Craig Albernaz reveals first priority for Orioles offseason

The Baltimore Orioles are still basking in the afterglow of having hired Craig Albernaz to be their franchise's 21st manager. And rightfully so, given that Albernaz appears to be the right guy for the job and appears poised to bring the Orioles out of the AL East's basement in 2026.

But for Albernaz's first season to be a success, he's going to need to rely on his roster. Thankfully, there's no shortage of talent on Baltimore's team, which Albernaz alluded to during his introductory press conference on November 4.

“The talent just jumps right out at you,” Albernaz said. “Even playing them this year, yeah, it was a down year. A lot of injuries, but the talent up and down the roster is impressive and when you have a group of young players that get to the big leagues and have success, like in ’23, and they have a rough ’25, it’s really tough to curate that adversity for young players to go through.

"For them to have it happen on the biggest stage, again, dealing with the injuries, I wouldn’t say poor performance, but they can perform better in their eyes. So it’s great to see the work that they’ll put in in the offseason. We’ll come out and next year really take on that challenge," he added.