Orioles GM Mike Elias spoke to reporters this afternoon in an end-of-season press conference on the heels of the club being swept out of the ALDS by the Rangers on Tuesday. As relayed by reporters (including Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com and Danielle Allentuck of The Baltimore Banner), Elias discussed an array of topics during the presser, including the club’s plans for the offseason and the upcoming 2024 campaign.
Following a 101-win campaign during which the club spent just $66MM on player payroll per RosterResource, Elias notably was noncommittal when asked whether or not the club planned to increase payroll this offseason. The Orioles GM simply noted that it’s still “day one” of Baltimore’s offseason, rather than providing a concrete answer about the club’s payroll expectations. Despite Elias demurring regarding the club’s 2024 payroll, he did note that the club has missed out on some preferred free agent and trade targets this year, and that “those pursuits will be on the menu again” this offseason.
Though Elias wouldn’t commit to increasing payroll next year, it’s worth noting that it would be difficult for the club to avoid increasing it’s payroll at least somewhat. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects the club’s sixteen arbitration-eligible players to command a combined $55MM in salary for the 2024 season. That would leave the Orioles just $11MM in salary to pay existing commitments to Felix Bautista and James McCann and round out the rest of the club’s roster, which will see both second baseman Adam Frazier and right-hander Kyle Gibson head back to free agency after signing one-year deals with the club this past offseason.
While Elias did not reveal the club’s contract situations regarding either himself or manager Brandon Hyde, he confirmed both of them would return to the club for the 2024 campaign in their current roles. Elias spoke glowingly of Hyde during the presser, saying that the 50-year-old skipper “had an unbelievable season” in 2023 and that he expects Hyde to follow up his runner-up finish in AL Manager of the Year voting last season with a win this year.
The Orioles also offered a handful of updates regarding their players during the presser. Left-hander John Means missed most of the 2023 campaign while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery before returning in September with a strong 2.66 ERA across four starts. Despite that performance, Means was left off the club’s ALDS roster due to elbow soreness, an ominous sign for an player coming off UCL surgery. Fortunately for both Means and the Orioles, the issue appears to have been very minor. Elias told reporters that Means is in “good shape” and should be fully ready for Spring Training come February. Means figures to factor into a 2024 rotation mix that also seems likely to feature Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, and Dean Kremer.
One other potential entrant into the club’s 2024 rotation mix is left-hander DL Hall. A consensus top-100 prospect entering the season even after his uneven big league debut in 2022, Hall has been a starter for 81 of his 96 career appearances in the minors despite being used primarily out of the bullpen in the big leagues. He was impressive in 19 1/3 innings of relief this year at the big league level, with a 3.26 ERA and 3.00 FIP, though he made just one appearance that lasted longer than two innings.
While Hyde praised Hall’s work with the club during the regular season last month out of the bullpen, he also noted that the club hasn’t discussed what his role next year will be, though Hyde emphasized that Hall will play a significant part in the club’s plans for 2024 regardless of his role. If Hall doesn’t wind up stretched back out for a shot at a rotation job in Spring Training, he could be given the opportunity to work as a high-leverage relief arm aside Yennier Cano in the absence of Bautista, who acted as the club’s main closer this year before undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Perhaps most excitingly for Orioles fans, Elias did not push back against suggestions that top prospect Jackson Holliday could be in play for the big league roster next spring.
“I think when you are 19 and then you’re 20, that’s one year but that’s a lot of aging and physical development,” Elias said of Holiday, who turns 20 in December. “I can’t wait to see what he looks like in spring training.”
Holliday certainly made an impact during his first full professional season, slashing .323/.442/.499 with a 17.4% walk rate against a 20.3% strikeout rate in 581 trips to the plate across four levels of the minor leagues. That being said, Holliday’s experience at Triple-A didn’t go quite as smoothly as his overall numbers might suggest. In 91 plate appearances at the highest level of the minor leagues, the youngster slashed .267/.396/.400, though he did maintain his impressive walk (17.6%) and strikeout (18.9%) rates from the lower levels of the minors.
If Holliday manages to make the club’s Opening Day roster, Baltimore would be faced with a serious infield logjam. Both Holliday and Gunnar Henderson would presumably be in line for regular starts, and with first base likely dominated by some combination of Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn the club would have just one infield spot to dedicate to a group that includes Ramon Urias, Jordan Westburg, Joey Ortiz, Jorge Mateo, and Terrin Vavra, not to mention additional youngsters like Coby Mayo.
