Money remains a determining factor in free agency, with the most lucrative offers usually winning out. The game’s evolution still has its limits. Some things stay the same.

However, the Orioles are finding that they’re a more attractive destination after emerging from the rebuild.

The perception of the organization has shifted, and more dramatically than the left field wall.

It won’t make Shohei Ohtani regret the $700 million he’s getting from the Dodgers, but the selling points are beginning to multiply.

“It’s been really refreshing and it’s such an easy conversation for Brandon Hyde and I to explain why this is a good place to come play,” executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said at the Winter Meetings.

The Orioles still haven’t announced their coaching staff for the 2024 season, though executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias confirmed at the Winter Meetings the hiring of Drew French as pitching coach. One of the two vacancies filled.

An assistant pitching coach is expected to be named as Darren Holmes’ replacement.

Bench coach Fredi González has received positive feedback on French, who spent the last three years as Atlanta’s bullpen coach.

González said he’s talked to Braves manager Brian Snitker a couple times, “and he raved about him.”

“I’m looking forward to spending the summer with him,” González said this week.

More than two months have passed since the Orioles lost to the Rangers in the Division Series. The first sweep by an opponent since May 2022. The finality knocking the sounds out of the visiting clubhouse at Globe Life Field, leaving players sitting in silence at their lockers.

The hurt lessens for some but the mind can’t forget.

“It hasn't eased for me,” manager Brandon Hyde said at the Winter Meetings.

“I think that there's a lot of disappointment. And I'm really proud of our season, I don't want to take that for granted. To win our division, to win over a hundred games, to have the individual performances and team performances that we had, it says a lot about our roster and our guys and how we have some really good players. But you do that and then you fall short like we did, that takes a while to go away. So, it hasn't gone away for me yet.”

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias called the sweep “a gut punch” during one his media sessions in Nashville.

The first post-Winter Meetings mailbag is here. It got lost at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.

We sent out a search party and found it. Employees had wrapped it in lights and covered it with poinsettias. Families were posing with it for their holiday cards.

One intoxicated baseball fan tried to buy it a drink. Another took it for a boat ride below the Delta ballroom and tried to dump it like a mafia body.

You’re about to read the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. In all its glory.

I’ll admit to a little editing in this mailbag. I deleted a space between the last letter in a sentence and the punctuation mark.

The Orioles have a stated goal of placing a starter at or near the top of their rotation, but they also are prepared to deliver a counter punch. They’re a team that could bob and weave, backpedal and head in the other direction.

A last resort might be to insert a pitcher toward the back end and hope that returnees Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez can be true aces.

Spending is limited for a franchise that’s more than reluctant to launch the payroll into the upper echelon. An anchor is dropped. The room for movement is limited, small-to-mid-market status cutting off the ring.

Outbidding the many deep-pocketed clubs isn’t a strategy. Offering left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez $80 million over four years, as the Diamondbacks did to sign the former Orioles farmhand, never seemed like a realistic maneuver.

MLBTradeRumors.com projected a nine-year, $225 million contract for Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a seven-year, $200 million deal for Blake Snell and a six-year, $150 million contract for Jordan Montgomery.

Craig Kimbrel needed a full minute to unmute himself on this afternoon’s video call with local media, smiling as he worked to solve the issue, the same composure he exhibits with runners on base but minus the stare and distinctive pitching posture.

“There we go,” he finally said. “Perfect start.”

The Orioles are more interested in how he closes.

The pursuit of Kimbrel in free agency was immediate. His representative, David Meter, was the first person by Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias at the general managers meetings in Arizona.  

The cost of doing business was $13 million guaranteed, including the buyout on a $13 million option in 2025. Worth every penny for a team that needed a stopgap while Félix Bautista recovers from Tommy John surgery.

NASHVILLE – The Orioles began negotiations with closer Craig Kimbrel on the first night of the general managers meetings. They reached agreement with him Monday night and signed him earlier today after he passed a physical.

They identified their target and hit the bull's eye.

Kimbrel receives $12 million in 2024 and has a $1 million buyout on a $13 million club option. He’s tabbed as the replacement for Félix Bautista.

“I think he brings what he does to this team,” said executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. “He is one of the best closers in baseball history at this point. He’s still got a lot in the tank and he had a really solid season (this) year and we see a lot of things from a scouting perspective going forward that has us placing a pretty big bet that this guy’s going to have a really good season for us.”

The first conversation that Elias had at the GM meetings involved Kimbrel’s representative.

NASHVILLE – Reliever Craig Kimbrel has passed his physical and signed a contract with the Orioles for the 2024 season that also includes an option for 2025.

Multiple reports had the deal done, and an industry source confirmed it to MASNsports.com.

