The immediate reaction to yesterday’s Cole Irvin trade centered on whether he could start for the Orioles on opening day and how his arrival impacted the other rotation candidates.

All of this is according to an industry source with direct knowledge of my mind.

Also, can we confidently say now that the search is over – a nod to “Survivor” – and the Orioles relinquished interest in Michael Wacha and every other starter?

Space is really tight. They might have to build an addition onto the rotation. But never turn away from the spring waiver wire.

The Orioles don’t own a true No. 1 starter with John Means unavailable until probably June or July. Irvin doesn’t qualify, which appears to set up an intense and fascinating camp battle.

The Orioles finished their arbitration business today and proved again that the file-and-go approach has its exceptions.

Pitcher Austin Voth agreed to terms on a 2023 contract that also includes a club option for 2024. He’s the last of the six arbitration-eligible players to receive a new deal.

Terms weren’t immediately available. Voth sought $2 million after the sides exchanged figures on Jan. 13, and the club offered $1.7 million.

Voth, 30, is also eligible for arbitration next winter unless the Orioles pick up the option.

The Orioles claimed Voth off waivers from the Nationals on June 7 and it wasn’t viewed within the industry as an impact move. Voth was out of options, and he ran out of chances in D.C. after posting a 10.13 ERA and 2.143 WHIP in 19 relief appearances in 2022.

The Orioles completed most of their arbitration business on Friday and made another sizeable splash two days later in the international market.

There isn’t much left to do besides get the camp roster ready for spring training.

Austin Voth is the only player among the six arbitration eligibles who didn’t agree to terms. He’s seeking $2 million and the Orioles countered at $1.7 million.

A hearing could be held in late January or February, with a three-person panel determining the salary. There are no compromises if it reaches this stage.

Voth would be an interesting case given the splits in his season between the Nationals and Orioles. The 10.13 ERA and 2.143 WHIP in 19 relief appearances versus the 3.04 ERA and 1.229 WHIP in 22 games (17 starts) for a team that contended until the final week.

The Orioles have reached the point today where they must agree to contract terms with six arbitration-eligible players or risk hearings to determine 2023 salaries.

Outfielders Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander and Austin Hays, infielder Jorge Mateo and pitchers Austin Voth and Dillon Tate were tendered contracts at the deadline. They remain under team control, the most important order of business.

It’s unlikely that the Orioles sign all six players before exchanging figures, but they’re expected to announce some agreements later today. I’m placing the over/under at three.

Make it rain.

Hearings typically are set during spring training. The Orioles have joined other teams operating under the file-and-go approach, but they make exceptions, with Trey Mancini and John Means serving as examples last year.

As the New Year began on Sunday, we provided a wish list for some players and O's staff for the 2023 season. We add to that here today.

Terrin Vavra and Kyle Stowers: More regular at-bats. I think that on rebuilding O’s teams that were headed for 100 or more losses, one or both of these players may have been given 300 or 400 plate appearances, and we could really tell a bit about them in such a sample. The 2023 edition may make that hard for one or both.

But among all Orioles that batted last year, Vavra’s .340 OBP ranked fourth. We know this kid can work the count and uses the whole field, We also know he hit just one homer in 103 plate appearances. The power is just not going to be there, but he has to bring what he can bring, which is the plate discipline needed on a club that ranked 22^nd in the majors in this stat last year.

Stowers power seems to be a real thing. He ranked fifth on the team in slugging among all O’s batters in 2022. He can drive it out to all fields and worked to decrease his K rate at Triple-A last year. I think that, given enough at-bats, Stowers could produce solid corner outfield stats and also would bring average-or-better defense with a plus arm.

Jorge Mateo: The ability to find once again whatever he found batting that made his hitting, sub-par to that point, look above average and even special at times for a spell last year. He did have a nice five-week stretch of hitting that ran from July 16 to Aug. 23, including his big night at the Little League Classic. In that span of 31 games he batted .321 with a .944 OPS. You thought maybe he had turned a corner. But that did not hold up, and over his final 36 games he hit .174/.213/.270/.483.

