Last year’s Winter Meetings appeared to confirm the handful of Orioles prospects deemed untouchable, at least to some rival executives - a group that included Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo and Heston Kjerstad.

This week could present an opportunity for media in Dallas to glean whether some statuses have changed.

Holliday projects as the starting second baseman after a rough introduction to the majors, where he batted .189/.255/.311 with 69 strikeouts in 60 games. He’s made an adjustment at the plate, removing the leg lift as a timing mechanism and going with a toe tap, and the Orioles maintain a high opinion of a player drafted one/one and who ranked as the top prospect in baseball.

Jordan Westburg, Jorge Mateo and Ramón Urías also can play second, giving manager Brandon Hyde infield flexibility. But the ideal setup has Holliday at second, Westburg at third and Urías and Mateo working in utility roles. Mateo also could be an extra right-handed hitting outfielder.

Kjerstad could find many more opportunities bouncing between the outfield and designated hitter. The Orioles signed Tyler O’Neill to replace Anthony Santander, but Kjerstad offers the contrast of a left-handed bat.

Rather than let the mailbag fill until it overflows like a clogged sink, I’ve decided to share a few more questions this morning to keep it at a reasonable level.

I sense a little fan impatience because the Orioles haven’t made a big move or one that fits as a medium, but offers reportedly were made for starting pitching and the Winter Meetings could bring news. Stay patient. It's early December.

In the meantime …

Why hasn't the “Hot Stove” been hot?
There it is. Some deals and signings have been announced, but the process slows with the expanded playoff field convincing more teams that they can contend. Agents aren’t in a rush to accept proposals. High-profile free agents like Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes need to come off the board, which makes clubs pivot to Plan B. Stuff like that.

How many Orioles minor leaguers are eligible to be chosen in the Rule 5 draft?
Roster Resource lists 36. Don't worry, all 36 won’t be selected. Some of the more notable names include outfielders Hudson Haskin, John Rhodes and Reed Trimble, catcher Maverick Handley and pitchers Justin Armbruester, Juan Nuñez, Carter Baumler, Kyle Brnovich, Alex Pham, Zach Peek, Jean Pinto, Tyler Burch, Keagan Gillies and Kyle Virbitsky.

For someone who covers the minor leagues as I do it is a question to ponder: When referring to the Baysox moving forward, do I go with Chesapeake, their new name, or in some cases is Bowie still acceptable?

A case like when I refer to a player who spent time in 2024 with the Baysox. They were still Bowie then, so do I say this player hit such and such at High-A Aberdeen and this number at Double-A Bowie? Or just use Chesapeake?

There is no handbook and there are no right or wrong answers.

But in noting some recent stories in this space, I did report on the name change to the Chesapeake Baysox.

“I think when we looked at where our fans are coming from, we wanted to be inclusive of the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed,” said Brian Shallcross, in his 20^th year as Baysox general manager. “We saw people coming from the Eastern Shore, west of the Potomac. We were surprised when we dug into the stats of just how far and ranging our fanbase was. We wanted to be inclusive of all those fans without forgetting our roots.”

A new Baseball America O’s top 10 prospects list dropped this week. Before or even after you get to your Turkey today, take a look at the list and a few thoughts on each player.

1 – Catcher Samuel Basallo: The big man with the big bat ascends to the top spot. Now it’s a matter of time before he makes his MLB debut. A shining star for the O’s international program, he now has plenty of company among the O’s top 30 with numerous other international talents.

He played in the Futures Game in July and Minor League Baseball named him as the Top MLB Prospect in the Double-A-Eastern League. He moved to Triple-A late in the year, where, after a 7-for-44 start, he batted .297 with an .810 OPS his last 11 Triple-A Norfolk games.

2 – Infielder Coby Mayo: Another big man with a big bat. The minor league numbers were pretty special, but he was swinging and missing a ton in his brief time with the Orioles. Patience needed here. Once Mayo hits that first 450-foot shot in the majors, plenty of more are likely to follow. Biggest question for his future – what position will he play?

3 – Outfielder Heston Kjerstad: He has been on the O’s playoff rosters the last two Octobers. Now he could be the replacement in right field if Anthony Santander's signs with another club. The No. 2 pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, the O’s soon need to figure out what they have here. He’s had 814 plate appearances in Double-A and Triple-A over the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

The trend for O’s young players and some of the top prospects in the last year or two has been to come to the big leagues and struggle initially. It doesn’t happen every time, but it has happened a lot of the time.

