Orioles have a solid core group of players to build around

The hot stove season is about to really heat up and there is so much focus on potential additions to all teams. Which players can they add and how much better will that make them?

There has been plenty of discussion about the Orioles and whether they can retain some of their own free agents. If not, which players might they pursue through trades and/or free agency?

But what about the core group the Orioles to have to build around and/or add to? Is that at least a good starting point for the organization?

Four players in that core of position players have been All-Stars: catcher Matt Wieters, third baseman Manny Machado, shortstop J.J. Hardy and center fielder Adam Jones. Add young and improving second baseman Jonathan Schoop to that foursome and it a pretty solid core of five players. If - and, yes, it's big if - they re-sign Chris Davis, it is a strong core group of six.

There has been some discussion among readers here proposing the thought that the Orioles go into a rebuilding mode. There have been suggestions of trading players like Zach Britton and/or even Jones to bring a potential haul of prospects back to restock the farm and get the rebuild under way.

This is an interesting theory and one we can debate, but it is just not happening. Not right now at least. The management of the team wants to add, not subtract, and seems to see that core group as well worth building around. We know the team has had some consistently strong areas in recent years, like the home run potential, the bullpen and the defense. The starting rotation fell from fifth-best to 14th in the league last year and that was a key reason the team won 15 fewer games than the 96-win O's of 2014.

If you take Machado, Hardy, Wieters and Jones, that group of four has a combined 25 Gold Gloves, All-Star game selections and Silver Slugger awards. Take five key members of the world champion Kansas City Royals - Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain and Salvador Perez - and they've picked up 18 of those combined honors.

That is in no way saying the Orioles' group is better than the Royals'. They're not. And that would not be the best way to analyze it anyway. But the Orioles' group of five is a solid core base of players that holds its own with many clubs.

We have not talked pitching here and we know that has to be area where the Orioles want to see returning players do better next year, along with adding some talent to the staff this winter. But is the core group worth building around?