DALLAS -- Mike Elias was holding his end-of-day Winter Meetings media session in the Orioles¡¯ suite at the Hilton Anatole on Monday evening when the general manager was posed a question about team owner David Rubenstein. Then, Elias¡¯ phone began beeping in his left pants pocket.

A reporter joked that it must be a call or text from Rubenstein, the private equity billionaire and Baltimore native who has made the O¡¯s more legitimate threats on the Hot Stove market this year.

¡°Next best thing,¡± Elias said with a smile.

Perhaps it was an agent or an executive from another team. Maybe it was somebody else who works for the Orioles. But immediately after Elias¡¯ meeting with the media, he pulled out his phone and promptly made a call.

Even if it wasn¡¯t actually anything related to a potential free-agent signing or trade, the point is that the Orioles have been quite busy this offseason, and their efforts to improve their roster have picked up since arriving in Dallas.

Shortly before members of Baltimore¡¯s front office left for the Winter Meetings, the club made its first two major moves. On Saturday night, the O¡¯s agreed to a three-year, $49.5 million deal with outfielder Tyler O¡¯Neill and a one-year, $8.5 million contract with catcher Gary S¨¢nchez, sources told MLB.com.

Neither of those signings are official, so Elias couldn¡¯t comment on either.

What Elias could discuss, however, is the most pressing item on the Orioles¡¯ to-do list: acquiring an ace.

The top of Baltimore¡¯s rotation has a hole that was created when Corbin Burnes became a free agent. The 30-year-old right-hander, who was traded from the Brewers to the O¡¯s on Feb. 1, is likely to land a free-agent deal worth more than $200 million and could go for six or seven years.

Teams shopping at the top of the starting-pitching market that missed out on outfielder Juan Soto (who has a megadeal in place with the Mets) could reallocate those funds to pursue other top free agents such as Burnes and/or left-hander Max Fried. Clubs such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Giants and even the Mets have been linked to star pitchers in reports.

The market is ¡°a very competitive bull market,¡± as Elias put it. That¡¯s been evident by other big deals, such as the five-year, $182 million contract given to Blake Snell by the Dodgers.

Now that Elias has seen how things are developing, is he still comfortable shopping on that upper end of the market to find an ace?

¡°I¡¯m very confident shopping in it, and we have been, we continue to be, but the competition is enormous,¡± Elias said. ¡°Last year, we were able to figure out a way to get a top-of-the-rotation starter. I don't think that's something that all 30 teams pull off every year, but we're all trying. I'm going to do my best to figure it out.¡±

Burnes and Fried aren¡¯t the only top-end starters available on the free-agent market. Right-handers Nathan Eovaldi and Nick Pivetta and lefty Sean Manaea are still out there.

If the Orioles bring back Burnes, they wouldn¡¯t get the Draft pick compensation that they¡¯d get if he signed elsewhere because of the qualifying offer he declined. If the O¡¯s sign Fried, Pivetta or Manaea, they¡¯d have to give up a Draft pick because each of them declined QOs from their respective clubs last month.

There¡¯s been some skepticism surrounding whether Baltimore would be willing to lose its third-highest 2025 Draft pick -- which would likely land in the 30s in the selection order -- in order to bolster its rotation. The Orioles have spent the past six years under Elias building one of the strongest farm systems in baseball, a product of their success in the Draft.

But Elias indicated the O¡¯s are comfortable parting with a Draft pick for the right signing.

¡°We're in on everybody. We're talking to everybody,¡± Elias said. ¡°When there's aspects of the rules that create wrinkles, you've got to weigh them. So we do that. But there is no player that we're not interested in or pursuing in some shape or fashion, if we feel like that the talent is additive to the current roster that we have.¡±

Elias is also open to exploring the trade market for starting pitchers, which is expected to include White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet.

¡°There aren't too many teams making their Major League players available for prospects right now. So those that are, we're deeply engaged with those teams,¡± Elias said. ¡°Those that aren't in that mode, we're exploring more Major League for Major League kind of trades, which obviously take unique fits on the rosters.¡±

For now, the Orioles are hard at work as Elias continues to make heavy use of his phone. And in their pursuit of an ace-level starting pitcher -- and other pieces that could improve the team -- Baltimore¡¯s mission remains the same.

¡°We'll make sure we have a really good team at the end of this offseason,¡± Elias said. ¡°And I think that's the main goal here.¡±