It’s hard to imagine Texas steamrolled past both the Rays and O’s. Orioles not even getting a single win in the playoffs is pretty sad.
Texas was on a roll and the O’s are young. I figure 2024 will be better and, barring injuries, 2025-27 will be championship-caliber seasons for Baltimore.
It looked like the O’s inexperience in the PO and their youth caught up to them. They didn’t look like the confident team like they did during the regular season. Instead of having fun they looked tense and intimidated. I doubt that will happen next year and in the years to come. They’ll be more like the DBacks, who are also a young team but have played in the PO like they did in the regular season. I also think the O’s had the misfortune of playing a team that got hot at the right time.
How do you really define “experience” though? I don’t buy that argument.
Kershaw has experience, but he’s terrible in the postseason. Then again, Phillies got far last year with little “experience.”
If and when Trout gets to the postseason, is he inexperienced too since hes never been in the postseason? Orioles won 100 games, experienced or not. They should be able to roll that into the postseason for at least 1 win.
The Dodgers just lost to the inexperienced Diamondbacks.
I think the playoff format played a part, too. Not saying Texas didn’t earn it, or wouldn’t have maybe won anyway- but the layoff is too long for the top seeds. It’s something baseball really needs to look at.
Completely agreed.
just maybe the playoffs have a massive componEnt of randomness to it and the timing of short term hot and cold streaks isn’t indicative of talent on it’s own.
Building a farm system and having double triple the payroll it’s easy to imagine.
I don’t know. A lot of people ruled out Texas altogether for the postseason. They’ve been much better than advertised from day 1. I hope they finally beat those Astros.
Judgement – I agree with that. Sometimes wins isn’t the best indicator of a team’s level. Kyle Gibson was 15-9. Was he really one of the best pitchers in the AL? (16 wins led the league). Spoiler – no.
The Orioles won 101 with a +130 run differential, went 30-16 in one run games (similarly crazy 2 run record) and 11-6 in extras which is practically a coin flip with the ridiculous ghost runner.
Texas won 90 with a +165 run differential, went 14-22 in one run games and 2-8 in extras.
These were two really even teams with the difference coming down to maybe Baltimore’s bullpen, circumstances, and perhaps luck.
With the added pitching rules to make the game faster, the ghost runner rule is now pointless.
Without John Means both Rodriguez and Kremer had to be effective but they’re inexperience showed. Still the Os are in good company with Braves, Dodgers and Rays pitchers no better than them.
The loss of John Means was a huge blow. The loss of their closer, Felix Bautista, in September was a huge blow.
Dean Kremer is a No.: 5 and should not start in the playoffs.
Grayson Rodriguez was shaken, but will hopefully be better next year. Again, means would have helped stabilize that situation.
But, yes, Bochy exploited the Orioles platoon weakness and kept O’Hearn quiet and no one other than Gunnar (except for the “hit and run” throw out to kill a rally) and Tony Taters ever got going offensively.
Hyde was spooked and out thought himself with lineups and substitutions.
All in all, it was a learning experience for all facets of the orioles organization.
However, the fact that the 4 best teams during the regular season were immediately eliminated after the bye pretty clearly demonstrates that the baseball playoffs as currently constructed inadvertently punish regular season success, and the “world series” champ this year is really just the best of the 2nd tier.
The top 4 teams are the ones who should have been playing for the World Series. Playoff Mo et has corrupted the value of a World Series trophy. Can’t have 40% of the league in the playoffs after 162 games.
Congrats Braves on being the best team in baseball in 2023. Someone else will get the banner, but it’s bs.
“The 4 best teams during the regular season were immediately eliminated.”
Astros?
And, although it’s certainly easier for a wild card team to make a postseason run than in years past, let’s not act like the top seeds still don’t have an advantage. After all, the wild card teams still need to win an additional series.
