The Orioles were eliminated from the postseason by the Royals yesterday, sending them into offseason mode. General manager Mike Elias spoke to the members of the media today to address various topics related to the club. Most notably, he said that manager Brandon Hyde would return in 2025, though he was noncommittal about the rest of the coaching staff. Additionally, he said that he is “pretty confident” that payroll will be going up next year. Details were relayed by Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner (X link) and Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (X link).
It was another good season for Baltimore in a sense, as they won 91 games and made the playoffs for a second consecutive year. On the other hand, it was also disappointing for many fans. The O’s won 101 games in 2023 and had a seemingly endless supply of young talent, which set expectations fairly high coming into 2024. The club was strong for much of the 2024 season but limped to the finish line with 10 fewer wins than the year before, settling for a wild card berth. For a second straight year, they were quickly swept out of the postseason.
The disappointment will naturally lead to some finger pointing, though it seems Elias isn’t placing blame at Hyde’s feet. It’s always tough to discern whether a manager deserves credit and/or blame for a team’s performance and there were certainly things that were beyond the skipper’s control this year.
Rotation injuries were a key storyline for the O’s this year, as each of Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells each required UCL surgery in June. The club tried to address the rotation at the deadline by acquiring Zach Eflin and Trevor Rogers. The Eflin pickup worked out well, but Rogers struggled after the jersey swap and waas optioned down to the minors. The rotation issues were further compounded when Grayson Rodriguez hit the shelf with a lat injury in August, which eventually ended his season. Some players also just struggled as the season wore on, with Craig Kimbrel and Adley Rutschman being two prominent examples.
While Hyde’s contributions to the 2024 results can be debated, it seems Elias and the franchise have decided that a new skipper won’t be necessary. The club hasn’t been forthcoming about Hyde’s contractual status. It was reported in April of 2022 that Hyde was under contract beyond that season as part of an extension that was quietly worked out in 2020, but with few details available apart from that. He eventually won American League Manager of the Year honors for the 2023 season and stuck around for 2024. It’s unclear if that 2020 extension is still going or if the two sides have done another deal away from prying eyes, but it seems Hyde will be back in the dugout next year regardless.
Elias and his front office team will be tasked with building a roster that gives Hyde a chance to have a better finish in 2025. There will be some notable subtractions, as the O’s are set to lose ace Corbin Burnes and slugger Anthony Santander to free agency. The departure of Burnes will deprive them of a star who posted a 2.92 ERA over 32 starts, plus eight innings of one-run ball in the playoffs, while Santander’s exit takes a 44-homer bat out of the lineup.
The fact that Elias expects to have more financial resources to supplement the roster is good news, though it’s also not surprising. The Angelos family wasn’t investing much in the club during the final years of their reign. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, 2024 was the sixth straight year in which the club ran a bottom five payroll.
New owner David Rubenstein’s purchase of the club was officially approved by the league at the end of March and it’s generally been expected that he would ramp up spending from those recent low points. The aforementioned Eflin trade was perhaps a positive omen in that regard, as the righty is owed $18MM next year. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Kimbrel’s $13MM one-year pact is the largest deal given out since Elias took over as GM in November of 2018. Adding $18MM to next year’s budget, plus the roughly one third of Eflin’s $11MM salary in 2024 that was still to be paid out, could have been a signal that Rubenstein had signed off on giving Elias more spending power.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that Elias is going to go out and spend like the proverbial drunken sailor. “We’ll see what happens,” the GM said in regards to the payroll question, per Jake Rill of MLB.com on X. “We’re going to be smart about it. And if it doesn’t happen for some reason, it’s not going to be because the financial support wasn’t there. It’s going to be because the people running this team thought it was the right thing to do from a number of levels on a case-by-case basis. But I want to reiterate that I don’t expect that to be the case.”