The New York Post reported that Kimbrel will receive $12 million next season and has a $1 million buyout in 2025 on a $13 million club option. The deal guarantees $13 million and will be the largest from the Orioles since Mike Elias became the club's executive vice president/general manager, overtaking the $10 million deal Kyle Gibson got last winter.

A late-inning reliever was a top priority for Elias, with closer Félix Bautista out next season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in October.

Kimbrel, who turns 36 in May, ranks eighth on the all-time saves list with 417 over his 14 seasons. The nine-time All-Star posted a 3.26 ERA, 1.043 WHIP, and .611 OPS against this year with the Phillies, registered 23 saves and averaged 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings.

NASHVILLE – The Orioles weren’t eligible for today’s draft lottery but moved up two spots for next year’s first selection.

They went from holding the 24^th to the 22^nd because of luxury tax penalties imposed on the Yankees and Padres.

“That’s a pretty high pick coming off a 101-win season,” said executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias.

It’s the lowest for the Orioles since pitcher Cody Sedlock was taken 27^th overall out of the University of Illinois in 2016.

They also have the 32^nd selection, a prospect promotion incentive pick for Gunnar Henderson winning the American League’s Rookie of the Year Award, and the 34^th in the Competitive Balance A round.

NASHVILLE – Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said he’s had a “productive day” of meetings at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. Can’t get into particulars, but a lot of good conversations with so many attractive free agents remaining on the board and plenty of trade partners.

Jackson Holliday isn’t just untouchable in those discussions. He could be on the roster when the team breaks camp.

“It’s definitely a very strong possibility,” Elias said. “I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, but he had an historic first full season in the minors. You probably have to go back into like the ‘80s or ‘90s to find something similar to that, in my opinion, for an American kid out of high school.

“Got to Triple-A, wasn’t there a huge amount of time, didn’t tear the cover off the ball, but he more than held his own and he did well. He’s now going to be back in spring training. He just turned 20 (yesterday), so to me that’s a big year of development, 19 to 20. You get taller, you get heavier, you get more mature. There’s a lot of good things that happen. So we just want to see what he looks like.”

Holliday was invited to spring training last year and impressed with his skills and attitude before the Orioles assigned him to the minor league side and the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds. He won’t be on the clock in 2024, waiting to be called into manager Brandon Hyde’s office with the inevitable news.

NASHVILLE – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde can’t let it go completely.

The sweep in the American League Division Series isn’t causing him sleepless nights, but he said today that “it hasn’t eased for me.” The time hasn't healed the wounds.

“There was a lot of disappointment,” Hyde said during today’s media session at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. “I’m really proud of our season. I don’t want to take that for granted. To win our division, to win over 100 games, to have the individual performances and team performances that we had, it says a lot about our roster and our guys. We have some really good players, but you do that and then you fall short like we did, it takes a while to go away.

“It hasn’t gone away for me yet.”

The Orioles posted the best record in the American League, but they need to push further. Perhaps it happens through roster upgrades. Or maybe it’s just a natural progression after experiencing the rigors of October baseball.

This morning marks my last story minus a Nashville dateline until probably Friday. I’m boarding a flight in a few hours and landing into the next phase of baseball’s offseason.

The Winter Meetings are held this week at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, a space so large it has its own mayor. Families come from all over the country to check out the holiday decorations and ask, “Has anyone seen my kid?”

The Orioles are searching for starting and relief pitching.

The first media session with executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias will be held Monday afternoon in his suite, and all 30 executives will be available Tuesday afternoon. Manager Brandon Hyde will have his own scrum Tuesday afternoon in "Delta Lobby A," which I'm hoping is within a 25-mile radius of the workroom.

(I’ll stop complaining about the location today. That’s my promise to you.)

The clock is ticking louder for the start of baseball’s annual Winter Meetings, which were held virtually in December 2020 due to the pandemic and canceled in 2021 because of the lockout. The in-person sessions returned last year in San Diego.

Long flight but a short walk from the media workroom to the lobby and back.  

The Orioles reached agreement on a one-year deal with starter Kyle Gibson on the weekend before those meetings, with his signing made official after we arrived. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias provided more details, confirming the $10 million cost.  

The next few days played out in typical Orioles fashion.

They signed right-hander Ofreidy Gómez to a minor league deal on Dec. 5 and outfielder Nomar Mazara and infielder Josh Lester the following day, and selected pitcher Andrew Politi from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft. Internet searches were conducted, stats consumed like hors d’oeuvres.

The Orioles are finalizing the structure of their 2024 coaching staff as they approach the Winter Meetings. Business that doesn’t influence their active roster.

According to an industry source, the Orioles are prepared to hire Drew French as their pitching coach.

French, 39, spent the past three seasons as the Braves’ bullpen coach. He’ll take over for Chris Holt, who maintains his duties as director of pitching.