I’m finally done with 2022 except for those occasions when I reference it in relation to the upcoming season. Like, can the bullpen be as good or better than it was last summer? Can Kyle Bradish and Dean Kremer pick up where they left off? Can Ramón Urías win a Gold Glove at a different position?

Will I break my record set last year for most times eating orange chicken in the press dining room?

The last Orioles transaction before Saturday night’s Tyler Nevin trade to the Tigers was the Dec. 23 trade of first baseman Lewin Díaz to the Braves for cash considerations. The Braves designated him for assignment less than a week later.

I woke up Saturday again wondering what the heck happened to Nevin. The Orioles designated him for assignment on Dec. 22 while acquiring catcher James McCann from the Mets. Still no news on the outcome.

I theorized that the Orioles were trying and struggling to find a trade partner. Otherwise, it’s the waiver process and either a claim or outright. Should have been done.

The Orioles will break camp in March with five starting pitchers. They haven’t talked about the possibility of a six-man rotation, though the depth they’ve built allows for it.

They have the numbers, but who are the names?

Kyle Gibson is the one lock after signing for $10 million, with his placement being the only uncertainty.

A second veteran is expected to join him, but the Orioles keep watching candidates disappear from the free-agent market. The club made its video recruiting pitch to Noah Syndergaard, but he's going to the Dodgers on a one-year deal worth a guaranteed $13 million with $1.5 million in possible incentives.

The New York Post's Jon Heyman reported that Syndergaard had multi-year offers for more money elsewhere "but preferred one year in L.A."

SAN DIEGO – Kyle Gibson may or may not count as a Winter Meetings acquisition, depending on your timeline. He reached agreement on a one-year, $10 million contract on Saturday but signed after the Orioles contingent checked into the Manchester Grand Hyatt.

This is the only major league deal brought back to Baltimore. There will be others before opening day.

Trust me on this. Or better yet, trust the process.

The pitching market hasn’t dried up, but logical fits for the Orioles are disappearing, with Jameson Taillon agreeing to terms with the Cubs, Taijuan Walker with the Phillies and José Quintana with the Mets. They were never linked to Jason deGrom (Rangers) or Justin Verlander (Mets).

So, who’s left?

The most recent Orioles transaction remains the outright of catcher Mark Kolozsvary to Triple-A Norfolk on Nov. 17, two days after they selected the contracts of pitchers Grayson Rodriguez, Drew Rom, Seth Johnson and Noah Denoyer and infielder Joey Ortiz to protect them in the Rule 5 draft. The 40-man roster remains frozen at 38 players, but probably not for much longer.

The Winter Meetings begin next week in San Diego, where the Orioles could land the starting pitcher or hitter that they’re targeting, if it doesn’t happen before their contingent boards its flights. At least one selection is anticipated in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft, which also will impact the 40-man.

A trade could be made that doesn’t touch it, with rival teams expressing interest in prospects who aren’t eligible for the Rule 5. Those talks are among the many happening behind the scenes.

Over the last few days, I’ve written about additional front office decisions that are pending and questions pertaining to a bullpen that could undergo some tweaking.

I've moved on to nuggets, and here are a couple worth tucking away:

An immediate takeaway from Friday night’s announcement that the Orioles tendered contracts to their six arbitration-eligible players:

No one in the group was non-tendered, and there were some questions surrounding pitcher Austin Voth based on projected salary and uncertain role.

MLBTradeRumors.com has Voth’s contract rising from $875,000 to $2 million. He’s got to make the club out of spring training and he’s out of minor league options.

Will the Orioles run out of room in their rotation?

Voth could make a simple transition to bulk relief/swingman if he isn’t starting every fifth day. He’s worked out of the bullpen, including 19 times with the Nationals before the Orioles claimed him off waivers. And he’s a poster child for the benefits of the team’s pitching instruction.

The Orioles have reached another deadline tonight, this one a few weeks earlier than the norm. They must tender contracts to their six arbitration-eligible players or risk going to hearings.

This is a day-long exercise for some media. Reporting the agreements, maybe the terms. Update after update, or just one lump summary.

The perceived importance needs to be balanced against the reality that these players are under team control. The Orioles are just setting the salaries.

