The Orioles one-year agreement with a club option with right-handed pitcher Andrew Kittredge made the team's strength a bit stronger. The bullpen looks pretty good with a clear eight you would project today to start the year in the bullpen.

That eight includes the club welcoming back All-Star closer Félix Bautista. From the right side, there is also Kittredge, Yennier Cano, Seranthony Domínguez and a long man in Albert Suárez, who right now projects more in the ‘pen than rotation.

From the left side the O’s have Keegan Akin, coming off his big 2024 year, along with Gregory Soto and Cionel Pérez.

The club will clearly be careful and cautious early on with Bautista coming back from Tommy John surgery. If he returns to previous form that would be huge for this team. Remember the guy has a 1.85 ERA, 0.924 WHIP with 14.1 strikeouts per nine in two MLB seasons. At his best, he is among the best closers in the game, a 2023 All-Star when he finished 11^th for the American League Cy Young Award.

But as they work him in slowly and perhaps are wary of using him back-to-back games to start the year, they now have many other options for the late innings.

Are the Orioles finished with their roster retooling? Is it safe to post a mock and avoid jumping back into it for revisions?

Camp doesn’t open for about five weeks. Stretch the hamstrings and be prepared to jump.

The Orioles aren’t guaranteeing another free agent signing or a trade before pitchers and catchers report. However, they aren’t shut down. Pitching is always desired, whether it’s starters or relievers. Business and minds are open.

“We like the strength of the team right now,” said executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. “We think we’ve got a really great defense, an offense that has proven what it can do and I think still has a lot of ceiling to it as these young players continue to grow, hopefully, and a right-handed bat like Tyler O’Neill in the mix and Gary Sánchez in the backup catcher spot. We really like the look of the offense and defense, and the rotation has a lot of depth, a lot of options, a lot of experience. And then there’s also youth in the rotation options that we have. So we think it’s a very strong group that’s going to have us very competitive in the American League East.

“I think the bullpen is also going to be a big strength of this team with a lot of experience and also upside and just all-around talent there and a lot of hard throwers. So we feel the team is in a really good spot, but we’re very happy that we’ve got a ton offseason left, and we will be searching every day for deals and upgrades where we can find them, whether that’s the remaining free-agent market or trade possibilities. And we’ve seen that sometimes those things can happen late close to camp. We’re going to stay in the mode of looking for ways to upgrade the team.”