After a season that ended with the Orioles ranked 24th in MLB in runs per game and 19th in slugging, the team recently traded for outfielder Taylor Ward. He hit 36 homers in 2025 for the Los Angeles Angels to rank tied for fifth in the American League.

That may not be the only big bat the O’s add this offseason.

Several outlets have now reported that the Orioles are expected to meet today with free agent slugger Pete Alonso with a face-to-face meeting in Orlando at the Winter Meetings. Alonso will drive the 90 minutes from his Tampa home to meet with the O’s and Red Sox and maybe other clubs as well.

Prying Alonso away from the large market, big spending Mets would be an upset on the order of Super Bowl III, but the O’s at least have a shot to pull that off.

Alonso, who turned 31 Sunday, hit .272/.347/.524/.871 last season with 38 homers and 126 RBIs. He was second in MLB in RBIs, eighth in homers and 10th in OPS.

The five-time All-Star and two-time Home Run Derby winner produced an OPS+ of 144 last year. Since 2021, that number is 134 and, in that span, he has averaged 39 homers and 111 RBIs.

That is a very, very legit MLB slugger who would sure boost an O’s lineup that struggled for much of last year.

Clearly O’s president Mike Elias is not just counting on the young core to all bounce back and improve the O’s offense in that manner. One big move has been made and others could be coming.

Adding another first baseman would add to a position where the O’s already have Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo.

Elias said for now, that is not a concern. If they added a top bat, they’ll sort it out later.

“If the player is good enough, we can figure out ways to accomodate them,” Elias told media in Orlando late Monday afternoon.

The O’s continue to be linked to top free agent pitchers, including lefties Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez.

Could they add both a top bat and a top arm?

“Yes, I think so,” said Elias. “You look at our payroll as it stands right now and it’s still well below where we were at last year, and we’ll just consider opportunities as they come up and have those conversions with ownership. But we do have room for more moves, multiple more moves.”

Check out the video at the top of this entry for more thoughts from yours truly on the opening day at the Winter Meetings.

On tap today

It’s the MLB Draft Lottery at 5:30 p.m. today in Orlando. The first six picks for next summer’s draft will be determined via this lottery. Heading into this event, the O’s have the fourth-best odds to get the overall No. 1 pick.

The Chicago White Sox are listed with a 27.73 percent chance to pick 1/1 with Minnesota next at 22.18 percent, then Pittsburgh at 16.81 and the Orioles at 9.24 percent.

The O’s have had the overall No. 1 pick previously in 1989 (Ben McDonald), 2019 (Adley Rutschman) and 2022 (Jackson Holliday).

UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky is rated the No. 1 prospect for the next draft by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com. The right to draft him is what is likely at stake today. BA calls him the “one of the better college shortstop prospect in years.”

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