Holt and executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias are familiar with French from his five seasons as pitching coach in the Astros’ organization from 2016-20. French was one of two pitching coaches at the alternate training site in 2020 before joining Houston toward the end of the regular season and playoffs to work with the club’s taxi squad.

French began his tenure in the Astros’ system as pitching coach at short-season Tri-City. He served in the same role with the 2017 Midwest League champion Quad Cities River Bandits and 2018 Carolina League champion Buies Creed Astros.

The Winter Meetings are a week away, but I can’t fly into Nashville until I’ve trudged through a few more awards nights.

Roll up the pant legs and wear old shoes.

Major League Baseball’s Comeback Player of the Year will be announced Tuesday evening on MLB Network. White Sox closer Liam Hendriks was honored in the American League in the Players Choice voting, finishing ahead of Orioles first baseman Ryan O’Hearn and Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow.

Hendriks returned to the White Sox’s active roster in May and appeared in five games after battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I don’t see any reason to consider someone else.

Former Orioles first baseman Trey Mancini was the AL’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2021.

A kind world would make carving reminiscent of turkeys on the Thanksgiving table rather than Nathan Eovaldi facing the Orioles in the Division Series. But gentle isn’t always an option.

Let’s keep it brief today. Like saying grace. Expressing your gratitude without letting the gravy get cold and develop that skin on the surface.

Orioles fans should be thankful for a 2023 season that probably exceeded their wildest expectations.

A record above .500? Optimists were on it. Making the playoffs? Not beyond the realm of possibility after the club went 83-79 the previous summer.

Posting the best record in the American League to win the division and earn a first-round bye? Crazy talk until it happened.

The Orioles were expected to find a new Opening Day starter in 2024, whether from outside the organization or by choosing one of their returnees.

Now, they’re assured of doing it.

Kyle Gibson reached agreement today on a one-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals that includes an option for 2025, per a report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, with multiple outlets confirming.

ESPN’s Jesse Rogers first reported that Gibson will receive $12 million next season.

It’s an ideal landing spot for Gibson, who lives in the St. Louis area and attended the University of Missouri. He follows the Cardinals’ agreement yesterday with veteran Lance Lynn to a one-year deal plus an option for a guaranteed $11 million.

Leftovers aren’t just for the days after Thanksgiving.

I had some extra questions in last week’s mailbag. I’d prefer green bean casserole, but maybe later.

The portion is modest, unlike your server. Just a couple handfuls of inquiries that didn’t make the first one.

Also, my mailbag serves homemade stuffing and your mailbag uses a box that expired three years ago.

Who will be the top two Orioles in stolen bases in 2024 and who will get the most innings at third base?
Two questions packed into one. Sort of like a casserole. I can’t make bold predictions without knowing the Opening Day roster. Jorge Mateo and Cedric Mullins were 1-2 this season, but Mateo appeared in 116 games. I wouldn’t expect the same in 2024. The second part is easier because I can just choose between Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg. I’ll get back to you.

With family and friends gathering soon for the Thanksgiving holiday, the baseball business could slow but won’t necessarily halt. The screeching sound isn’t brakes. More likely talk radio.

Mike Elias could turn off his phone or charge it in another room while the turkey’s carved. He might be traveling and temporarily unavailable. But he’s aware of a fast-developing market after his time at the general managers meetings in Arizona. How pitching could fly off the board – unlike turkeys, who can’t fly – with so many teams searching for it.

The expanded playoffs increase the aggressiveness of executives, especially after the second-place, 84-win Diamondbacks reached the World Series. Snoozing brings the risk of losing.

Elias is known to prefer club control beyond one year if listening to trade offers, but the quest for a starter who slots high in the rotation might now allow it. Some of the biggest names assumed to be available are approaching free agency, most notably Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes, Cleveland’s Shane Bieber and Tampa Bay’s Tyler Glasnow. The White Sox’s Dylan Cease has two years left on his contract.

The rentals can command less in return, but higher demand and desperation also can plant the sellers more firmly in the driver’s seat. Bidding wars aren’t confined to free agency.

Guiding a team to 101 wins and the best record in the American League couldn’t be ignored by voters in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Brandon Hyde was named AL Manager of the Year, with the news coming tonight on MLB Network. He was the only manager to appear on every ballot.

Hyde, a runner-up last year to the Indians’ Terry Francona, received 27 first-place votes and three second. The Rangers’ Bruce Bochy garnered the other three first-place votes and finished with 61 points.

The Rays’ Kevin Cash had 52, followed by the Twins’ Rocco Baldelli (eight), the Astros’ Dusty Baker (four) and the Blue Jays’ John Schneider (one).

Joe Maddon, a three-time recipient and close friend of Hyde’s, made the announcement. Hyde was on Maddon’s coaching staff when the Cubs won the World Series in 2016.