There was some hope that the Orioles would become big offseason players in the first winter under new owner David Rubenstein. That didn't exactly come to pass, though the O's still showed a bit more aggression than they have in a while.
Major League Signings
- OF Tyler O'Neill: Three years, $49.5MM (O'Neill can opt out after 2025)
- RHP Charlie Morton: One year, $15MM
- RHP Tomoyuki Sugano: One year, $13MM
- RHP Andrew Kittredge: One year, $10MM (including $1MM buyout on 2026 club option)
- C Gary Sánchez: One year, $8.5MM
- OF Ramón Laureano: One year, $4MM (deal also has 2026 club option)
- OF Dylan Carlson: One year, $975K
2025 spending: $67.975MM
Total spending: $100.975MM
Option Decisions
- Team declined $16.5MM option on DH/OF Eloy Jiménez
- Team exercised $2.2MM option on LHP Cionel Pérez
- Team exercised $8MM option on 1B/OF Ryan O'Hearn
- Team exercised $8MM option on RHP Seranthony Domínguez
- Team declined $4MM option on LHP Danny Coulombe
Trades and Claims
- Acquired OF Daz Cameron from Athletics for cash (Cameron was later outrighted)
- Claimed C René Pinto from Rays (Pinto later lost to Diamondbacks via waivers)
- Claimed RHP Thaddeus Ward from Nationals (Ward was later outrighted)
- Claimed RHP Roansy Contreras from Reds (later lost to Yankees via waivers before being claimed again)
- Claimed IF Jacob Amaya from White Sox (later lost back to White Sox via waivers)
- Acquired IF Luis Vázquez from Cubs for cash (Vazquez was later outrighted)
Notable Minor League Signings
- Vimael Machín, Franklin Barreto, Jordyn Adams, Matt Bowman, Nick Gordon, Terrin Vavra, Dylan Coleman
Extensions
- IF/OF Jorge Mateo: One-year, $3.55MM plus 2026 club option
Notable Losses
- Corbin Burnes, Anthony Santander, John Means, James McCann, Austin Slater, Eloy Jiménez, Danny Coulombe, Jacob Webb (non-tendered), Burch Smith, Daniel Johnson, Juan Nunez (Rule 5), Blake Hunt
The Orioles hired Mike Elias as general manager in November of 2018. The initial years of his tenure saw the club act very conservatively, but for understandable reasons. They lost 115 games in that 2018 season and were looking at a long rebuilding period. They finally emerged with a winning record in 2022 and then made the playoffs in 2023, but the ownership situation was uncertain. The Angelos family had been squabbling over control of the club and there were whispers that the O's were for sale.
In the 2023-24 offseason, reports emerged that a group led by David Rubenstein was going to purchase the club. That sale didn't get approved by Major League Baseball until around Opening Day of the 2024 season. At that time, Elias had still never given a free agent a multi-year deal. Craig Kimbrel and his $13MM guarantee was the only signing to go beyond $10MM.
Many Oriole fans hoped that the regime change would lead to a huge shift in operating policy, similar to the way Steve Cohen turned the Mets into a powerhouse club. There were some positive signs during the 2024 season that such a path was possible. The O's acquired Zach Eflin at the deadline. His deal with the Rays was backloaded, with an $18MM salary in 2025 that the Orioles took on. They also acquired Seranthony Domínguez, whose deal contained an $8MM club option for 2025 that was eventually exercised.
Reading the tea leaves, it seemed like the club would be operating with some more spending capacity for 2025. In early October, just after the O's were eliminated from the playoffs, Elias fanned the flames a bit. He told members of the media that he was "pretty confident" the club's payroll would be going up. He later said that the O's were looking at "the whole spectrum" of available pitchers, adding: “If you’re running the team optimally….you’re certainly wanting to keep the whole menu of player acquisition open. That involves high-end free agent deals over many years. We’ve been engaged in those conversations already.”
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The Mean Machin Lives!!!
LMFAO!
MLBTR get the message: I am not paying for articles that used to be free for many years.
The Orioles DID spend more money this offseason, that is undeniable. That said, what did they spend it on?
O’Neill – likely replaced production of Santander (higher per-game production likely evened out by a chunk of games not available)
Sanchez – limited impact as a backup catcher
Burnes is a huge loss at the top of the rotation and no replacement was found. They spent it at the bottom of the rotation (41 year old Morton, 35 year old, no MLB experience Sugano, and bullpen to replace non-tenders). They also tendered most of their arb-eligible folks.
Yes, they have depth at the bottom of the rotation and shouldn’t have to scramble for major league caliber arms to start games, much less the Dave Trembley “TBD” starter every 5 days. But that’s far from the rotation being a strength. They will start the season with Eflin as a 2-3 starter and a bunch of 3-4 or 4-5 level guys. The continued inability to develop and flourish healthy top level guys is almost humorous at this point if it wasn’t so sad.
