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José Iglesias and Hanser Alberto moves show Orioles’ ‘ultimate goal’ isn’t close as rebuild continues

Three years into the Houston Astros rebuild from which Mike Elias and Sig Mejdal came, a Sports Illustrated magazine cover rightly predicted that a World Series championship was three years away.

As the equally daunting task of turning around the Orioles enters its third year, it’s still an open question as to when such competitive heights could be reached. To project a champion at Camden Yards in three years seems as outlandish as that Astros forecast did then. All that’s certain is that that time is not now — and every move they make reinforces that.

Wednesday’s culling of their starting middle infield combination, with José Iglesias traded to the Los Angeles Angels for two pitching prospects and Hanser Alberto not tendered a 2021 contract because of his expected raise through salary arbitration, was yet another.