So, what did I miss?

I’m using open-heart valve-replacement surgery as a convenient, albeit painful, excuse for being so far behind on transactions and other news. It’s also why I’m resting after every sentence that I’m typing.

A quick but heartfelt thank you to everyone who cared for me at Sinai Hospital, beginning with Dr. Peter Cho, who removed my faulty valve and gave me one from a cow. I just hope that one day I get to meet its family and show my appreciation.

My gratitude extends to Woodholme Cardiology’s Dr. Jonathan Rogers and Dr. Charles Cummings, who remained patient as the Orioles dictated when I could schedule pre-surgery appointments and the actual procedure. They were skilled and tremendous comforts. And everyone at Sinai who gathered after the surgery and yelled at me to “breathe!”

Can’t remove the tube unless you’re breathing on your own, and that’s solid advice in any situation.

Three months remain until pitchers and catchers report to spring training, followed by the position players. The dates are formalities because most of the Orioles get there early.

I’ve written about some anticipated storylines, like how Heston Kjerstad and Coby Mayo fit on the roster, how Adley Rutschman will hit, anything Félix Bautista, rehab progress made by Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells, Grayson Rodriguez’s health after being left off the Wild Card roster, and anything Jackson Holliday.

I’ve come up with a few more this morning.

What a full season from Zach Eflin can do for the club.

We found out how valuable Eflin was after the July 26 trade with the Rays that cost the Orioles minor leaguers Jackson Baumeister, Matthew Etzel and Mac Horvath. Eflin went 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA and 1.120 WHIP with 11 walks – five of them in his final appearance of the regular season - in 55 1/3 innings. Seven of his starts were quality outings and he fell an out short of an eighth against his former team.

Connor Norby hasn’t studied the Marlins’ 2025 schedule, though he’s confident that his mother could recite it because she’s already planning her trips. He expects to be in Baltimore next summer, since the Orioles played in Miami this year. The home fields alternate.

He’s right. The Orioles host the Marlins in a three-game series July 11-13 that leads directly into the All-Star break. Norby has a chance to make his return to Camden Yards after being traded with outfielder Kyle Stowers for left-hander Trevor Rogers at the deadline.

Norby, a second-round draft pick in 2021 out of East Carolina, didn’t see it coming. He had to process it. And he had to endure another stop in the minors, with the Marlins optioning him to Triple-A Jacksonville so he could learn to play third base.

After going 6-for-32 in nine games with the Orioles, Norby resumed his rookie season by hitting .313/.377/.625 with six doubles and three home runs in 12 August games with the Marlins. He set a club record with six extra-base hits in his first six games.

I had a nice phone conversation with Norby over the weekend before he headed off to attend a friend’s wedding. He was gone July 30 before media had a chance to get his reaction to the trade.

It’s another slow day for me. At least that’s what I’m told. Or “ordered” is more like it.

(This would be funny if I didn’t survive the surgery but the story ran anyway. Now that’s a slow day.)

Here are some topics and decisions hovering around the Orioles. You can do the heavy lifting today and tell me what’s going to happen.

Apologies in advance if any of them became outdated earlier this week because I still didn’t have access to my laptop. Or because I died.

Coby Mayo had a few stops in the majors this year and went 4-for-41 in 17 games. He’s waiting for his first extra-base hit.

The offseason gives media a chance to make early predictions on free-agent signings, trades and other activity while waiting for actual news.

Don’t pay any attention to early World Series odds. No team has a set roster in November.

Can we at least wait until spring training?

OK, if you’re going to press me, the Orioles make the playoffs in 2025. That’s all I’ve got.

The Athletic’s Jim Bowden has Corbin Burnes and Max Fried signing with the Mets. I never considered Burnes as a realistic possibility for the Orioles, but I also stress how new ownership dumps us in uncharted hot stove waters.

Another mailbag left me with another batch of leftovers. Grab a plate.

You ask and I answer. Everybody knows the rules.

Everybody also knows that my mailbag signs long-term extensions and your mailbag gets cut by Rancho Cucamonga.

Why the mass exodus?
Too much Taco Bell. Oh, you mean changes on the coaching staff and in the front office. Some left on their own, others didn’t have their contracts renewed. There isn’t an all-encompassing answer. But the .500 second half and quick exit in the Wild Card series figured to bring about some changes.

Do you view any of this as an overreaction to the season we just had or were some people unhappy in their roles?
A better opportunity came along for Matt Borgschulte. I don’t profess to know all of the details in the other moves. Fredi González and José Hernández expected to be back. I haven’t heard why they’re going to be replaced. That’s for later. Change always happens at the major league and minor league levels.

The Orioles made one decision today regarding club options for 2025 and it was the easiest to forecast.