One can reasonably argue MLB doesn’t reward regular season success enough by giving the top seeds more of an advantage. This could potentially be fixed by shortening the layoff between the wild card and divisional rounds. That way, the top seeds will have a completely rested pitching staff, whereas the wild card winners will need to dig into their depth
Orioles have way too many middle infield prospects. Holliday and Gunnar are untouchable. Anyone else should be open for business to get back pitching
I would not assume the Orioles look exclusively for major league level pitching. McDermott was excellent and they have a lot of guys that were good prospects returning from TJ (Johnson, Brnovich, Peak and Baumler). Pham and Povich are also in the mix. And youve got Wells, Hall and Irvin already. Yes, an upgrade from Gibson as a vet strarter may be a target, but 8 or 9 guys will be ST starter possibilities. And it’s not like any are ones you want to discard.
I think a RH OF bat and relievers may be trade targets beyond just adding a lot to the starter glut. Their pitching depth is better than most people realize.
@Omar
Nah. 7th in ERA. 7th in runs scored.
What’s coming in? Mayo, Kjerstad, Holliday +
What’s coming in for pitching? DL hall for a full season. Chayce McDermott?
I want an arm more than anything
.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see Hays and/or Santander moved though. I expect to see a different outfield next season. May only be 1 change but you never know.
Kjerstad, Mayo, and Cowser should be in the mix. None of the current 3 OF’ers are Elias’ guys. They were all inherited and he’s drafted 100k OF’ers.
BrianStrowman9;
Hays can play that big LF at Camden Yards. That saves their pitchers. Plus he’s a solid RH bat on a team needing balance from all their LH bats. Santander has led the team in RBI’s the past 2 years and he’s a very good defensive RF with a strong arm.
Kjerstad, Mayo, and Cowser look good on paper, but they’re going to have to adapt to MLB level play, and that’ll take a year part-time.
It’s nice to trade for a name MLB veteran pitcher. But the problem is that those guys are dropping like flies with injuries in today’s MLB. You trade a solid position player to open up a spot for rookies and then have a pitcher you acquire go down with an injury in a season when you want to be contending……
It would not surprise me if the O’s take a half-step back next year, then pick it up in 2025.
P.S. Austin Hays reminds me so much of Joe Rudi when he played with the A’s. He wasn’t a great or powerful hitter, wasn’t a speed demon, didn’t have a strong arm – but he was a clutch player that seemed to find a way to beat the opposition with a timely hit (sometimes HR), moving runners up on base by hitting to the right side of the field, through smart baserunning, an exceptional defensive play or throw at a critical time in the game. The fact is that so far Hays not only does all those things, but he’s a better defender with a stronger arm, faster baserunner, and a better hitter with more power.
Perhaps were Hays to do some controversial stuff to draw attention to himself like complain about being disrespected or used incorrectly or point fingers at something or someone when he has a bad game, he’d be better appreciated in todays MLB.
Samuel
No real disagreements from me. The risk associated with acquiring a starter is substantial. I get that but at this point you have to take some calculated risks to make the team better.
I like Hays a great deal. I don’t believe Mike Elias drafted and developed all these outfielders to not play them though. Santander is only controllable for one more year & Hays only 2. I don’t believe both will be on the team next year. & to be clear, I think Santander is the one that should go out of the 2. Kjerstad has the potential to provide the same type of offense. There’s a chance that he busts but he also could end up being a better ball player than Santander.
Mullins wasn’t the same player after returning from injury. Hopefully we see the old Cedric after an off-season of rest next season
Baseball. Why do they have to drag out the best of 5 games ? Tonight, and if needed Saturday, 8 pm starts. Were almost a month into fall. This is the best baseball can figure out ? Good grief. At least both American league teams have domes.
MPrck: The only reason BB has four rounds in the PO is easy: money. Money from networks and commercials. I liked it when the AL champion played the NL champ in the WS. One round. That’s it. All these extra rounds gives players more chances to break records of players who only played one round. There were only eight teams when the league champs played in the WS. Expansion kind of wrecked that format. In soccer, if you’re in first place at the end of the season, you’re the champions. No PO, and they still make plenty of money.
Season too long. Reduce total from 162 to ? is the answer. Of course, money is king, so won’t happen.
Wait until there are two more expansion teams and the playoffs get expanded. Baseball will last until Thanksgiving.
O’s can dangle some of their infielders (NOT Holliday or Gunnar) for quality pitching. This is why teams try to develop a deep farm system. The overage can be dealt off to help fill needs.
Great season, I loved it as a fan.
