The shuffling of the 40-man roster, with some cards tossed out of the deck, grows louder with today’s deadline for setting it prior to the Dec. 7 Rule 5 draft in San Diego.

The Orioles have met multiple times this week to finalize their list. They’ve created six openings, with the freedom to fashion more as they seek to add players from outside the organization via free agency and trades.

Top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez and shortstop Joey Ortiz, the No. 8 prospect in the organization per Baseball America, are simple additions. Those internal talks must have lasted two seconds.

Rodriguez is expected to be in the rotation on opening day. Ortiz could compete for the shortstop job in spring training after batting .346/.400/.567 with seven doubles, two triples, four home runs, 14 RBIs and nine walks in 26 games with Triple-A Norfolk after his promotion from Double-A Bowie.

Left-hander Drew Rom, 22, is a strong candidate to be protected. The fourth-round draft pick in 2018 struck out 144 batters in 120 innings between Bowie and Norfolk, and he surrendered only 10 home runs.

O’s manager Brandon Hyde went to closer Jorge López again Friday night for a save of more than three outs, and once again his right-hander was fully up to the task. López got the final out of the eighth and three outs in the ninth for his 10^th save and recorded all four outs on strikeouts, the last with a 98 mph fastball that he threw past Brett Phillips. He protected yet another one-run lead.

Hyde would rather not have to call on López to do such heavy lifting. But he got the job done again. And his five saves of more than one inning put him in a tie with Pittsburgh’s David Bednar for the most in the majors.

“Prefer not to,” said Hyde before Saturday’s game. “Feel like we get two outs in the eighth and there is a big spot and I’ve got a right-hander coming up and Lopie is the best for me. Not the ideal way. But, because of the way he has pitched in the past, he’s not been a one-inning guy; he’s been a starter. He likes going multiple innings; I think that is important also. He wants the ball, and he wants the ball in that spot. He’s done amazing with it.

“Not every closer, ninth-inning guy, or high-leverage guy is like that. That is why Lopie is a little bit unique for me. He can give you a five-out, four outs, six outs, when he is your best option against the middle of the order or in a big spot in the game. When the game is on the line. Because of the pitch mix and he is used to pitching multiple innings.”

López has not allowed an earned run in his last 11 appearances, covering 14 innings. He has recorded a save in four of his past six outings, and 23 of his 28 outings have been scoreless. His 0.82 ERA ranks second among all pitchers (with a minimum of 30 innings).

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