Whether a player signs for $1.1 million or $1.2 million means little if you're not the one cutting the check. But I digress …

Outfielders Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays, shortstop Jorge Mateo and pitchers Dillon Tate and Austin Voth are getting raises under a system that pretty much assures them. The only way to avoid it is to non-tender.

It feels like a homework assignment. Challenging the Orioles to pinpoint the exact moment when they realized the team would contend deep into the season. That it wasn’t a fluke.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias shares the opinion expressed by one of the club’s outfielders.

“I read some quotes from Austin Hays and that was the way I think it felt for me. It just crept up on us that this team was playing really well and the wins were stacking up,” Elias said on Oct. 5.

“I think it was very organic, which was cool to see, and that was our approach. I think (Brandon Hyde) and I came into a very tough spot again in 2018, and we just kept trying to do the right thing for the organization with every move, every little decision, and kind of kept our eye on the ball. And we had to navigate the pandemic. It seemed to congeal this year organically.”

Getting the same results, or better, isn’t promised. Stand still and you might go backward.

An increase in spending by the Orioles during the offseason leads the imagination directly to the free agent and trade markets. However, the club has seven players eligible for arbitration. Raises are coming to most, if not all, of them.

Outfielder Anthony Santander leads the pack after making $3.15 million this year. He doesn’t reach free agency until after the 2024 season due to his status as a Super Two player.

Santander lost his arbitration hearing during his first year of eligibility and settled for $2.1 million instead of the $2.4 million that he sought. The sides agreed to a $3.15 million deal on Nov. 30, 2021.

MLBTradeRumors.com ran its annual salary projections yesterday and placed Santander’s at $7.5 million after he led the Orioles with 33 home runs, 89 RBIs, a .455 slugging percentage and a .773 OPS, tied Cedric Mullins for first with a .318 on-base percentage and ranked second in walks with 55 and in runs with 78. He played in a career-high 152 games.

The Orioles are building a surplus of outfielders, with Colton Cowser approaching his debut next summer. Kyle Stowers already arrived. Santander has drawn trade interest in the past and his value is at its highest, coming off his finest season and being under team control beyond 2023.

NEW YORK – Austin Hays didn’t know that the Mariners won early this morning, the final bump that knocked the Orioles out of the wild card race, until he had rolled out of bed, showered and dressed, and headed downstairs to the team bus.

Players were talking about it. How they were forced to move into a different phase of their season, the mindset altered to where satisfaction must come only from being a .500 club, with an opportunity to finish on the winning side.

The playoff dream disappeared, but they had a little more work to do.

Keeping Aaron Judge at 61 home runs was accomplished again. Doing anything good against Nestor Cortes remained a futile endeavor.

The former Orioles Rule 5 pick and two-week reliever in 2018 held the Orioles to one hit and struck out 12 in 7 1/3 innings in the Yankees’ 8-0 victory before an announced crowd of 45,428.

BOSTON – Jordan Lyles has been moved up to Friday night at Yankee Stadium, working on short rest with Aaron Judge one home run away from breaking Roger Maris’ single-season record in the American League.

Lyles was held to two innings on Monday due to the rain.

Austin Voth is pushed back to Saturday, with rookie Kyle Bradish starting Sunday on regular rest.

“This allows Voth to get an extra day, somebody that we’re monitoring closely,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “He’s thrown a lot of innings so far, so give him an extra day, and Jordan after that, bring him back a day early.”

Judge tied Maris’ record last night while in Toronto. The Yankees are off today.

How would the Orioles respond to last night’s crushing defeat?

By reliving it in a different form this afternoon.

By getting a solid start from Austin Voth and practically no offense for seven innings. By carrying the game past regulation with some late dramatics.

And it rained.

The game was halted after the bottom of the sixth inning with Astros starter Cristian Javier facing the minimum number of batters and permitting just one baserunner. Javier, at 76 pitches, didn’t return after a 46-minute delay.

After their gut-punch loss on Saturday night, it’s a quick turnaround for the Orioles today as they try to erase that memory and win this afternoon to take the series from the now 100-win Houston Astros.