Thought they could make the WS and was extremely disappointed in what they did in the playoffs. OK, it was the next step and a learning process for the majority of the players, but still…..
If Mike Elias is not given a bigger budget by the ownership group to assure he can keep all the good young O’s players in 2024 as well as sign a few FA’s or maybe take on a veteran or three with a larger contract in trade, then he and Sig need to make themselves available ASAP to other franchises in order to get a reasonable payroll budget. What those 2 and others have done is simply the best job of building an organization with limited funds in the last 15-20 years. Orioles attendance has increased, am sure their TV-Radio ratings are up, and additional merchandise is being sold – and all that will continue to grow in the near future. Most of the young players will continue to get better. This is one of the best stories in MLB and should be allowed to continue.
One thing not mentioned is the decision on Santander, who has hit 61 HR over the past 2 years and would probably command $10-$12 in arbitration. Do the Orioles think that is too expensive and work a trade for him and free some room in the OF/DH/1B mix? Kjerstad has nothing left to prove in the minors and neither does Cowser.
Certainly Frazier will be gone, and someone is going to offer Hicks more money than the Orioles will, Holliday probably to appear in May.
There is room to improve the rotation. Means being back in the middle of it as the Jamie Moyer soft tosser who just gets outs is perfectly fine. Improving the #4 and #5 starters (whether growth from Kremer or stretching Hall out or acquisitions that do better than Irvin and Flaherty which might cost more than the couch cushion change the team is willing to spend) is the route they’ll pursue though I’ll again frutitlessly lobby for a #1 to improve the rotation from top to bottom instantly.
I have no doubt they’ll retool the bullpen as needed even without Bautista and it will be at minimum top third in the league.
Unfortunately it’ll be 5 months before we have answers.
Hicks can’t get offered more $$ since he’s still receiving guaranteed $$ from the Yankees. He can only sign a league minimum deal, so he’ll go to the team that gives him the best opportunity to both win and play everyday (that’s not the Yankees cause been there, done that). I agree that’s probably not the Os going forward.
Is hicks not under contract with Baltimore next year via the Yankees release?
Strow; nope. He’s up for grabs this off season.
@Jeff Only if the O’s release him.
A banner year for the O’S, they are positioned nicely for the future.
Fellow Os fans don’t kill me for what you’re about to read.
Last year Os fans absolutely roasted Elias and co for doing NOTHING significant to improve upon an 83 win team and as it turned out, none of his moves were all that significant according to on field performance and statistics. At least the team came into the season with the #1 farm system, though it seemed destined to fall towards the middle of the pack once Gunnar and Grayson graduated, especially since 2 more top 100s in DL Hall and Westburg also graduated.
Yet this team just won 100 games solely on internal improvements and homegrown talent/trade performance. Elias’ biggest challenge may be convincing Angelos why he should increase payroll when Elias just proved he can put together a great team without any $$ needed.
Frankly the front office has earned my complete trust headed into next season. If Elias doesn’t sign a single free agent and trades away Rutschman and Henderson, I’ll be extremely skeptical but I’ll still trust him for this season. He won’t, but if he did, he should have our trust that he may in fact be right.
They should have been roasted. When you say you are going to spend and don’t it’s not going to go well. Most executives are terrible at pr and marketing.
Most free agents are a bad way to spend $. The more expensive they are the worst it becomes. Spend on development. Extend your own players.
They did spend more last off-season on free agents (22Mil total) than they did in any other offseason of Elias’ tenure so far. Just not like Os fans envisioned for “liftoff”. But you can’t argue with the result.
Sure Eovaldi or Bassitt woulda been nice in hindsight but if Jackson Baumeister turns into a mid rotation or better starter for the late 2020’s Os, Elias was dead right to not give up a draft pick to sign those guys. Outside of Verlander’s mega deal, Im not sure if any non-QO pitching free agents seen as upgrades from last year have been worth their contracts.
Actually I think Angelo’s biggest challenge is to keep Elias here. Sounds like Mike is only committed to 2024. If the owner doesn’t open payroll does Mike, Sig and crew get lured away?
100% agree, though I have to imagine that Elias at least wants to win a championship that he can claim for himself and he appears to have created a great chance to do that in Baltimore.
