Latest Orioles Winter Meetings rumors have Mike Elias keeping his promise

The Baltimore Orioles spent the last two years telling everyone who would listen that they weren’t going to waste this window.

If you were worried that was a one-year fling with the “big-boy table,” the latest round of rumors should calm you down a bit. Baltimore is right back in the middle of the frontline-pitching market, and it doesn’t sound like wish-casting.

Orioles’ latest pitching pursuit proves their ace promise wasn’t just talk

According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, Ranger Suárez’s market has crystallized around a small group of serious bidders, with the Astros, Cubs, and Orioles viewed as the three clubs most likely to pry him away from Philadelphia, while the Mets and Tigers linger in the background. 

Suárez checks a lot of boxes for this roster. He just logged a career-high 157 1/3 innings in 2025 with a mid-3s ERA, the third time he’s cleared 150 frames.  More importantly, he’s been nails when the lights get bright: four straight postseasons with the Phillies, a 1.48 ERA in 11 October outings, eight of them starts. 

Is he a classic “game one, unquestioned ace”? Maybe not in marketing terms. But for an Orioles team that already has a deep, young rotation and just needs a grown-up who doesn’t blink in October, Suárez looks an awful lot like exactly what they’ve been describing.

He’s not the only lane they’re keeping open. Multiple reports have the Orioles among the favorites for former Astros lefty Framber Valdez, whose track record and ground-ball profile scream a Camden Yards fit.  They’ve also been linked to Michael King and NPB right-hander Tatsuya Imai as they canvas every possible top-end arm. 

This is what “pitching is our top priority” is supposed to look like in practice: not one name, not one leak, but a pattern.

Of course, there’s still the small matter of actually winning a bidding war. But the Orioles are no longer acting like they’re just happy to be invited.

If they come out of this winter with Suárez, Valdez, King — or someone in that tier — it won’t be an accident. It’ll be the front office finally cashing in on the promise they’ve been making to this fan base since the kids arrived: we’re going to back this core with real pitching, and we’re not going to apologize for aiming high.