Ultimately, it may be something of a fresh start for Elias and his team. They have seemingly had very little financial resources to work with, which was fine for much of his tenure. He and the club were primarily focused on building a pipeline of young prospects and have succeeded. Just about every outlet has ranked them as having one of the top farm systems in recent years, if not the very top, which has allowed them to fill out their roster with young talent like Rutschman, Bradish, Rodriguez, Gunnar Henderson, Colton Cowser, Jackson Holliday and many more.
Some have argued that Elias should have had more willingness to trade that young talent as the club became competitive in recent years, particularly for more pitching depth that could have helped them overcome their injury woes this season, though perhaps the uncertainty around the club’s future payrolls led to some hesitation to give up cheap and controllable players.
How the new environment will change the club’s behavior will be an interesting offseason storyline. The free agent market will feature a number of big names, with Burnes the top pitcher while star position players like Juan Soto, Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso and others will be available. Suddenly splurging on one of the top names would be a surprise but it should be possible for the O’s if the will is there. Per Cot’s, the club had a payroll as high as $164MM before their recent rebuilding period. They were only at $93MM in 2024 while RosterResource has them committed to just $37MM next year. Arbitration raises and some club options will bring that number up but there should be lots of powder dry if the club decides to be aggressive.
The club still has a fairly strong position player group, even with Santander set to depart, so pitching would be the obvious place to spend. Félix Bautista is expected to return after missing 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery. That will bolster the bullpen, but further reinforcements wouldn’t hurt. The rotation without Burnes could feature Eflin, Rodriguez and Dean Kremer. Young pitchers like Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott could work their way into the mix, while Rogers could get back on track after his disappointing season. Bradish and Wells could get back into the mix by midseason, but Means is slated for free agency.
It seems like Albert Suárez will be an option as well. Though he has far less than six years of service time, players who return from pitching in Japan or Korea often get provisions in their new contracts that allow them to become free agents regardless of service time considerations. That doesn’t appear to be the case with Suárez, even though he pitched in the KBO in 2022 and 2023. Per Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun (X link), Elias said this summer that the O’s would be able to keep him beyond 2024.
There are a number of options there but there’s still an argument for trying to bring back Burnes or another talented starter. Blake Snell is likely to opt out and join Burnes as a former Cy Young winner on the market. Max Fried, Jack Flaherty, Yusei Kikuchi, Luis Severino and plenty of other notable names will be out there as well. As recently as a year ago, the idea of connecting the Orioles to free agents of that caliber would have been a stretch, but it will seemingly be more plausible going forward.
rennick
It makes sense that payroll would increase. Gotta spend now that all those low priced prospects were traded away. Though I do think the Orioles have the financial might to sign anyone in this off-season if they choose.
Very Barry
42 years since the last World Series. Corbin Burnes just pitched his last game for the Orioles. Cowser is a young Kyle Schwarber with better defense. Why was he “untouchable”? The pitching is a mess after Burnes. Regular season bats are not Playoff bats, and Baltimore just proved how they don’t have Playoff bats. 1 run (Cedric Mullins HR) in 18 innings of Wild Card baseball ….. Against the KC Royals. Keep celebrating the regular season wins and Wild Card exits guys. Is this what you spent 6 years in last place of the AL to do?
sn33
Orioles last two seasons 132 losses.
White Sox this season 121 losses. Historic sucking. Yet you come on every article about the Orioles to troll and talk about how awful they are. A normal person with a functioning brain would be embarrassed to sound so delusional. But you obviously don’t have the proper equipment.
william-2
They lost nearly their entire pitching staff to injuries. I am not an Orioles fan, but even I know the Orioles weren’t going to withstand those amounts of pitching injuries for any length of time and win as much.
This season went exactly as well as team leadership allowed it to go at the trade deadline. A healthy staff? They win about 100 again.
