Orioles must be questioning their plans after inflation in SP market this offseason

Slow and steady wins the race. The early bird gets the worm. These cliches have always been at odds, but both are supposed to serve as advice to live a productive and prosperous life. For the Baltimore Orioles, you have to question if they're doing it right.

The Orioles came into the offseason with several key needs. Tyler O'Neill flopped, thus the club needed more firepower in the outfield. A true middle-of-the-order bat was also a necessity. A replacement for the injured Felix Bautista in the ninth was also dire. But more than anything, finding an anchor for the rotation was paramount.

In some ways, the Orioles have been the early birds. The Taylor Ward trade was one of the first serious moves by any club made this winter. Baltimore tried to grab the first big bat off the free-agent market in Kyle Schwarber, and quickly pivoted to Pete Alonso, ensuring the club wasn't left out in the cold. Throw Ryan Helsley in there, and you can say Mike Elias has certainly been a busy beaver.

But when it comes to the most pressing need, starting pitching, Baltimore has been a tortoise, and its glacial pace in addressing the fatal flaw should be cause for serious concern.

Merrill Kelly's new contract shows the Orioles will only pay the price by waiting out the starting pitching market

Merrill Kelly likely wasn't on the Orioles radar. The 37-year-old is a useful hurler and a solid mid-rotation innings eater, but the Orioles need more. However, his signing with the Diamondbacks on a two-year, $40 million deal should have folks all around the Chesapeake Bay feeling queasy.

As we saw with Dylan Cease and the Blue Jays earlier this winter, the deal for Kelly was more than most expected, just not quite on as grand a scale. The more of these guys who come off the board, the better it is for guys who have been linked to the Orioles, like Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez. They're just sitting back and watching their price tags rise and rise.

All of this should have you questioning what the plan is here. Ward, Alonso, and Helsley are all useful players, but no market is more explosive than the starting pitcher market. There's a chance that Baltimore could have waited on Alonso and still been able to nab him a few weeks later at the same price (if not less).

Mike Elias has promised things will be different this time, but the executive has always gotten squeamish at the thought of a long-term deal for a starter. He has no problem ponying up a high AAV, like the $45 million AAV he offered Corbin Burnes over four years last winter, but going into the six-and-seven-year-deal territory has typically been a no-fly zone.

At the end of the day, there are still options. Paying up for Valdez or Suarez might not look great on the back-end, but it solves the rotation for the foreseeable future. Freddy Peralta and a host of others could be had on the trade market, providing something of a pressure release valve.

But make no mistake, when it comes to the starting pitching market, it's best to be the early bird and not the slow tortoise. Now, if Elias fails to deliver an ace, the city of Baltimore will have to wonder if this was all for naught.