Not many things have held from the Orioles’ rebuilding era to now. Manager Brandon Hyde has, for starters. So has Cedric Mullins. And, for more of it than we realize, there have been Ramón Urías and Jorge Mateo.

They were good rebuild players — young, discarded, inexpensive and talented — who, even as the club has graduated a host of top prospects onto its infield, retain their value and keep finding their way into larger roles with the Orioles than anyone expects.

On the surface, the answer to the rhetorical question of why the Orioles still need these guys has been that they don’t, and yet they’re always glad to have them available when the need arises. And that, in no small part, explains why an outfield that was seemingly set with the quartet of Cedric Mullins, Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad and Tyler O’Neill now boasts Ramón Laureano and Dylan Carlson in its ranks.

There’s always a chance that someone is hurt that we don’t know about, or that those major league trades that general manager Mike Elias said haven’t materialized yet finally do and these depth signings end up being replacements for a more established player the Orioles move to acquire a rotation topper.

That explanation would be exciting, but we’re talking about the Orioles’ offseason here. It’s been actively not exciting, and in an absence of new ways to describe it, let’s call it incredibly practical. When they signed O’Neill and Gary Sánchez, it felt like they were restoring the lineup flexibility and dominance of left-handed pitching that they’d missed as injuries hit in the second half of 2024.

To fill those holes, and with most of their high-level infield depth either already in the majors (Jackson Holliday) or traded (Joey Ortiz and Connor Norby), the Orioles hit the waiver wire and ended up without much offensive thump when they needed it most.

Laureano, signed for $4 million with an option for next year, can play all three outfield positions, holds his own against righties and destroys left-handed pitching. If that sounds familiar, it’s a souped-up version of Carlson, who is simply good against lefties but hasn’t hit righties in years. You can probably get by with either for a few weeks in the lineup if you need to, but their value will be the days off they give Mullins and Cowser and the impact they might make off the bench.

Is over $20 million a lot to spend on three outfielders who are best cast as the right side of a platoon, even if that’s probably underselling O’Neill? Probably. But add in Mullins’ $8.725 million and Cowser and Kjerstad at the league minimum, and you have a reasonably priced group of six outfielders you can deploy in favorable matchups as Hyde, his staff and the front office deem fit.

“Last year, in the second half when we had all those injuries, it was really eye-opening what happens when your depth gets depleted.” Elias said. “That was a pretty extreme amount of injuries. I think right now, with the way we’re constructed, we feel good about the depth that we’ve put together. Now, anything can happen. We’ll see what happens. But I think [Hyde] is going to have a lot of options on both sides of the ball, and that’s a good thing.”

In reality, someone may be on the outside looking in, with a pair of catchers in Adley Rutschman and Sánchez, then six infielders (Gunnar Henderson, Ryan Mountcastle, Jordan Westburg, Ryan O’Hearn, Holliday and Urías) seemingly locked in with Mateo rehabbing his elbow after having Tommy John surgery. There’s always the possibility a non-roster invitee pushes for a spot, but it proved prescient when Elias said the team wasn’t done looking for ways to bolster the roster last week.

“I think we have a very long baseball season. We’ve got to focus on that, and we’re going to need a lot of people to help us get through the season,” he said.

There’s no need to readjust your projected opening day lineup based on signing Laureano, or Carlson before him. And that’s kind of the idea. They don’t need him, per se, but they’ll certainly be glad to have him if that ever changes.