We’ve been waiting all winter for the reliever market to heat up. Finally, with two weeks to go before pitchers and catchers report across Florida and Arizona, we’re starting to see action.

Just not by the Nationals. Yet.

Over the course of 24 hours Tuesday through Wednesday, six prominent late-inning relievers either signed as free agents or were traded to new clubs. The list includes bona fide closers like Carlos Estevez (two years, $22 million with Royals), Kirby Yates (one year, $13 million with Dodgers) and Ryan Pressly (one year, $14 million with Cubs) and noted setup men Taylor Rogers (one year, $12 million with Reds), Tommy Kahnle (one year, $7.75 million with Tigers) and Ryne Stanek (one year, $4.5 million with Mets).

It often just takes one move to trigger an avalanche, and it does appear that’s what is now happening with the reliever market. The next question: Will the Nats dive in themselves?

We’ve noted several times how much the Nationals bullpen is lacking in proven arms after losing Kyle Finnegan, Hunter Harvey, Dylan Floro, Robert Garcia and Jacob Barnes from last year’s group. So far, they’ve added only one experienced reliever in Jorge Lopez (one year, $3 million) to go along with holdover Derek Law. Young left-hander Jose A. Ferrer figures to be a prominent member of the group, and Rule 5 draft pick Evan Reifert figures to get a serious look this spring as the club decides whether to put him on the Opening Day roster or offer him back to the Rays.

Craig Kimbrel sat in front of his locker after the best and especially the worst of his outings. The clubhouse doors opened to the media and he’d be waiting for it. That’s a professional. He didn’t duck reporters and avoid uncomfortable questions about his demise as closer in the second half, how he tried to fix it and why he failed.

The stats will be regurgitated and rightfully so. This is a results-driven business and Kimbrel didn’t produce or provide a sufficient return on the largest contract awarded under executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias.

Kimbrel wasn’t supposed to be Félix Bautista, but he also wasn’t supposed to be Jorge Julio.

It’s worth a reminder, however, that there’s a person behind the inflated ERA, WHIP and blown saves. The Hall of Fame candidate who provided leadership for a bullpen still short on experience. He set an example, and that included how to handle adversity and not redirect it to innocent parties. Place it where it belonged, on his shoulders.

The last time we saw Kimbrel was after manager Brandon Hyde’s media session that followed Tuesday’s 10-0 loss and the career-high six runs that had many fans booing him. Kimbrel sat on a bench outside the clubhouse with wife Ashely and young children Lydia and Joseph, in full dad mode, as if everything was right in his world.

Craig Kimbel’s old locker is empty except for a row of hangers. His belongings are gone.

The former closer has left the building.

The Orioles designated Kimbrel for assignment earlier today and recalled reliever Bryan Baker. They made the move after he was charged last night with a career-high six runs in two-thirds of an inning, the last straw with his chances for inclusion on the playoff roster dissolved a while ago.

“Tough day,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We have so much respect for Craig and his career and what he’s done for the game, how long he’s pitched, how long he’s pitched well. So it’s never easy to say goodbye to somebody who’s done a lot.”

Kimbrel, 36, was an All-Star snub after posting a 2.80 ERA and 0.962 WHIP in 39 appearances, but he had a 10.59 ERA and 2.177 WHIP in 18 games since the break and never responded to a second reset.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde described it as a “tough day” as the team designated for assignment closer Craig Kimbrel. Hyde called him a “great teammate and class act.”

When I asked ace right-hander Corbin Burnes about Kimbrel, he said similar things. He may have been a poor pitcher for the team in the second half but his teammates sure seemed to support and have respect for him. And Burnes said even as Kimbrel’s season was spiraling downward he was in the clubhouse helping other players.

But in the end, performance matters most. And he went from an ERA of 2.80 in the first half to a pitcher that in 18 second-half games was 1-3 with a 10.59 ERA and 2.177 WHIP.

“Obviously it’s tough,” said Burnes. “You never want to see a guy get designated. A guy that has been here all year and given a lot to this team. And been a leader in the clubhouse, been a leader in the bullpen. You never want to see that happen. You understand why it happens, how baseball and how the business goes.

“I wish him the best. He’s had a Hall of Fame career, if this is it. If he comes back to play, I don’t know. I haven’t talked to Craig much about that. But he’s going to be a Hall of Famer.”