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez and outfielder Colton Cowser are two prime examples. In his first 10 MLB starts during the 2023 season, Rodriguez went 2-2 with a 7.35 ERA and .956 OPS against. It got better for him. During that same ’23 season, over 77 plate appearances (yes, a small sample) Cowser hit. 115 with an OPS of .433.

Rodriguez, as was Cowser, was sent back to the minors after those initial struggles in 2023. In July of that year he came back a different pitcher. In fact, in his last 33 games, he has gone 18-6 with a 3.35 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. He has 18 quality starts allowing a .237 batting average and .664 OPS. His groundball rate is 45.7 and that helped him keep the ball in the park allowing 0.84 homers per nine since that July 2023 date.

Cowser just posted a second-place finish for the AL Rookie of the Year, losing out to Yankees right-hander Luis Gil after a strong first full season in the majors.

Watching Rodriguez go from pitching to a 7.35 ERA to pitching like a No. 1 or No. 2 starter and watching Cowser go from hitting .115 to getting Rookie of the Year votes, reminds us it can take a while for young players to reach their potential or to trend up on the stat sheet.

We’ve entered a fresh week and the Orioles, like so many other teams, are waiting to make that huge strike in free agency or via a trade. The 40-man roster underwent some adjustments. Arbitration-eligible players were tendered contracts. Some minor league depth moves have been completed, with more to come.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias appeared yesterday on MLB Network Radio, and he barely heard his introduction before a host playfully asked when he would announce his first big move of the offseason.

“You want to do it right now?” Elias asked, playing along with the bit. “I’ve got to make one first.”

Talks were held at the general managers meetings in San Antonio and will heat up again at next month’s Winter Meetings in Dallas. Elias is talking to other executives and to agents. But the shopping list remains the same.

“We’re working on it,” he said.

Questions are flowing into the mailbag. It’s like a valve is open.

Major League Baseball hosts its quarterly owners meetings next week in New York. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America will begin announcing winners of its four major awards Monday with Rookie of the Year in both leagues.

Colton Cowser is a finalist and will try to give the Orioles back-to-back winners for the first time in club history and eight winners overall.

The offseason is pretty tame at the moment beyond the usual roster deadlines. The Nov. 4 waiver claims of catcher René Pinto and pitcher Thaddeus Ward didn’t move the needle. Lots of work is done behind closed doors with the Orioles putting together their major league and minor league coaching staffs and filling other positions.

Let’s fill this space with the mailbag, which is the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original.

It’s another slow day for me. At least that’s what I’m told. Or “ordered” is more like it.

(This would be funny if I didn’t survive the surgery but the story ran anyway. Now that’s a slow day.)

Here are some topics and decisions hovering around the Orioles. You can do the heavy lifting today and tell me what’s going to happen.

Apologies in advance if any of them became outdated earlier this week because I still didn’t have access to my laptop. Or because I died.

Coby Mayo had a few stops in the majors this year and went 4-for-41 in 17 games. He’s waiting for his first extra-base hit.

Was Robert De Niro robbed of an Oscar in 1992 for his portrayal of Max Cady in “Cape Fear?”

De Niro was amazing in that role. A brilliant performance. I would have chosen him. But I also can’t argue with Anthony Hopkins winning for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs.”

See, you ask and I answer. It’s that simple. Or in this case, I ask and answer to set up the latest mailbag entry.

(Martin Scorsese was robbed twice – for Raging Bull and Goodfellas – by first-time directors Robert Redford and Kevin Costner. And he’s been the victim of other snubs. Those just irk me the most. But I digress …)

I’m serving mailbag leftovers as we trudge through another week in the offseason. Any thoughts of editing for clarity, length and style were scraped into the trash.

It’s never too early to start thinking about spring training storylines.

That’s a lie. It’s much too early. But there’s no harm in talking about a few topics in October.

Can the roster hold Heston Kjerstad and Coby Mayo?

There might not be two bigger curiosities in camp than this duo. Kjerstad was the second-overall pick in the 2020 draft, and you know the rest, including the myocarditis diagnosis that pushed back everything in his career and changed his life. Mayo has risen to No. 1 prospect in the system and No. 8 in baseball per MLB Pipeline, with power that makes jaws drop.

Kjerstad has it, too, but neither one has a position waiting for him. Kjerstad was supposed to be the everyday right fielder, but he was optioned again this season and sidelined by a concussion, and Anthony Santander hit 44 home runs. Mayo went 4-for-41 with 22 strikeouts and was optioned twice, and a team trying for a deep playoff run went with more trustworthy defenders at third base.