The young core of the offense should have incremental improvements, especially Holliday and Cowser in Year 2. Rutschman should bounce back from a bad 2nd half. I’m not sure it’ll be enough to consistently overcome the rotation. It’ll have to kind of resemble the 1996 team in trying to outscore opponents.
I’m going to stick to 82-80, but the upside risk to this comes in the form of Yankees having injury issues of their own and the Rays being distracted by being homeless. The Red Sox are better and the Jays are at least marginally better.
It’s noteworthy PECOTA, which consistently has undervalued good Orioles teams going back to 2012, has the Orioles at 88.2 in their latest update which is the highest I remember ever seeing them, taking the Yanks down to 85.1, Jays are at 84.8, Rays 82.4, Sox 79.8
Perhaps the biggest issue I have with the team is that they have 0 dollars committed for 2028 with the wealth of young talent on the roster. No extensions have been made. This projects profit margins and protecting themselves in a 2027 work stoppage is far more important to them than being competitive for more than a few years.
“MLBTR get the message..used to be free”..Some paragraphs would be nice, but your post was very well written and articulated. Perhaps, you shouldn’t be paying for MLBTRADERUMORS, but instead writing for them.
It’s just one man’s opinion….P.S: There is no such thing as “free”. People have to eat and virtually no one works for “free”.
Thanks mlbfan
For some reason, I could put 11 spaces after each paragraph but they are all removed when posted.
I used to write sports articles for my college newspaper back in the mid 90s and explored it with the Baltimore Sun about 20 years ago when I was single but dropped it – the $ for the time commitment was not enough.
“All removed when posted”…Try adding two spaces when you want a break between paragraphs. I usually hit the arrow key twice for a space between paragraphs.
Dave Trembly?
Thornton — Re: Orioles Pitching development.
How the Orioles get pitching has been through everything BUT the draft ..to this point. I think you can acknowledge that while it’s been an off-the-beaten-path approach, it has been exceedingly fruitful. The list of SP and RP that the Orioles were able to identify and develop that other Orgs didn’t/couldn’t is a tremendous success. A very shrewd approach.
Top of Rotation…no. At least, not yet. The organization didn’t need the arms when Elias took over as Bradish, Grayson, Krener, and Means were all just starting their MLB clocks in 2019/2020. Where as Mountcastle was the only position player with team control and Prospects pedigree.
This Spring Training has shown us LOTS of lower levels arms that are very impressive. By the end of the season the top Orioles prospects could all be pitchers (assuming Mayo and Basillo graduate).
Burnes : the Orioles made the effort to sign him, he has said so twice now publicly even saying they were the most aggressive. But Burnes picked up the phone and called a team that hadn’t even bid. He wanted AZ more than AZ wanted him. He just wasn’t coming back, not on the Orioles there.
Acquiring a TOR arm in free agency is tough, but Mike has said he will continue to pursue TOR arm.
Additionally, what I saw out of Bradish for a dozen starts before his injury, was a TOR guy. Grayson will get there too.
I’m not concerned about the pitching… because Mike Elias has figured it out every time. He did add Burnes after all, I’m sure he knows the value of ToR guys better then most…but those guys are Unicorns. Easy to say “get one” harder to do.
Let go O’s!!
Thornton Mellon
MLBTR get the message: I am not paying for articles that used to be free
=======================
I’m not sure I’d publicize the fact that you won’t pay $2.50 a month.
Under 10 cents per day. Habits are expensive in the 21st Century.
So many blown opportunities.
No playoffs this year, more’s the pity.
I would be absolutely stunned if the Orioles didn’t make the playoffs this year.
Really, with the current starting pitching?
Yes, really.
We have the best everyday lineup in the AL, and good depth behind them, plus an electric bullpen. The starting pitching would have to be catastrophically bad for them to not win 88-90 games this year and there is no good reason to think that it will be right now.
To me, it looked like their FA off season SP acquisition strategy mirrored their strategy in the 3 previous seasons: aquire durability arms. Old man Morton is that, as is Surgano. I’m OK with this.
I see at least 4 starters who could be average or better for the O’s: Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Charlie Morton, and Dean Kremmer. Albert Suarez was also solid and Tomoyuki Sugano was fantastic in Japan last year. There might not be a typical ‘ace’-caliber pitcher in this staff, but the O’s have plenty of hitting and relievers to make up for that.
How many wins did kyle gibson give the o’s in 2023? 15 How many did Burns in 2024? 15
They did well with a solid pitcher to get them to the bullpen. I’d much rather have Burnes back but that wasn’t happening as he wanted to play in AZ. The next best thing was to bring in solid pitches until Wells and Bradish return midyear. Then you have 7 solid starters including two potential aces in GRod and Bradish with probably Wells moving to shoring up the bullpen. A good two-three months is all they may need out of Morton and Sugano. more would be a bonus. That is like an automatic upgrade trading acquisition that costs them no prospects or money.
