It’s starting to get a little itchy on the free agent starting pitching front, with a handful of top options still available after the Athletics signed Luis Severino to a three-year deal worth $67 million. As long as Corbin Burnes and the likes of Max Fried and Sean Manaea are unsigned, there’s a way for the Orioles to address the top of their rotation in free agency.

The same isn’t going to be the case in their other area of need: the pursuit of a right-handed hitter who can balance out a left-handed-hitting outfield. Teoscar Hernández is the consensus top name in that segment of the market, with Tyler O’Neill high on what’s ultimately a top-heavy list of candidates to fill that role in free agency.

There’s been reported interest in Hernández for the Orioles, but should they not land him, this feels like an area where they could have to get creative to add the right-handed hitter they seek. That could take a number of forms.

The most obvious would be a trade, though the relative dearth of true rebuilding clubs who would accept a set of prospects for a player good enough to help the Orioles now makes that complicated.

Brent Rooker of the Athletics spent much more time at designated hitter than the outfield. The Chicago White Sox hung on to Luis Robert at the deadline last year, but with $15 million guaranteed for 2025 and a pair of $20 million club options beyond that, he could be an interesting option to target. Of other teams who could have more modest expectations for 2025, not much jumps out.

Then there are the teams that always seem like they‘re up for trading players and churning their roster, sometimes just for the sake of doing so. The Seattle Mariners have Randy Arozarena nearing the end of arbitration, and while it would be weird to trade Victor Robles not long after signing him to a contract extension, there’s no use ever ruling out the Mariners trading anyone. Other clubs in that cohort, including the Rays and Brewers, don’t have the kind of players who fit what the Orioles are looking for.

The limited number of obvious options makes me think of how the Orioles acquired Cole Irvin ahead of the 2023 season.

Irvin hadn’t even entered salary arbitration and was a reasonably good starter for the A’s, so he wasn’t going to make any kind of trade candidate list that winter. Nonetheless, the Orioles sent a good prospect away to acquire him, and while it didn’t necessarily work out, there was value to the club control he carried and he filled a need.

I’m not advocating for this kind of deal, but it could be a fallback option. (So could giving Daz Cameron that chance and focusing resources elsewhere.)

The more attractive option to fill this outfield need is not to sign an outfielder and look to the available group of right-handed-hitting infielders to add the best player available and figure out the fit later. On the free agent market, that expands the group to Alex Bregman and Willy Adames. Bregman, whom Orioles general manager Mike Elias drafted with the Astros, is the kind of middle-of-the-order veteran presence manager Brandon Hyde alluded to wanting, he walks (up until 2024, at least), and he makes a ton of contact.

Adames would probably want to play shortstop and also doesn’t have nearly the offensive profile of Bregman, so he feels like less of a fit. (In this exercise, no one is really an ideal match, considering the Orioles’ infield consists of All-Stars Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg, future star Jackson Holliday and then Ramón Urías, Jorge Mateo and Emmanuel Rivera in reserve).

Still, simply disregarding position and adding someone like Bregman could work. The Orioles could complete the Mateo outfield transition they’ve threatened the last couple of springs and have him be the small part of a corner outfield platoon with Heston Kjerstad, Colton Cowser or Cedric Mullins. That wouldn’t solve the problem of having four infielders you want to play every day and three spots to play them, but talent is talent, and the Orioles would have a lot of it.

They could also take this tack on the trade front, where there are different avenues to consider. If the Cardinals are serious about cutting payroll, Nolan Arenado could be worth calling on if St. Louis wants to take on salary.

You might recall the disdain I’ve had in the past for every trade or acquisition proposal that comes across my various feeds. I’m starting to feel that about myself for throwing names at the wall.

But, if we’re thinking about how the Orioles can get creative, I need to be too, because the reality is that soon Juan Soto will sign and the top pieces on the hitting side of the market probably are going to move quickly once that happens. Maybe the Orioles have their top target lined up and will be the club that starts the non-Soto run to get the right-handed-hitting outfielder they covet.

If not, they know they’ll have to be creative. Maybe I’ll have some better ideas of what that could look like by then.