The uncertainties over the Orioles’ roster for 2025 include how they intend to use Heston Kjerstad. Will he receive an opportunity to play every day, no matter the matchup, and how many starts will he get in the outfield?

Some stability would be a nice advancement for the second-overall draft pick in 2020.

Kjerstad was optioned multiple times and had multiple stints on the concussion injured list. He totaled 39 games and 114 plate appearances, batting .253/.351/.394, and made his second playoff roster.

It’s hard to label Kjerstad’s usage as a platoon because he didn’t play regularly, but he had only 16 at-bats against left-handers and collected six hits.

Manager Brandon Hyde was asked at his season-ending media session about platooning some of the younger hitters.

The Orioles can’t say that their outfield is set for 2025 until they figure out what’s happening in right, with Anthony Santander heading toward free agency and the various directions they could go for a replacement. They know that Adley Rutschman is their No. 1 catcher but his backup, James McCann, also is ready to hit the market. The left side of the infield appears to be in the hands of shortstop Gunnar Henderson and third baseman Jordan Westburg, with Ramón Urías an option again for the corner if he’s tendered a contract. MLBTradeRumors.com projects a raise to $3.1 million.

The right side is settled if you believe that Jackson Holliday heads into camp as the everyday second baseman – the Orioles didn’t pick him first overall to work in a platoon – and Ryan Mountcastle stays at first with another big raise coming his way after making $4.137.5 million this year. The Orioles were willing to listen to trade offers for Mountcastle at the deadline, though nothing materialized, and his projected salary jumps to $6.6 million.

Many of us are working under the assumption that the Orioles give Mountcastle a contract and the left field wall continues to torture him. It’s reducing his impactful power. The infield on most nights could hold, going left to right, Westburg, Henderson, Holliday and Mountcastle. But there are other decisions to make at first base.

Ryan O’Hearn watched his career soar after the Orioles acquired him from the Royals for cash considerations on Jan. 3, 2023. More accurately, after he battled to get back on the 40-man roster. Let’s not forget that they designated him for assignment two days later, risking that he’d get claimed by another team. And for Lewin Díaz again.

Those were crazy times.

Mike Elias’ annual season-ending press conference lasted 36 minutes today at Camden Yards. The time wasn’t an issue.

It was the date.

The Orioles thought they’d be playing games instead of packing and heading home. The sixth-year executive vice president/general manager didn’t want to reflect only a few days into October.

The Royals swept the best-of-three Wild Card series and traveled to New York for the Division Series. Some Orioles players and coaches returned to the ballpark today, including major league field coordinator Tim Cossins, pitchers Dean Kremer and Seranthony Domínguez and infielder Jorge Mateo, to grab the rest of their belongings. Everyone believed they had a chance to hoist a World Series trophy, but they didn’t get close to it.

“Clearly a very disappointing, bitter ending, whatever word you want to use. I think a lot of those words were used last night by the players and those of us in the organization that spoke publicly,” Elias said.

Facing a win or go home, the season's over scenario, the Orioles host the Kansas City Royals today in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card round series at Oriole Park. 

There were just 10 hits yesterday as Kansas City pushed across a sixth-inning run to beat the Orioles 1-0, who now have a nine-game postseason losing streak.

Bobby Witt Jr. singled in the only run as Kansas City moved to within one win of advancing to the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees.

The Orioles, who scored 22 runs in sweeping Minnesota over the weekend and 56 runs in their last 10 regular-season games, were shut out. It was their fourth shutout over the last 20 games since Sept. 8.

O's right-hander Corbin Burnes went eight-innings plus one batter allowing five hits and one run on 84 pitches. Burnes, who has never thrown a complete game came close yesterday. His career-long outing was 8 1/3 innings on July 18, 2021 for Milwaukee at Cincinnati.

The unpredictability of baseball, and so often the Orioles organization, were on full display again yesterday. Trying to guess along is a dangerous game, bound to burn its participants.

News leaked that the Orioles were optioning corner infielder Coby Mayo to Triple-A Norfolk, and the immediate assumption had utility infielder Ramón Urías rejoining the club from the 10-day injured list. Two rehab games at Triple-A Norfolk, where Urías homered Friday night, seemed sufficient.

I jumped to that conclusion so hard that I may have qualified for the next Olympics.