Sig and Eve Rosenbaum have to be seen as talented FO officials that other orgs want. Same goes for Freddy Gonzalez, I expect him to get another managerial gig in the next three years if he wants one. I think Buck Britton gets promoted to bench coach if/when that happens.
Love that line of thinking, CHS. Makes sense all around. Thanks for the glass half full take on direction of Elias’s future.
CHS I will not kill, I will give what may be an unexpected reply.
Angelos/Elias may say: “We only spent $66 million and won 101 games. Why spend more? In fact, we’ve developed guys so we don’t even need to spend $10 million on GIbson and $8 million on Frazier.”
I agree on Gibson and Frazier.
As for Frazier, you’ve got Holliday, Westburg, and Ortiz in the MIF mix and Urias as UIF. Frazier and his 94 OPS+ and .300 OBP is not needed.
I still think they need a #1 guy or someone at the Bradish/Gray Rod level to improve the rotation from top to bottom. They are highly unlikely to spend money on it. Means as a Jamie Moyer type being a #4 and Kremer developing into an average or even better #5 is fine. Maybe Hall slots in. More likely a dumpster dive Irvin-level eye roller is coming.
No doubt cheap and effective bullpen arms will be found, no worries.
I also as said above don’t think they’ll pay Santander or Hicks. Kjerstad will be in that mix, maybe Cowser, etc.
I wouldn’t be 100% surprised if they come in at or LOWER than $66 million. Won’t be happy because improvements can be made/holes filled and they certainly have $ to pay to do it. They have a thin margin, kind of the team of misfit toys versus Atlanta which is much more defined. But Earl Weaver made hay on platoons back in the day too.
Ellias is one of the worst GMs in the game. Had his team finish in last every year to get high draft picks, not really much of an accomplishment. My main gripe with him is that he didnt do anything at the trading deadline. Reminds me of last years Mets. The Orioles had no starting pitching all year. You can’t expect to beat teams in the playoffs with guys like Bradish and Kremer. I said this at the deadline. Ellias might be the only person surprised that his team got swept. Has nothing to do with money either. He can hug his prospects all he wants, this Orioles team isn’t going anywhere with him in charge. Plenty of starting pitching was available at the deadline, thats no excuse. Bullpen had 2 amazing relievers, everyone else was horrible. Could have improved there besides getting Fujinami. The fact that this guy is seen as a genius is beyond me. I’ll give him credit for Gunnar Henderson, good pick in the second round, thats it
Another troll post. Braddish and Grod were in top 5 era for 2nd half. Braddish finished 3rd in the AL for the season. The pitching was very competitive all season. Even in hindsight you can’t name 1 good pitcher they should have got at the deadline that would have made the difference for this team.
If you make the playoffs with a under 100 payroll and still have a farm system you are doing alright. DET KC have been bad for a long time so that doesn’t automatically make a contender.
Won’t blame anyone for not paying trade deadline prices and most those starters didn’t much. Hindsight they should have got Monty sure.
Yea Monty is the one I thought of that would have been better. Arguably the Os even gave up more for Flaherty instead. We don’t know that Os didn’t try to get him
I think Tekoah Roby is a better pitching prospect than Rom and Saggese has more upside than Prieto for sure. Showalter was a lottery ticket but I think the Cards got 2 high ceiling guys from the Rangers and 2 guys more likely to be depth pieces and a wildcard from us. If I’m the Cards, give me the Monty return every time.
O’s gave UP WAY less for Flaherty than the rangers did for Monty.
Roby is an actual impact major league starter prospect. Something like Kyle Bradish. + more
Brian – Rays probably gave up less for Civale, a better pitcher also under team control
(acknowledged that Civale didn’t do much for TB after the trade, but he’s around next year so we’ll see)
Elias >> the cast of thousands that has sat in the GM seat for the Mets
The fact that this post has a like has me convinced you’re the type of person who likes his own post.
Wow, what an impressively low IQ post. Well done.
Hopefully Orioles can find trade partners that aren’t just about fleecing the farm. Power bat and #1 SP, or stand firm and run it back.
Those type of people take fleecing the farm to get. Number 1 pitchers don’t come cheap.