Arnoldpsufan
It wasn’t the pitching(for the most part) that let them down, it was the offense and injuries to Westburg and Urias.
baseballpun
Is there really no chance they can re-sign Burnes? Even with all the young guys I’d think you’d want a workhorse ace veteran during this championship window.
letitbelowenstein
Burnes will get wooed by the Dodgers, Cubs and Giants among other teams. I doubt the O’s will go that far in. Baltimore’s plan should be to get a couple of 2/3 starters through FA or trade.
Can we please get a DH?
I highly doubt the Dodgers are in on the top pitchers this offseason given they have a rotation led by Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani. Plus, they will need to pay to keep Teoscar and would probably be better focused on addressing SS (e.g. Kim or Adames) if they do spend.
Cubs and Giants definitely make sense. I think the Mets, if they miss on Soto, likely are heavily in on one of Snell or Burnes too. Watch out for teams like the Nationals, Tigers or Red Sox too if they decide to increase payroll.
However, the Orioles should be in a great spot to keep Burnes. If they raise to a $120M payroll, which is still bottom 10, they’d have plenty of room as between guaranteed contracts, arb and minimum salaries they are currently only around $75M. Therefore, they should be able to competitive with something like a 6yr/$170M type deal. If they don’t raise payroll, I’d be very upset as an O’s fan because their time is now (and the clock is beginning to tick on Rutschman and Henderson getting expensive).
dodgers32
If I were the PBO/GM, I’d do everything possible to resign Burnes. Super solid top of the rotation guy and you both know each other. If he likes the org, pay him like one of the top starters in the game. Then go after another #3 starter, get a reliable closer, and beef up the bullpen.
jbigz12
Bautista is the closer.
C Yards Jeff
He’ll get 6 years. Can’t see small market Baltimore going there.
Sonny Gray. Yes?! Current deal is not long in years. True, a high annual, but…. Grumbling in St Louis they want to move him.
Arnoldpsufan
I think they could but they may not want to go with as many years that Burnes will likely want.
FletcherFan
Yes! We’re gonna re-sign Anthony “.308 OBP” Santander and pick up rotation stalwarts like Jordan Lyles and Kyle Gibson! 4th place here we come!
sn33
Do you go to every article and just spew bs? What a pathetic existence. None of those things are going to happen not one. Once again nothing but nonsense from the clown that claims he “knows ball”. The only thing you know about ball is how to embarrass yourself talking about it.
Blackpink in the area
Trade Mayo for Crochet. Perhaps go get another bat and get a late inning reliever.
King Floch
Just pay Burnes.
Mayo’s right-handed power at 1B/DH is needed for futute post-Mountcastle lineups (preferably starting next year after Mountcastle is traded for prospects).
Blackpink in the area
If Mountcastle isn’t good enough for the Orioles why would someone else want him? And Basallo is replacing Mountcastle anyways. Orioles need a top of the rotation lefty starter Crochet makes a ton of sense for them. The Orioles need to make some moves with a sense of urgency.
King Floch
Mountcastle has value and would be an upgrade at 1B for a number of teams, but the Orioles can better allocate his arb salary since we have Mayo ready and waiting (and most likely better).
Blackpink in the area
And then where is Basallo playing?
Ronk325
Coby Mayo isn’t fetching Crochet after swinging a wet pool noodle in the big leagues
letitbelowenstein
I said it more than a month ago. Stowers, Hays, Mayo and Holliday are going to make GMs hesitate a bit if the O’s want to discuss a team’s top player. I don’t think I have ever seen, in nearly 60 years of following MLB, such a large gaggle of supposed can’t-miss “superstars” who have disappointed. Granted, most of them have time to turn it around but a lot of people expected more.
Blackpink in the area
Stowers and Hays aren’t top can’t miss prospects. Holliday and Mayo have barely played in the bigs. The problem is not all prospects play well right away and the Orioles are in win now mode they can’t afford too much learning on the job. This is why contenders trade prospects for proven players.
Arnoldpsufan
Most of those guys don’t have enough plate appearances to label a disappointment.