The Orioles ran out of time trying to fix Craig Kimbrel.

The club announced today that it designated Kimbrel for assignment and recalled reliever Bryan Baker from Triple-A Norfolk. The 40-man roster has 37 players.

Kimbrel has been scored upon in 11 of his last 19 appearances to leave him with a 5.33 ERA and 1.357 WHIP in 57 games. He’s averaging 5.3 walks per nine innings, his highest total in a full season since his rookie campaign in 2010.

The six runs surrendered last night were two more than his previous career high. The nine-time All-Star allowed only seven runs in the entire 2012 season.

The Orioles signed Kimbrel to a contract at the Winter Meetings that paid $12 million this season with a $13 million club option for 2025. Bonuses were added for games pitched and finished.

The Orioles didn’t find their mojo tonight.

Talk earlier of getting on a roll proved to be well-intended but hollow. The Orioles were down after two pitches from Albert Suárez, fell further behind in the second inning and lost to the Giants 10-0 before an announced crowd of 23,967 that sat through periods of light rain at Camden Yards.

The club can’t find cover from a steady shower of poor performances.

Their record fell to 84-67 with eight losses in the last 11 games, and the deficit behind the Yankees grew to four.

Craig Kimbrel allowed a season-high four runs in the ninth before leaving the game on a groundball single, uncontested stolen base, wild pitch, walk, fielder’s choice RBI bunt by Brett Wisely with a late throw to the plate, 12-pitch walk, two-run single by LaMonte Wade Jr. and Heliot Ramos’ RBI double. It got worse. Matt Bowman let both inherited runners score on Michael Conforto’s single, leaving Kimbrel with a career-high six runs. He hadn't surrendered more than four in his 15-year career.

The Orioles can envision a pitching staff that returns Grayson Rodriguez to the rotation and Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb to the bullpen. Like “trade deadline 2.0,” as pitching coach Drew French called it yesterday. An apt description.

“Acquisitions by reinstatement from the IL,” he said, maintaining his roll.

But the club can’t simply count on additions to subtract the entirety of its arm issues.

Craig Kimbrel retired the first two batters faced in the ninth inning Saturday afternoon and surrendered another run on Jonny DeLuca’s triple into left-center field and a wild pitch. He’s been scored upon in nine of his last 17 appearances, with 15 earned runs (17 total), 14 walks and 18 hits over 16 1/3 innings.

Kimbrel won’t close again unless other options are drained, and the pool of candidates deepens with Coulombe and Webb returning. But French offered some encouraging words yesterday regarding Kimbrel’s progress, which isn’t necessarily evident on the stat sheet.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde plucked three relievers from his nine-man bullpen last night after Dean Kremer carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and didn’t record an out.

Yennier Cano inherited a bases-loaded, no-out mess and retired three batters without a run scoring. Cionel Pérez retired two batters and left a runner for Seranthony Domínguez, who recorded the four-out save.

They are three sure things to keep pitching for the Orioles, if healthy, through September and the playoffs.  

Switching out arms is a common practice but the Orioles could take it to another level this month.

Jacob Webb had made two injury rehab appearances in the minors and is nearing a return from right elbow inflammation. The Orioles’ medical staff checked him yesterday and a decision is pending. One more game with an affiliate or reinstatement.

NEW YORK – What to do with the rotation is a major issue for the Orioles that yielded for a spell this afternoon to a slightly bigger concern.

Would they get a hit?

Would they put a runner on base?

Mets starter Sean Manaea retired the first 17 batters before nailing Jackson Holliday with a 94.7 mph fastball. Manaea tried a first-pitch sinker to Austin Slater, who homered to right field to tie the game.

The worrying spun back to another area, a bullpen that’s unsettled and can’t earn complete trust. Peaceful stretches aren’t permissible in 2024. Stress lurks around every corner.

NEW YORK – Former major league reliever Andrew Miller visited the Orioles clubhouse this afternoon at Citi Field. He isn’t making a comeback. He was here on business with the players’ union.

Miller’s career with the Orioles was brief, a mere 23 games in the regular season in 2014 and five more in the playoffs that resulted in 7 1/3 scoreless innings. He’s a reminder of much better bullpen days with Miller, Zack Britton, Darren O’Day, Brad Brach and Tommy Hunter.