Orioles fans were so delusional at the deadline. Jack Flaherty was it. Best prospects in the farm, bottom 5 payroll, best record in the AL = every reason to make a splash move. They get Jack Flaherty. Very little outrage from the fan base. Bottom line is John Angelos will hold this team back from reaching their full potential. Hopefully this team can win at least 1 WS with this core. It’s a special group. The bats may have cooled off, but I think the playoff experience will help tremendously in the future. Starting depth is very good. Bradish and Grayson can shutdown any team. Kremer and Means as your 3-4 should be good enough to continually make the playoffs. I’d like them to add a few bullpen arms and another veteran starter that’s a tier or two higher than Gibson. Only if Angelos can afford it, of course. Fun year, but just wish they did more at the deadline. The future is bright though. Let’s go Os!
Takes 2 to tango in terms of trade deadline acquisitions. Also, it’s one thing to make an offer and another thing for Angelos to agree to paying a salary obligation. I agree it would have been great to sign say Jordan Montgomery but who knows what the Cards wanted for him. Too easy to just say stuff like we should have signed Verlander and Scherzer… and Otani for his bat. lol.
I don’t disagree in hindsight something more would have been good but let’s see what this Winter looks like and hope that Angelos gives Young Elias an allowance.
We get Justin Verlander—-then what?
Kremer gets bombed, G-Rod gets bombed, and Bradish goes 4.2?
Maybe we lose 3-1 instead of 3-0???
@BrianStrowman9
Good point. Seems like there is one narrative that people are stuck on.
4 teams: 104, 101, 100 and 99 wins, and just one win total in the playoffs between them all.
I don’t think you can paint all the 4 teams with the same paintbrush.
O’s had an amazing season, and a disappointing post season. Atlanta, LA and Tampa Bay can also say the same. Don’t get me wrong, I’m crushed about the way 2023 ended, but I don’t think that my ability to armchair GM is any better than Elias’ ability.
The team that just romped the orioles went out the past few years and got Seager, Degrom, Scherzer, Chapman, Montgomery, Jon Gray, Evoldi, Semien. The orioles sat there with a thumb up their butts. I get that getting one guy this deadline wouldn’t have made a difference, but at the end of the day, this team is not willing to make the splash move to get over the hump. The comments made by Angelos a few months ago and Elias not coming out in this article saying they will be more aggressive leads me to believe they won’t do anything different this offseason. They have all the resources to get whoever they want. Yes, be smart about it, but at the same time there shouldn’t be this little activity at this point in the rebuild. The rebuild is over. Hoping I’m wrong, but Angelos is an awful owner and, as I said before, many O’s fans are delusional as to how bad he is for the future of this team.
It’s a shame that they are so damn cheap. If they had gone out and traded for (or signed) a top of the rotation starter like most teams do once their rebuild is over (think Lester to Cubs, for ex.), or a solid vet for the clubhouse, maybe they win in the post.
It felt to me that 2023 was a “proof of concept” season to marginally improve the roster: Gibson >Lyles, Frazier>Odor, McCann>Chirinos and see if the team wins 85+ games with that tiny roster improvement.
The Tigers had a good .500 ish season in 2021, went and signed Baez and E-Rod while giving up draft picks to get them, only for Baez to become an anchor and E-Rod to walk 2 years later for free.
The concept is now proven, the winning core is here. Elias has to figure out the best way to supplement it and without any future payroll obligations of note and a stacked system, his options feel endless. Exciting time to be an Os fan.
Rumor is they were 1 of 4-5 teams cheating this yr.
O’s need to add a veteran starter that can pitch near the top of the rotation but that won’t require a 6 year or longer deal. Sonny Gray would be a perfect fit.
He said he wants to stay in Minnesota
He said he enjoyed Minnesota. He said the team is great. He said money would not be the deciding factor. He never once said the words “I want to stay in Minnesota”.
Holliday had a rough first 8 games at AAA (still had a really good OBP) and then mashed in his last 13 or so. 1 dot OPS. His struggles are over exaggerated.
Red, he’s young so the only thing that has room to develop is his power. I think he’s otherwise major league ready. I think he’ll be up after they’ve successfully manipulated service time an additional year…um…I mean…ensured a few weeks at AAA in early 2024 to ensure he’s fully MLB ready
Congrats on Baltimore on getting to the Division and then being too cheap to move on a la Tampa/Cleveland. Go sign the impact arm you needed last offseason. Eovaldi’s 2/$34 is only hard to top because the O’s are cheap just because they whiffed (pun intended) on Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo