenthal and Sammon report that Baltimore was among the clubs that had interest in right-hander before he signed with the Mets yesterday. While Holmes has been a reliever for the majority of his MLB career, the Mets signed him to pitch in their rotation and Rosenthal and Sammon indicated that Baltimore wouldve done the same had they landed him, though some of his other suitors planned to keep him in the relief role in which he turned in a dominant three-and-a-half year stretch with the Yankees. While its currently unclear if the club would consider any other free agent relief arms for a move to the rotation, both and have received buzz as potential starting pitching options this winter after succe sful runs in relief in 2024. Zack Wheeler Jersey