The team announced that it declined the $16.5 million option on Eloy Jiménez’s contract, which puts him on the free agent market. His deal with the White Sox included a $3 million buyout.

Jiménez wasn’t staying with the Orioles after batting .232/.270/.316 with five doubles and a home run in 33 games. And after going 1-for-24 with eight strikeouts in September.

He also couldn't play in the field while recovering from a left hamstring strain that slowed him on the basepaths.

The Orioles carried 12 position players on the Wild Card roster and Jiménez wasn’t among them. They optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk on Sept. 24 while activating first baseman Ryan Mountcastle from the injured list, but he was brought back to Camden Yards as an extra in case of an injury.

Let’s dive into the first post-World Series mailbag while the offseason heats up.

You ask again, I answer again, and we have the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original.

This is a politics-free mailbag. Let’s consider it practice for next week.

It’s also an editing-free mailbag. Let your clarity, length and style shine.

An important reminder here that my mailbag gets lots of candy on Halloween and your mailbag gets a toothbrush and dental floss.

Today’s Orioles activity centers on minor league depth.

The team announced that its signed catcher David Bañuelos and right-handers Yaramil Hiraldo and Rodolfo Martinez to minor league contracts for the 2025 season.

Bañuelos, 28, agreed to terms on Oct. 14, which I wrote about the following day. He could have become a free agent five days after the World Series, but the Orioles got an early start on negotiations.

The sides struck their first deal on Dec. 30, 2023 and Bañuelos spent most of this season on the Orioles’ taxi squad. He hopped on and off the 40-man roster a few times this season and received his first and only major league at-bat on April 16 against the Twins. He flied to right field in the ninth inning.

Appearing in only 22 games with Triple-A Norfolk, Bañuelos hit .225/.361/.352 with three doubles and two home runs. He’s playing in the Dominican Winter League.

The World Series is over and fans are deprived of an epic Game 7. The Dodgers ruined those hopes by winning in five.

The offseason is underway, with players on the 60-day injured list returning to the 40-man roster and teams having exclusive negotiating rights with their free agents for five days before everyone else jumps into the bidding.

Pitchers Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells and Félix Bautista and infielder Jorge Mateo are back on the 40-man. Pitchers Corbin Burnes, John Means and Brooks Kriske, catcher James McCann and outfielders Anthony Santander and Austin Slater are removed from it.  Bradish and Wells will go back onto the 60-day IL in spring training while recovering from elbow surgery.

Outfielder Daniel Johnson and pitcher Burch Smith declined outright assignments to Triple-A Norfolk and elected free agency.

The Orioles will make decisions on players with options for 2025 and which ones are tendered contracts and protected in the Rule 5 draft. The General Managers meetings begin next week. The Winter Meetings are scheduled for next month.

The first day of the offseason includes some Orioles moves within baseball operations, which they announced this afternoon.

* Senior director of pro scouting Mike Snyder is promoted to vice president of pro scouting.

The Orioles explained in a press release that Snyder will continue to oversee their pro scouting and player analysis across the majors, minors and Asian professional leagues, and also assist with contract negotiations, 40-man roster construction, player transactions and departmental hiring. He’s one of the most important behind-the-scenes guys in the organization.

Snyder’s tenure with the Orioles goes back to 2009, when he worked as a baseball operations intern. He moved up to baseball operations assistant and international scout in 2010-11, assistant director of scouting and player development in 2012, assistant director of player personnel in 2013-14, director of pro scouting and director of Pacific Rim operations and baseball development from 2015-19. He jumped to director of pro scouting in 2020.

Snyder graduated with honors from Princeton University (NJ) in 2008 with a degree in economics, and he received his master’s degree in applied and computational mathematics from Johns Hopkins University in 2019.

There’s fan interference, and then there’s grabbing an outfielder’s glove and ripping the baseball out of it with help from a friend. That’s a whole other level of intrusive, as well as dumb.

The media loves to shine a spotlight on these people, as ESPN.com did Tuesday night with tremendous enthusiasm. Editors drool over it. Reporters are ordered out of the press box and into the stands for an exclusive interview. Or in the case of the two imbeciles in the Yankees jerseys sitting in the front row for Game 4 of the World Series, race to a bar across the street and give the guys their 15 minutes of fame.

You pay an exorbitant price for tickets and get ejected in the first inning. Such a brilliant move. The decision came down to doing that or using a toaster oven as a bath toy.

Jeffrey Maier was too young to drink in 1996, and he wasn’t tossed out of Yankee Stadium after reaching out to deflect Derek Jeter’s fly ball into the stands in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series as Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco camped under it at the wall.

