It’s hard to see what the right return is with all the potential trades flying around.

The Orioles of a previous vintage used deferrals to keep the mid-2010s competitive window open. Chris Davis’ contract is, obviously, is the most extreme example.

There’s a chance, albeit not a great one, that this will be the first of many expenditures to give the Orioles a payroll more representative of a team with their aspirations.

One-year deals might not be the highest upside plays, but they often fill a need, have little long-term ramifications on roster construction, and allow flexibility in other areas.

They will be looking at a variety of factors, chief among them their own internal evaluations of the prospects and recent graduates.

Mike Elias and his team have done an amazing job — and it will be hard to replicate in the coming years.

Two of the top starters are already off the market. Where will the Orioles turn?

The Orioles continue to build their proverbial chip pile as they wait to decide which hand to play. Eventually, it will be time to push those chips in — even the ones who agreed to inexpensive contracts at the non-tender deadline.

In honor of his fifth anniversary with the club, here are the best and worsts of Elias’ tenure with the Orioles.

“I think the same methodologies and brainpower and people that have gotten us through this rebuild are very much equipped to tackle the project of sort of keeping the team at the top,” Elias said.

Mike Elias said the Orioles’ swift playoff exit would inform how he and the front office think about improving this winter. But then he offered a caveat.

Westburg played steady defense, took on a different role than he’d ever taken before and produced enough at the plate to justify his role.

The Rangers' victory serves as validation of the Orioles' belief that they need to be the best team at identifying and developing talent internally to keep up with teams who spend more.

Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias didn’t hand out anything longer than a one-year deal, but a few players signed over the winter played key roles during Baltimore’s push toward its first American League East championship since 2014.

As baseball’s offseason approaches, Elias could use the glut of prospects in Baltimore’s top-ranked farm system to supplement a team that won 101 games. Here's how he did making trades to shape this year's Orioles.

Chris Holt removing major league responsibilities from his plate will allow further organizational alignment and likely allow him to split his time between Baltimore and the club’s affiliates.

For all of the top Orioles hitters, here’s a facet of the game that they did better than all of their teammates this year.

At some point — quite possibly this exact one the Orioles are in — trading for other clubs’ prospects with the idea that they might be contributors down the line simply stops feeling appropriate.

The Orioles have a promising rotation, but you can never have enough pitching.

The core of the Orioles will likely remain in place, but Mike Elias and his staff have several major decisions to make.