Craig Kimbrel spent a portion of his pregame this afternoon throwing in the 'pen, doing more tinkering with his delivery and hoping to figure out why he can’t regain a first-half form that made him an All-Star candidate.

“I think it’s a little bit mechanical, so he’s just out there trying to work on some things. And it sounds like it really went well,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

“With where we are with our bullpen here, we’re gonna need guys to step up, and we need him to, as well.”

The Orioles’ approach to fixing Craig Kimbrel isn’t working. A second reset hasn’t landed him back in the closer’s role. Fresh ideas aren’t in abundance.

Manager Brandon Hyde intends to keep going down the same lower-leverage path with Kimbrel and hope for improved results. He can’t avoid using the nine-time All-Star and play shorthanded in the bullpen. He can’t hold out for blowouts.

This is it.

Kimbrel had three scoreless outings in a row July 31-Aug. 6, but traffic in each appearance raised the possibility of further trouble ahead. It wasn’t a false reading. He entered a tie game in the eighth inning last Sunday at Tropicana Field and allowed the go-ahead run, pitched in the seventh inning on Friday with the Red Sox leading 8-6 and surrendered a two-run homer to David Hamilton and solo shot to Jarren Duran.

To his credit, Kimbrel is a pro who doesn’t duck the media and who offers an accurate assessment of his work. The scoreless streak didn’t fool him.

To say the least, the Orioles have been inconsistent over recent weeks and maybe even going back further than that.

It has been seen big time on this homestand, which started Tuesday with the O's getting blown out 9-3 by the Nationals. Then they put together solid starts by Dean Kremer and Zach Eflin and won back-to-back by 4-1 and 5-1.

But the Orioles have not won three in a row since July 14-20 around the All-Star break. They have now had five chances to win three in a row since then but are 0-5 in those games.

Friday night they lost 12-10 as Boston evened the four-game series at a win each.

It was surely surprising, even stunning, to see Corbin Burnes allow a career-high eight runs on 10 hits over four innings. In two earlier starts this year versus Boston he had allowed one run in 14 innings as the Red Sox went 5-for-47 (.106) at bat. Last night Boston was 10-for-22 (.455) with three doubles and two homers.

Corbin Burnes lost his catcher tonight shortly before the national anthem. He warmed and then paused while a member of the grounds crew ran onto the field with a rubber cleat cleaner and hammer, using spikes to secure it behind the mound. Burnes got the green light to pitch and surrendered multiple runs in the first inning for the only time in his 25 outings with the Orioles.

Typical wasn’t part of the game plan. Nothing around him seemed right.

A 20^th quality start would elude Burnes after Rafael Devers' two-run homer in the third. Two Red Sox batters already were halfway to the cycle. The Orioles were careening toward a loss on Burnes’ bobblehead night.

The heads nodded but also shook at the absurdity that unfolded at Camden Yards.

Burnes allowed a career-high eight runs and 10 hits in four innings, the tie provided to him unraveling in a flash, and the Red Sox hung on for a 12-10 victory before an announced crowd of 34,541.

The off-day enabled the Orioles to freshen their bullpen heading into the Nationals series after left-hander Cionel Pérez worked back-to-back games at Tropicana Field following an earlier stretch in the month of four appearances in five days. Yennier Cano and Seranthony Domínguez weren’t available Sunday after pitching in the previous two games.

Craig Kimbrel and left-hander Gregory Soto are working under different conditions.

Kimbrel has appeared in three games this month, with four days’ rest before Sunday’s outing that resulted in the tie-breaking run scoring against him in the eighth inning. Soto has pitched four times – with his most recent outing on Thursday. He entered in the sixth inning in his first three games with the Orioles and twice surrendered four runs.

Manager Brandon Hyde can’t always avoid using multiple relievers in high-leverage situations. He’s got to find innings that get them back on track but also help the Orioles win.

“We’re going to need both of them, so I’m going to have to find a way,” he said. “Craig had that All-Star first half and when he had a little blip we found a way to kind of get him back rolling again. I’ve tried to do that again here the second half. I thought he threw better in Toronto. That inning looked more like him. The way we were in the ‘pen a couple days ago, wanted to give him that eighth inning and his command just wasn’t very good that day, unfortunately. So hopefully he can rebound from that. But we’re going to need him in the last two months big-time.”

