Is the new year bringing new thinking about rebuilding?

Right now, the Orioles have that feel of a team between a rock and hard place. Trying to catch the Yankees and Red Sox looks like a daunting task. They have four key players entering the last years of their contracts. They are coming off their first last-place finish since 2011.

There are other facts that are daunting. The 2017 Orioles finished the year going 7-22. The Orioles have had losing records in six of their last nine full months of baseball.

But the Orioles also have some huge competitors in their clubhouse, dugout and front office, and they have taken down the big boys before. They led the American League in wins from 2012 through 2016 - yes, more than New York and Boston for a five-season stretch - and made three playoff appearances.

But maybe the time has come to realize that was a special run of winning. It restored some order to the franchise that had losing seasons every year from 1998 through 2011, but that run is likely over. It came crashing down amid a lot of losses to end last season.

This offseason began with the Orioles insisting they can still contend in 2018. But as the offseason has gone on, they have shown an openness to trading Manny Machado, and Zach Britton suffered his Achilles injury. The Yankees added Giancarlo Stanton.

In addition, Orioles manager Buck Showalter and executive vice president Dan Duquette are in the final years of their contracts. Will one or both be entrusted with building a better future for the team beyond 2018?

We've written here before, and it is not exactly a great revelation, but building a top, young rotation is probably the quickest way for the Orioles to get back to having a chance to beat the Red Sox and Yankees, not to mention the Jays and Rays and other American League contenders.

Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman are a good start to that. But both must continue to progress, and then they'll need help. Trading Machado, since the Orioles seem unlikely to re-sign him, might be the best chance to add a young stud starter to that pair. Then they need to hit on some of their own young pitchers or make other moves to produce the next Bundy and Gausman, if not pitchers even better.

Building a formidable, young rotation will give the O's their best chance to close the gap with the top of the American League East and produce a team that can win in the future too.

As 2018 is about to begin, will it produce a season in which the Orioles make one last run at postseason glory with a strong core of players, some of them soon to be gone? Or will it be a season of transition toward rebuilding, something the club has not been open to previously? A course that, while it could produce long-term gain, could produce short-term pain. The pain of losses.