What's behind the Orioles' newfound interest in claiming outfielders on waivers?

The Orioles could just like Jake Cave and Daz Cameron. They could realize their depth is thin. Or, as is often the case here, something else may be afoot.

We’re a week-plus shy of Mike Elias’ four-year anniversary with the Orioles, and he gave himself an early present this week in the form of an old favorite: a waiver claim.

He’s executed over 50 since taking over the Orioles in November 2018, with many forgettable (although I only missed a few recent ones on the Sporcle quiz) but others proving worthy. Hanser Alberto and Jorge Mateo come to mind on the infield, and this year’s bullpen featured waiver claims Jorge Lopez, Cionel Perez, Bryan Baker, and Joey Krehbiel.

Every team that puts in a claim for a player probably has at least a little hope that they can turn that player into something special and extract all kinds of value for what is essentially a free player. In the Orioles’ case, those ambitions were often muted by the fact the waiver claims were made for need–the need of a fresh arm on the roster, the need for literally any infield depth, and a little more recently a little catching depth, too.

What they haven’t done often, if at all, is acquire an outfielder by waiver claim. That’s changed recently.  On Oct. 13, the Orioles claimed 29-year-old outfielder Jake Cave from the Minnesota Twins, then claimed former Elias bonus baby Daz Cameron from the Detroit Tigers Wednesday. Everything the Orioles does means something. So what could it possibly mean that they went nearly four years almost exclusively adding every other category of player via this method and are now seemingly locked in on outfielders?