The Orioles are home tonight for the first time since July 31, one day past the trade deadline. They split four games in Cleveland, lost two of three in Toronto and won two of three in St. Petersburg, Fla., though the finale made it appear much worse. Strange how that works. Win a series and eat and dress in a quiet clubhouse.

The roster has changed. The knack for handling adversity, whether injuries or performance based, is the same. Let’s see how far that goes.  

Let’s also hit the pause button again coming out of the off-day and collect some thoughts.

* The Craig Kimbrel reset lasted longer than expected.

It’s still happening.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles bullpen couldn’t match the starting pitching today. Perhaps the bar was raised too high. Whatever the reason, the differences between the two were striking.

Albert Suárez didn’t allow a run in a career-high 6 2/3 innings, but Cionel Pérez lost a 1-0 lead in rapid fashion. Pinch-hitters José Caballero and Dylan Carlson had a double and single, respectively, to level the score. The sequence lasted three pitches.

Used again in a non-save situation, Craig Kimbrel walked three batters in the eighth – one of them intentionally – the Rays stole four bases, and Curtis Mead lifted a sacrifice fly to hand the Orioles a 2-1 loss before an announced crowd of 16,848 at Tropicana Field.

Brandon Lowe, Christopher Morel and Josh Lowe walked, the last intentionally, before Mead flied to right field and the Orioles failed to complete the sweep. They fell to 70-49 overall, 8-2 against the Rays and 6-1 in St. Petersburg.

They went 5-5 on a road trip that began in Cleveland. And they're back in a first-place tie with the Yankees.

The immediate takeaway from the Orioles’ work at the trade deadline is how they went hard after quantity and also feel like they improved the quality of their rotation and bullpen and the depth of their right-handed hitters.

They really didn't skimp on the quantity.

They were as busy adding players as the Marlins were subtracting them. The flurry over the last 15-20 minutes made the evening a blur. Blizzard conditions in 90-degree heat.

The Orioles didn’t get overly aggressive and go for the trade kill, keeping top prospects who would have netted an elite starter. And I’ll say again that they weren’t dealing those guys, no matter how many rumors swirled and reports surfaced about aggressive pursuits.

How aggressive are talks if they don’t include Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo or Colton Cowser?

MIAMI – In desperate need of a win today in the series and road trip finale at Miami, the Orioles hit a bunch of early homers and watched ace right-hander Corbin Burnes deal on the mound for most of his day.

It was a combination that has worked before and looked like it would again today.

It looked like it could and would be easy, but it was not.

The O's let leads of 6-0 in the fourth, 6-1 in the eighth and 6-3 in the ninth get away. The game moved to the 10th inning.

O's closer Craig Kimbrel allowed a one-out infield single and walked the next two hitters to load the bases in the home ninth with the O's up three. Then shortstop Gunnar Henderson bobbled a grounder off the bat of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and it was 6-4. A sac fly by Xavier Edwards made it 6-5 and when Josh Bell singled to right, the game was tied. Yennier Cano replaced Kimbrel and recorded a strikeout to deny Miami a walk-off win and send the game to the 10th.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Orioles were a little more patient tonight before pouncing on a Rangers veteran starting pitcher. They actually waited until the second inning.

For the post-break Orioles, that’s considered slow out of the gate.

Nine batters came to the plate against three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer and four runs scored to match last night’s total in the first against Nathan Eovaldi.

Scherzer was removed before the third, Texas native Grayson Rodriguez celebrated his homecoming with a quality start and the Orioles continued to thrive at Globe Life Field with an 8-4 victory before an announced crowd of 38,410.

Cedric Mullins hit his 10^th home run, Jordan Westburg his 16th and Ryan O'Hearn his 12th, and the Orioles posted their 60^th win, a total they reached last season on July 22. Their lead in the division increased to two games.

Asked this morning what the Orioles must do after the break to recapture the success that defined previous months, third base coach Tony Mansolino replied, “I think just get back to being who we are.”

That would be a team producing quality at-bats, hitting in the clutch and scoring runs in bunches. That gets more out of the rotation than reasonably expected with so many injuries, as well as important outs from the bullpen.

Be the team that swept the Rays in four games and won consecutive series against the Braves, Phillies and Yankees. Be those 2024 Orioles.

They sort of got there today. They weren't going to quibble.

After imploding in gut-wrenching fashion in the ninth, the Orioles watched the Yankees misplay two balls with two outs in the bottom of the inning. Charity began at home.