While the Orioles continue to work on their offseason and look to add new players to their roster, getting one already on that roster back to previous form is also on the agenda this winter.

Manager Brandon Hyde, in a phone interview Tuesday, said the club has reached out to catcher Adley Rutschman and the work to get his bat going again has begun.

Rutschman finished 12^th in the AL MVP vote in 2022 and ninth in 2023. But in 2024, his OPS dropped from .809 the previous year to .709.

Last season, on June 27, Rutschman was hitting .300 with an .830 OPS. But in his last 71 games, he batted just .189 with four homers and an OPS of .559.

“We’ve been in regular contact with Adley,” Hyde said from the Winter Meetings in Dallas. “We've put some plans in place and collaborated on some things that we feel like, that he feels like, that he wanted to kind of get back to. That kind of went away the second half. We know what kind of player he is and is going to be. We are doing a lot of things with him to get him back offensively and defensively to be the player that he is.

As the search for starting pitching goes on throughout MLB, all teams, including the Orioles, might be taking note of free-agent right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.

The right-hander is a remarkably consistent pitcher in recent seasons, who at his age will not command a long-term deal or the major dollars of the top-tier pitchers.

Eovaldi is also known as a big-game pitcher who had an outstanding postseason run as his Texas Rangers won the 2023 World Series.

He will turn 35 on Feb. 13, but there is still a lot to like here about both his talent and expected price tag.

Since 2020, his ERA has been between 3.63 and 3.87 each year. For the Rangers, he pitched 144 innings during the 2023 season and then another 36 2/3 in six postseason starts. Last year he pitched 170 2/3 innings, going 12-8 with a 3.80 ERA for Texas. He allowed just 147 hits with a 1.107 WHIP, 2.2 walks per nine and 8.8 strikeouts.

The turkey will be the star today in many households, but I’m more of a sides guy. They can make or break a meal.

Trading for or signing a starter the caliber of Corbin Burnes, if not actually him, would be baseball’s turkey. The same goes for a big right-handed bat.

Three more minor league signings on Monday were sides.

The Orioles didn’t make any bold moves last November, their final transaction of the month a minor league contract for left-hander Jakob Hernández. They claimed outfielder Sam Hilliard on waivers from the Braves and gave right-hander Adrian Heredia and left-hander Andy Tena minor league deals.

The most important business this month has involved restructuring the 40-man roster, with relievers Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb unexpectedly entering free agency, and finalizing the coaching staff. Those are the primary sides. We’re talking stuffing, potatoes and casseroles. The minor league stuff, while necessary to build depth, is more like the relish tray.

Yep, surprising news indeed. Of the five players the O’s held contract options on for the 2025 season, most would have guessed one they surely would bring back at $4 million for next year is lefty reliever Danny Coulombe. 

He’s been a reliable high-leverage reliever for two years for this team. A 2.12 ERA in 2024 and an ERA of 2.56 and WHIP of 0.951 in 94 games in two seasons for the Orioles.

But while the club picked up contract options yesterday on pitchers Seranthony Domínguez and Cionel Pérez and position player Ryan O’Hearn, they declined Coulombe’s option.

Why do that?

We didn’t get to interview anyone yet on this decision so we can only guess at the club’s thinking. Coulombe missed a big chuck of this past season, from June 11 to Sept. 20 after a left elbow procedure to remove bone chips. Now at 35, is there concern about that – also that this was his second career elbow procedure in addition to his 2022 hip surgery?

ARLINGTON, Texas – Some games are called “must win” but they really are not. But you can use those words for the Orioles tonight. After an amazing season, a surprise (to many) AL East championship and 101 wins, they need one more tonight to force a Game 4 against Texas in the American League Division Series.

In September the Orioles twice lost the first two games of key four-game series, both at home versus Tampa Bay and at Cleveland, and yet won the third and fourth games to split those series. This time they have to do that and one better.

It started on the mound in those earlier games against the Rays and Guardians. In the four wins, O’s pitching allowed zero, four, one and one run.

Catcher Adley Rutschman was asked before Monday’s workout at Globe Life Field about the club’s ability this year to put losses behind them quickly and how they do that?

“I think our team is really process-oriented,” said Rutschman. “So, each game is a new game, and we try to treat it as such. And you know, learn from anything from the day before and then move on. Our guys do a good job of banding together and trying to just focus on the here and now.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde knew that Dean Kremer wanted the ball in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. The high stakes, the confidence he brings to the mound, the impressive starts in two clinchers last month.

Hyde approached Kremer yesterday, prior to Game 2, and updated him on the team’s plans. He was the choice. But Hyde checked back this morning amid the violent conflict with Hamas in Israel, where at least 900 people were killed over the weekend in a surprise attack. Israel declared war on Sunday.

Kremer has Israeli dual citizenship and makes yearly visits to his family. He pitched for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic during spring training, his proudest moment in a baseball uniform.

“I saw him at breakfast this morning,” Hyde said at today’s workout at Globe Life Field. “We had a nice conversation. Gave him my support and sympathies for him and his family that's involved, and he seemed OK. He seemed like he was ready to pitch. He seemed like he felt comfortable with where his family situation was at with the whole thing.

“Obviously, he's very disturbed and there's a lot of things going on, but I didn't sense that it was going to affect (him). I think he's really looking forward to pitching tomorrow, so I didn't think it was going to affect him.”

In case you missed it, Aaron Judge re-signed with the Yankees. It got pretty extensive coverage. And yes, most of the non-Yankees fans in the game are ready to move on to something else now.

As it relates to the Orioles, they added right-handed pitcher Kyle Gibson in recent days, but their search for a pitcher they can slot toward the top of their rotation is ongoing. Their choices are lessening.

The biggest pitching fish, or one of the three when free agency began, lefty Carlos Rodón is still out there. It would be a surprise if he ends up with the Orioles, but what a surprise it would be. Other pitchers that might have been in play for the Orioles have come off the board.

Right-hander Taijuan Walker signed with the Phillies for four years at $72 million. Right-hander Jameson Taillon joined the Cubs for four years at $68 million. José Quintana is joining the Mets and Andrew Heaney is headed to Texas.

The team that signs Rodón will lose a draft pick, as he rejected a qualifying offer. Same applies to Chris Bassitt and Nathan Eovaldi. Kodai Senga, with no draft pick attached, could be signing soon, per reports, while lefty Sean Manaea and righty Noah Syndergaard are still out there.