When Anthony Santander hit his second homer of the game – a two-run shot in the last of the eighth – the Orioles had taken a 9-7 lead. But that lead would not hold. Houston’s four-run ninth led the Astros to an 11-10 win. Houston improved to 100-53 by winning for the fifth time in seven games, 11^th in 14 and 19^th time in the past 25 games.

Houston has become the first club in American League history to reach 100 wins four times in the span of five full seasons, per Elias Sports Bureau. And Dusty Baker is one of four managers in MLB history to win 100 games with a team in both leagues (also: Sparky Anderson, Whitey Herzog and Tony LaRussa). Their 100 wins ties a franchise record for most wins in the first 153 games of a season (also: 2019). Houston recorded its 28th comeback win and this marked their third game of the season surrendering 10-or-more runs (last: 5/14 at WSH, 13).

The Orioles (79-72) now have 11 games remaining. They lost ground Saturday to both Seattle and Toronto in the wild card race. They are four games behind Seattle, 4 1/2 back of Tampa Bay and 5 1/2 behind Toronto, which holds the first AL wild card today.

The Orioles had their streak of 22 scoreless innings pitched snapped with Jose Altuve’s two-run home run in the third inning. Baltimore scored five runs in the fourth inning, their 11th time scoring at least five in an inning this season. They fell to 58-2 when leading after six innings and are now 21-24 in one-run games. The O’s 17 hits is their most in a loss since Aug. 10, 2018 versus Boston, when they also had 17. Six different O’s tallied multi-hit games, the second-most in a game this year (8/19 vs. Boston, 7).

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde has seen his club bounce back from hard losses to keep its season moving forward. The next challenge comes this afternoon.

It won’t be easy following last night’s 11-10 loss to the Astros, who are trying to salvage a split of the four-game series.

The defeat pushed the Orioles four games behind the Mariners for the last wild card. The tie-breaker belongs to Seattle, which scored in the ninth inning last night to beat the Royals.

Eleven games remain and the Orioles still need two wins to assure a no-losing season.

The left-handed lineup turns with Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Stowers and Terrin Vavra. Adley Rutschman is catching.

To say the least, the Orioles have had their struggles with the last-place Detroit Tigers this year. In May, right after the Orioles had impressively taken two of three at St. Louis, they lost three straight at Comerica Park by a combined 12-3 score. Then they came home Monday night, after Sunday’s ninth-inning comeback win at Toronto and lost 11-0. They lost to the same team 3-2 last night.

Tonight the Tigers (57-91) can sweep this three-game series and their season series against the Orioles with another win at Oriole Park. The O’s, outscored 26-5 this season by Detroit, need to get back in the win column tonight.

The Orioles (76-71) need to go 6-9 or better in their remaining 15 games to post a winning record for the first time since 2016. In the wild card race, Baltimore is five games behind Seattle for the final wild card spot in the AL and are 5.5 back of Tampa Bay and 7.5 games back of Toronto.

The Orioles continue to have problems putting up consistent offense. They have just two runs and one extra-base hit, a homer, in this series, going 8-for-61 (.131) at-bat and going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

The Birds have scored three runs or less in 14 of their past 23 games. They’ve scored just 10 runs in their past six home games, getting two or less four times.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde isn’t sitting on the same lineup while the offensive production keeps slipping and the organization is curious about some of the younger players who graduated this year from Triple-A.

Veteran Rougned Odor is on the bench for the fourth consecutive game. The Tigers started left-handers the past two nights, but right-hander Matt Manning is closing out the series.

Odor is 13-for-78 since going 4-for-5 on Aug. 12. He’s hitless in his last 15 at-bats and is 4-for-29 with a double, home run and 10 strikeouts this month.

“Roogie’s been an ultimate team guy and so great in so many ways for us this year,” Hyde said. “We’re giving some other guys some opportunities right now. You’re going to see (Terrin) Vavra play a little bit more, and I’ll still find spots for Roogie. But we’re just looking at some other players, too.”

Vavra is starting at second base tonight. The lineup also has Gunnar Henderson at shortstop and Kyle Stowers in right field, with Anthony Santander on the bench.