Could Orioles consider a six-man rotation?

The Orioles have decisions to make about their rotation beyond whether they try tapping into the trade market for an ace and the order of it.

A few reasons exist to consider a six-man setup. A few others make it unlikely as camp breaks.

Signing free agents Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton to one-year deals broadened a crowd that already included returnees Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias won’t turn his back on an obtainable upgrade, but he’s also pleased with the current group and would be willing to ride into Opening Day with it.

Bringing in another starter without trading from his supply would leave Elias with even more of an abundance, and it already includes Albert Suárez and left-handers Trevor Rogers and Cade Povich. Chayce McDermott and Brandon Young also will be in camp with the intent of impressing manager Brandon Hyde and his coaches and putting themselves in consideration.

The extra starter would move Sugano closer to his routine in Japan with the additional rest. It could increase the chances of Rodriguez giving the Orioles a full season and freshen the others.

The counterpoints are the strain placed on the bullpen, which gets heavy use, and open dates on the schedule – four in April and four in May – that are built-in breathers.

The willingness to go with a post-break, modified six-man rotation already has been demonstrated in the past, and that’s probably how it would resurface.

“We’ve had kind of, I’d say, low-intensity discussions about that possibility,” executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said last week. “Right now, that is not the plan, but it could turn into the plan. We’re not in a hurry to make that decision. We’ll see where we’re at as camp’s going.

“I think our schedule has a lot of off-days in April and May, and that might make it a little less beneficial to do the six-man, but we want to hold off on that decision until we just get a better sense of how everyone’s throwing and the kind of things that don’t reveal themselves until much later in camp.”

Baseball can be full of surprises, and the Orioles were blindsided last year by injuries and surgeries that ripped through the rotation like a tornado. They can be forgiven for writing their plans in pencil.

Sugano is accustomed to six-man rotations with the Yomiuri Giants and he thrived over his 12 seasons with a career 2.43 ERA. He’s a three-time Central League Most Valuable Player – earning the honor again last year after going 15-3 with a 1.67 ERA and 0.945 WHIP in 24 starts -and eight-time All-Star. But the Orioles aren’t worried about tailoring their team for him.

“Those guys have a lot of challenges when they’re transitioning from the Nippon League to our league, but many recent pitchers have handled it,” Elias said. “I think there’s more of a playbook for it on a player’s side and Sugano is as experienced as anyone. He’s very savvy and understands how he pitches and who he is, so I’m really confident he’s going to figure it out. We’re helping him with that.”

* The Orioles are nearing completion of their minor league staffs. The only announcement is the hiring of Tim Federowicz as Triple-A Norfolk manager. He replaces Buck Britton, promoted by the Orioles to major league coach.

Federowicz managed the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens in the Tigers’ system last summer. He served as the Tigers’ catching coach in 2023.

“Those things are always fluid, and so we wait and release them at the end, just because people change jobs, leave the organization, get promoted. It has a tendency to shuffle around,” Elias said.

“I know that Matt (Blood) and Kent (Qualls) and Anthony Villa have things in a really, really, really close spot to where we’re almost done filling out staffs. We’ve had a lot of interest this offseason in hiring our employees and we’ve been fortunate to retain people and keep our great employees here. That’s the kind of thing that the front office has to navigate behind the scenes throughout the winter while they’re filling out a minor league staff.