Neither one caught it. Get the story straight. Maier knocked the ball into the seats for the tying home run and was treated like a hero, including appearances on national talk shows. The Daily News made arrangements for Maier to sit behind the Yankees dugout for the World Series.  

The Orioles haven’t swung at a pitch or thrown one since Oct. 2 in Game 2 of the Wild Card series against the Royals. Gunnar Henderson struck out on a changeup from Lucas Erceg and walked back to the dugout with his head down. The visiting team celebrated in its clubhouse and on the field.

"Feel terrible," said Ryan O'Hearn. "Feel terrible for our fans. Feel like we let them down. Just sucks.”

What can the Orioles do next season to say that they’ve lost that losing feeling?

Here are three more ways:

Adley Rutschman being the best version of himself.

The Orioles will try next season to make the playoffs in three consecutive years for only the second time in franchise history and the first since 1969-71.

The Wild Card lessens the challenge but it remains a daunting task.

They won only one World Series in that span, beating the Reds in five games in 1970, and aren’t labeled as a dynasty because of the other October failures. The 2025 team, meanwhile, would be viewed in a positive light by advancing past its first playoff round.

The Orioles are tangled in a 10-game postseason losing streak that dates back to the 2014 ALCS. How can they wiggle free?

Let’s discuss three of the ways.

Was Robert De Niro robbed of an Oscar in 1992 for his portrayal of Max Cady in “Cape Fear?”

De Niro was amazing in that role. A brilliant performance. I would have chosen him. But I also can’t argue with Anthony Hopkins winning for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs.”

See, you ask and I answer. It’s that simple. Or in this case, I ask and answer to set up the latest mailbag entry.

(Martin Scorsese was robbed twice – for Raging Bull and Goodfellas – by first-time directors Robert Redford and Kevin Costner. And he’s been the victim of other snubs. Those just irk me the most. But I digress …)

I’m serving mailbag leftovers as we trudge through another week in the offseason. Any thoughts of editing for clarity, length and style were scraped into the trash.

The mailbag is filling up again, like the bases in the bottom of the 10^th inning in Game 1 of the World Series.

Freddie Freeman isn’t here to empty it, so I’ll take over.

You ask, I answer, and we have our latest sequel to the beloved 2008 blockbuster. I thought about editing for clarity, length and style, until I had a moment of clarity and decided against it.

Also, my mailbag clinches pennants and yours clutches pearls.

Can you get more specifics on Colton Cowser's hand surgery? Having broken my hand playing ball back in the day where I just got casted and healed for weeks, I am curious as to what they corrected with his surgery.
Sorry, but the Orioles aren’t sharing any information beyond how he had “successful surgery to repair a fractured left hand, and the procedure “was performed by Dr. Donald Sheridan in Phoenix, AZ,” and that the outfielder “is expected to be ready for spring training.” Anything else must come from Cowser during his next media availability.

Colton Cowser has received his first honor.

Are there more in his future?

The Major League Baseball Players Association has chosen Cowser as American League Outstanding Rookie. The announcement came earlier today.

Cowser received the Players Choice Award over finalists Wilyer Abreu of the Red Sox and Austin Wells of the Yankees. He also is viewed as a favorite for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America award, which will be revealed on Nov. 18.

The fifth-overall pick in the 2021 draft appeared in 153 games and batted .242/.321/.447 with 24 doubles, three triples, 24 home runs and 69 RBIs over 561 plate appearances. He was chosen the AL’s Rookie of the Month in April after hitting .303/.372/.632 with seven doubles, six home runs and 18 RBIs.

The Orioles play their first spring training game on Feb. 22 against the Pirates in Sarasota. We're waiting for the report dates.

Here are a few more topics that should garner a lot of interest.

Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells.

We have a tendency to lump together players for certain reasons, like anytime that the Orioles bring two Rule 5 picks to camp.

Injuries create a similar dynamic.

The notebook is cleaned out, but my mind remains cluttered.

You’ve been warned.

* Anyone with an obsession over splits is going to be drawn to Adley Rutschman.

He’s a conversation starter.

Rutschman batted .219 with a .631 OPS from the left side of the plate. However, he hit .280 with an .889 OPS from the left side as a rookie, compared to .174 with a .552 OPS from the right.

A common offseason activity for baseball media is flipping through pages of the last notebook used in search of tidbits that can be posted during slow times.

Any newsy or interesting nuggets that were missed or held. Notations that serve as reminders for later use.

I’m also reminded again that my handwriting looks like I’m wedging a pen between toes on a numb left foot.

Here’s a sampling of what I think that I found:

* A popular opinion inside the clubhouse is that Jordan Westburg provides some of the best at-bats on the team. He might string together the most among the bunch, which really impresses when you consider that 2024 was his first full season in the majors – not counting his time spent on the injured list.