Instead, the Orioles selected outfielder Daniel Johnson’s contract from Norfolk because Cedric Mullins’ status was uncertain due to the neck soreness that kept him on the bench Friday night. Mullins and right fielder Austin Slater attempted diving catches simultaneously the previous night and collided.  

Johnson made sense based on the circumstances, but Urías’ return is imminent, perhaps by this morning. Urías and Jordan Westburg were removed from last night’s game by design in the fifth inning. It’s just a matter of which players are bumped from the roster.

Major League Baseball has adjusted its playoff math and the Orioles actually could clinch a berth tonight rather than Sunday.

The magic number remains at three, but the Orioles will reach the postseason again with a win this afternoon against the Tigers and a Mariners loss tonight in Texas. They’d claim the tie-breaker over Detroit in a complicated scenario.

The Mariners’ game begins at 7:05 p.m., setting up the possibility that the Orioles won't celebrate in the clubhouse. It’s happened in the past, with the team's playoff berth confirmed in 2012 while on a flight to Tampa.

Adding to the unusual circumstances that day was how the charter made an emergency landing in Jacksonville after smoke began pouring out of an oven in the kitchen area. Players reboarded and toasted their first postseason berth since 1997. Seats and windows weren't covered in plastic.

The Orioles haven’t made the playoffs in consecutive years since 1996-97. They qualified in 2012, ’14 and ’16 under former manager Buck Showalter and won the division last season.

The return of another injured player to the Orioles’ roster is costing Coby Mayo his spot.

The organization’s No. 1 prospect and Minor League Player of the Year will be optioned later today, according to an industry source. The Orioles haven’t announced the move.

Infielder Ramón Urías appeared in his second rehab game last night with Triple-A Norfolk and could be rejoining the club.

Mayo has played in 17 games with the Orioles and gone 4-for-41 with four walks and 22 strikeouts. He started at first base last night and lined a single into center field in the fourth inning before James McCann homered in a 7-1 win over the Tigers. He shattered his bat earlier on a ground ball to short.

Steady starts have eluded Mayo at the major league level despite injuries to Urías, Jordan Westburg and Ryan Mountcastle. He cracked the lineup only six times this month.  

They are a trio of players who took part in Orioles batting practice before Friday’s game. They all hope they will have another chance to do that here later in their careers and that they will be on the Orioles' active roster when that happens. 

But Friday afternoon under the Baltimore sun, the O’s first three selections in the 2024 MLB Draft took part in some pregame work.

That includes top draft pick, No. 22 overall, University of North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt. Also the O’s second selection, University of Virginia infielder Griff O’Ferrall, taken No. 32 overall and catcher Ethan Anderson, Baltimore’s second-round pick, No. 61 overall, also out of UVA.

Honeycutt was asked about hitting during batting practice.

“It was cool,” he said. “Definitely nervous for the first round. But just taking this all in.”

Two players the Orioles acquired in and after the 2020 MLB Draft have won their two top player development and scouting awards, the club announced today.

Slugger Coby Mayo wins the Brooks Robinson Award as the Orioles' minor league Player of the Year. Right-hander Brandon Young is the Jim Palmer Award winner as minor league Pitcher of the Year.

The Orioles also today named Latin America Coordinator of Instruction Samuel Vega the Cal Ripken Sr. Player Development Award winner and Donovan O'Dowd the Jim Russo Scout of the Year.

Due to the pandemic, the 2020 draft was just five rounds. The O’s selected Mayo in round four at selection No. 103. After that draft, they added Young out of Louisiana-Lafayette as a non-drafted free agent.

Mayo is ranked as the club’s No. 1 prospect and No. 8 overall in the top 100 by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline after a big year at Triple-A Norfolk.

Talk about being thrown into the deep end and having to swim, that is, in a sense, what is happening to Orioles prospects Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo.

These are top young talents, rated among the best in the game, that may be cornerstone players one day, but right now they are battling to get hits in a pennant race. And at a time when the team has lost games while the club is not scoring much. It puts pressure on everyone.

Yeah, a real challenge.

Over 51 games for the year, Holliday, age 20, has hit .170/.223/.298/.521. When he came back to the majors on July 31, he hit a grand slam and had an OPS of 1.072 in a 10-game span, hitting five homers with 12 RBIs. A few days later he had a four-hit game.

But now he is 2-for-26 with nine strikeouts the last 10 games. He did not start Saturday or Sunday in Detroit.