Bullpen should be better with the mountain back.
Lineup should continue to progress as long as the yankees dont play beanball (Kjerstad) and Westburg doesn’t get hit and break his hand again. Those two alone were missed at the time of the injuries. Holliday and Cowser should be better with seasoning.
They seem to have a good amount of depth that would cover for the unexpected injuries. Yankees seem old… Toronto seems desparate, Rays maybe rained out most of the year. Red Sox seem to be the best of the rest but likely not on par.
I liked our offseason. Didn’t love it, but I am satisfied with it.
Besides the obvious and enormous positive that new ownwr David Rubenstein is clearly willing to spend at levels that would have caused John Angelos to burst into flames, we addressed our simgle biggest need (significantly improving the offense against lefties) and didn’t hand out any bad contracts just to try to “win” the offseason in the eyes of pundits. We also picked up 2 more high draft picks, giving us 6 picks in the top 100 this year, which should help keep the talent pipeline flowing for years to come and assist in delivering on Mike Elias’ plan for the Orioles to be a perennial contender rather than a “short window, tear it down and start over” kind of team.
^ Solid take. 100%
I don’t think hitting left handed pitching was anywhere close to their biggest need. They had a team 115 wRC+ vs them last year, the exact same as their wRC+ vs RHP. And to address that, they subtracted one of their above average hitters both vs handedness pitchers (Santander) for a player that only hits left handed pitchers good (O’Neill). I really don’t see them using O’neill as a platoon player considering the money they gave him so any advantage they do get will be outweighed by mediocre play considering he’d be facing far more same handed pitchers. To me the pitching was clearly their biggest need, which looks even worse now with the concerns surrounding Rodriguez. They desperately needed to find a Burnes replacement whether that be through trade or free agency and they failed to address that.
The raw stats do not quite tell the whole story here, the Orioles have several players who should basically always start against righties but are terrible against lefties (O’Hearn, Mullins, Cowser) and desperately needed platoon partners, and there were no real internal candidates on hand except maybe Mayo.
Santander’s one production should be more or less replicated, and maybe even exceeded, by the combo of O’Neill and Kjerstad, so I’m not really concerned about his departure at all.
“They desperately needed to find a Burnes replacement”
That’s a narrative many have spoken, but before they had Burnes the Orioles won 101 games, so…
The 101 win season is looking like the outlier now, or at least like 2012 was fluky versus the rest of that 2012-16 run.
The 2023 record was a bit inflated by a 30-16 one-run record.
That team hit lefties better than rightes BTW. 7 points higher. They hit unusually well in high leverage situations, late and close, and with RISP.
Their pitching in 2023 as you know was relatively healthy, their bullpen was dominant, Bradish and Rodriguez turned in great 2nd halves, among the best in all MLB.
2024 was generally worse in most of the above categories.
Thornton — Uh, I look at last year as an outlier.
2 years of data points…which is the outlier?!…bum, bum, bummmmmm!
I guess this season determines it, lol
I am inclined to give a Peppermint Patty grade, D-!
Mayo just got sent to the minors and he’s not happy. They’ve retained 2 known quantities in Mountcastle and O’Hearn. Both are known slightly above average hitters but not world beaters.
Mayo has nothing else to prove in the minors. He has not hit in the majors. He didn’t have a great spring and needed to.
Do you trade Mayo for pitching while his stock is high? Its not a tremendous situation, as his stock really can’t go up in AAA but it could go down.
Kjerstad in a similar situation, there are teams out there that can and want to give him full time AB’s and he is a 4th OF/part time DH in Baltimore with Mountcastle/O’Hearn and now O’Neill in the way.
Last year, Cowser had was a 4th OFer…but he played his way into more games.
The only thing blocking Mayo and Kjersted is production.
Mayo had a terrible spring so far. Hitting 191 and 0 home runs which is probably why he didn’t make the team.
To be honest, I was fairly surprised they picked up O’Hearns option this off season.
Between this spring and his time in MLB last year hitting .098 I would say Mayo’s stock is low not high right now. They’ll have to keep him at AAA and hope he rakes there. Maybe they can include him in a pitching deal at the deadline.
Kjerstad will probably by the main DH this year with Adley and O’Hearn a few games.
Mountcastle and O’Hearn at first.
Crowser, Mullins, and O’Neil in the outfield.
Thornton Mellon
Mayo just got sent to the minors and he’s not happy.
=================================
“”It obviously sucks because you feel like you’ve proven everything you’ve needed to.”
That’s a little alarming.
He had an horrific 4 singles in 41 ABs with a 22/4 K/W last year.
He has a .501 OPS in ST, with a 13/2 K/W in 42 ABs.
He hasn’t proven squat yet. Even his minor league numbers are not overly impressive with the huge number of Ks.
Sounds like Spicy Mayo needs to get to work and earn a promotion or a trade.