LAKELAND, Fla. — The Orioles didn’t make the splashy pitching acquisition this offseason, instead signing veterans Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano to one-year deals to pad their rotation depth while their ace Corbin Burnes joined the Arizona Diamondbacks in free agency.

They might already be paying the price.

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez will miss the start of the season after experiencing discomfort in his right tricep and elbow following Wednesday’s start against the Minnesota Twins, manager Brandon Hyde announced Friday. Though Hyde said the injury isn’t a “ligament issue,” the 25-year-old will get multiple opinions from doctors before determining next steps.

It’s a massive setback for a unit that was going to lean on Rodriguez as, at the least, its No. 2 starter behind Zach Eflin. The Orioles have plenty of options to replace him at the back end, led by Albert Suárez and Cade Povich, but the hole Burnes left behind at the front has widened into a chasm — and it will take improvement from other corners of the roster to make up for it.

“I do see this group right now, at this moment in time, pending health, a little bit more numerous and deeper than probably what we had last year at spring,” Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said on the first day of spring training. “But we’ll see and, look, we’re going to be continuing to try to pull in pitching from all manner of acquisitions as the year goes along and from our farm system and I think we have enough pitching here.”

That sentiment is going to be tested without Burnes or a No. 1 starter of his caliber to lean on to start the year. While the New York Yankees went out and signed Max Fried to a $218 million deal and the Boston Red Sox traded a hefty package of prospects for Garrett Crochet, the Orioles will look to keep pace in the American League East with Eflin, Dean Kremer, Morton and Sugano representing their best options on the mound.

March is never the time of year to hit the panic button, not when a 162-game season and all the unexpected breakouts, midseason acquisitions and, frankly, randomness still lies ahead. But the Orioles had an offseason to prepare for this scenario. To be fair, they did try. Burnes told The Baltimore Sun earlier this week that the Orioles were “pretty aggressive” early in free agency before he started to engage with Arizona. They were linked to Fried, Blake Snell and Jack Flaherty in the offseason rumor mill, among others.

However, they don’t hang banners for being in the mix — just ask Seattle Mariners fans. Whether the Orioles made serious efforts to sign free agents or not is moot. What matters is they’re three weeks away from beginning a season right in the middle of their young core’s competitive window and have serious questions about their ability to prevent runs in any given game.

The Orioles’ offense, which is dealing with an injury scare of its own after Gunnar Henderson suffered an intercostal strain, will once again need to be one of the best in baseball. Their bullpen, now without Andrew Kittredge for the first couple of months, needs to be better than it was without Félix Bautista closing games last year. Both of those scenarios are possible, maybe even plausible. The margin for error has just become much more thin.

“I think we’re going to be OK,” Kremer said Friday. “I think we’re fairly depth-y. As you saw last year, we went through the ringer in injuries, both pitching and position players, and we still won 91 games. I know the end goal is a World Series, but you got to get to the playoffs to do that and we were able to do that with what we have.”

It’s true, the baseline for an Orioles starter this year is probably higher than it was last season. The club’s depth was exposed in the first half after Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells all suffered season-ending elbow injuries, and Elias has ensured the Orioles won’t run into the same problem with several MLB-ready starters projected to begin the season in Triple-A.

It’s also true not every championship team enters the season with an ace. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series last year with Flaherty, a trade deadline acquisition, leading their rotation throughout the playoffs. Same went for the Texas Rangers, who leaned on another deadline addition in Jordan Montgomery to lead their postseason run.

The Orioles could make a similar move at this year’s deadline, perhaps for Dylan Cease or Sandy Alcántara. They could make a last-minute move before the season starts or shortly thereafter, though that route hasn’t been Elias’ preference in years past. They could get a Cy Young Award contender back in their rotation in the second half when Bradish returns.

Their season isn’t over yet by any means, but the Orioles made a gamble entering spring training without acquiring a top-of-the-rotation starter to replace Burnes.

They don’t have pocket aces in their hand.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Weyrich at mweyrich@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/ByMattWeyrich and instagram.com/bymattweyrich.