Jim Carter
They should have done that already. Instead, they got Trevor Rogers.
jbigz12
Bautista should be huge. Need a starter (preferably 2) & some RH bats to give us options there.
jvent
Hoping my Mets sign Burnes, Soto (or Santander), and add to the bullpen, the Mets have between $100-$150 mil coming off the books. Than make a trade for Skubal ( Jett Williams, Baty, Megill and a minor leaguer ).
2025 rotation of Skubal, Burnes, Manaea, Senga and Peterson. Let Alonso, Bader, Quintana and Severino walk, Vientos plays 1b, Mauricio and Iglesias 3b, Acuna 2b, trade McNeil so Acuna plays full time.
SJKinMD
What makes you think the Tigers would even consider trading Skubal? He and Skenes are probably the least likely candidates for trades in all of MLB.
jbigz12
Skubal if he were available would absolutely empty the Mets minor league system to acquire. Not for Jett Williams and Brett Baty lol
Karensjer
Let’s hope that this postseason run will make the Tigers spenders in the offseason and they get Soto, 2-3 starting pitchers, some additional bats, and Skubal is off limits and signed to an extension.
shortstop
Soto (or Santander)
Have to admit I got a chuckle out of the implication that these two are basically interchangeable.
Can we please get a DH?
Surprised to see you let Alonso walk given what an iconic Met he is. McNeil as a utility guy and Acuna insurance is honestly a pretty good value too.
I definitely see them as the main ones holding up the market though. They will either get Soto for $600M+ or lose the bidding to the Yankees and pivot to reallocating that money across several players (e.g. $180M for Burnes or Snell, $150M for Alonso, Flaherty $100M and Scott $50M).
Butter Biscuits
Payroll going up slightly just not enough for Corbin Burnes
Citizen1
Soto to the orioles. Get it done
King Floch
That would be so 1996, it would be pretty awesome ngl.
But it ain’t happening in a million years, nor should it really. He’s probably going to be a $50+ million dollar a year DH by 30.
Arnoldpsufan
His defense already sucks,but he can definitely hit and get on base.
C Yards Jeff
Like “That would be so 1996”
Can we please get a DH?
And he’ll be worth it. If he stays with the Yankees, 600 homers is definitely a possibility.
BaseballBrian
Hyde has no feel for the game, pinch hits the wrong people in big spots, either goes too long or not long enough with starters. Sad to see he’s coming back.
King Floch
Pay Burnes, buy a couple of solid relievers to reinforce the bullpen, and sign or trade for a reliable lefty masher to fit in somewhere.
jbigz12
Who goes? Non tender Soto and decline Dominguez’s option? Not a lot of open pen slots with Bautista’s return. No flexibility to option guys either.
We need to draft/IFA sign and develop optionable arms.
Karensjer
I don’t get it. If payroll is INCREASING, shouldn’t they just be able to re-sign Burnes? I think they’re stupid to not lock down some of these young players long term, and they should’ve went a little more crazy during the deadline. There was a pretty easy shot at the World Series. They just had to get through the Bankee$, and since their lineup is about even strength with them, a top prospect traded for one or two of the top tier pitching guys (Skubal, Crochet) could’ve changed a lot. Perhaps winning the division and not playing in a risky Wild Card series where a bad game followed by a nail-biter that you were on the bad end of can send you home. Those elite arms would’ve carried them past NY and into the World Series where I feel like that team would stack up against any NL team. Orioles front office did this to themselves.
Mikey the man
Burnes is going to go back west. He’s from CA and lives in AZ now.
Dodgers will throw a brinks truck at him and he’ll go there. Maybe SF or SD will be in on him too.
Arnoldpsufan
Orioles pinch hitters were near the top in the MLB
C Yards Jeff
I like the Os make up. BUT look who thumped but real good in the playoffs last year and this one. Two teams that invested heavy through the FA market. Owner Rubenstein sees this. Excited to see what he let’s Elias and crew do here this off season.