The Orioles had been eradicated from the postseason by the Royals yesterday, sending them into offseason mode. Basic supervisor Mike Elias spoke to the members of the media at this time to deal with numerous matters associated to the membership. Most notably, he mentioned that supervisor Brandon Hyde would return in 2025, although he was noncommittal about the remainder of the teaching employees. Moreover, he mentioned that he’s “fairly assured” that payroll shall be going up subsequent yr. Particulars had been relayed by Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner (X hyperlink) and Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (X hyperlink).
It was one other good season for Baltimore in a way, as they received 91 video games and made the playoffs for a second consecutive yr. Alternatively, it was additionally disappointing for a lot of followers. The O’s received 101 video games in 2023 and had a seemingly countless provide of younger expertise, which set expectations pretty excessive coming into 2024. The membership was robust for a lot of the 2024 season however limped to the end line with 10 fewer wins than the yr earlier than, settling for a wild card berth. For a second straight yr, they had been rapidly swept out of the postseason.
The frustration will naturally result in some finger pointing, although it appears Elias isn’t inserting blame at Hyde’s toes. It’s at all times robust to discern whether or not a supervisor deserves credit score and/or blame for a workforce’s efficiency and there have been actually issues that had been past the skipper’s management this yr.
Rotation accidents had been a key storyline for the O’s this yr, as every of Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells every required UCL surgical procedure in June. The membership tried to deal with the rotation on the deadline by buying Zach Eflin and Trevor Rogers. The Eflin pickup labored out nicely, however Rogers struggled after the jersey swap and waas optioned all the way down to the minors. The rotation points had been additional compounded when Grayson Rodriguez hit the shelf with a lat damage in August, which ultimately ended his season. Some gamers additionally simply struggled because the season wore on, with Craig Kimbrel and Adley Rutschman being two distinguished examples.
Whereas Hyde’s contributions to the 2024 outcomes will be debated, it appears Elias and the franchise have determined {that a} new skipper received’t be needed. The membership hasn’t been forthcoming about Hyde’s contractual standing. It was reported in April of 2022 that Hyde was underneath contract past that season as a part of an extension that was quietly labored out in 2020, however with few particulars out there aside from that. He ultimately received American League Supervisor of the Yr honors for the 2023 season and caught round for 2024. It’s unclear if that 2020 extension continues to be going or if the 2 sides have achieved one other deal away from prying eyes, but it surely appears Hyde shall be again within the dugout subsequent yr regardless.
Elias and his entrance workplace workforce shall be tasked with constructing a roster that offers Hyde an opportunity to have a greater end in 2025. There shall be some notable subtractions, because the O’s are set to lose ace Corbin Burnes and slugger Anthony Santander to free company. The departure of Burnes will deprive them of a star who posted a 2.92 ERA over 32 begins, plus eight innings of one-run ball within the playoffs, whereas Santander’s exit takes a 44-homer bat out of the lineup.
The truth that Elias expects to have extra monetary sources to complement the roster is nice information, although it’s additionally not stunning. The Angelos household wasn’t investing a lot within the membership through the closing years of their reign. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, 2024 was the sixth straight yr by which the membership ran a backside 5 payroll.
New proprietor David Rubenstein’s buy of the membership was formally accredited by the league on the finish of March and it’s usually been anticipated that he would ramp up spending from these current low factors. The aforementioned Eflin commerce was maybe a optimistic omen in that regard, because the righty is owed $18MM subsequent yr. As proven in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Kimbrel’s $13MM one-year pact is the most important deal given out since Elias took over as GM in November of 2018. Including $18MM to subsequent yr’s price range, plus the roughly one third of Eflin’s $11MM wage in 2024 that was nonetheless to be paid out, might have been a sign that Rubenstein had signed off on giving Elias extra spending energy.
That doesn’t essentially imply that Elias goes to exit and spend just like the proverbial drunken sailor. “We’ll see what occurs,” the GM mentioned regarding the payroll query, per Jake Rill of MLB.com on X. “We’re going to be sensible about it. And if it doesn’t occur for some motive, it’s not going to be as a result of the monetary help wasn’t there. It’s going to be as a result of the individuals working this workforce thought it was the appropriate factor to do from a lot of ranges on a case-by-case foundation. However I need to reiterate that I don’t anticipate that to be the case.”
In the end, it could be one thing of a recent begin for Elias and his workforce. They’ve seemingly had little or no monetary sources to work with, which was high quality for a lot of his tenure. He and the membership had been primarily centered on constructing a pipeline of younger prospects and have succeeded. Nearly each outlet has ranked them as having one of many high farm techniques lately, if not the very high, which has allowed them to fill out their roster with younger expertise like Rutschman, Bradish, Rodriguez, Gunnar Henderson, Colton Cowser, Jackson Holliday and plenty of extra.
Some have argued that Elias ought to have had extra willingness to commerce that younger expertise because the membership turned aggressive lately, significantly for extra pitching depth that would have helped them overcome their damage woes this season, although maybe the uncertainty across the membership’s future payrolls led to some hesitation to surrender low cost and controllable gamers.
How the brand new setting will change the membership’s habits shall be an attention-grabbing offseason storyline. The free agent market will function a lot of massive names, with Burnes the highest pitcher whereas star place gamers like Juan Soto, Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso and others shall be out there. Instantly splurging on one of many high names could be a shock but it surely ought to be potential for the O’s if the desire is there. Per Cot’s, the membership had a payroll as excessive as $164MM earlier than their current rebuilding interval. They had been solely at $93MM in 2024 whereas RosterResource has them dedicated to only $37MM subsequent yr. Arbitration raises and a few membership choices will carry that quantity up however there ought to be a number of powder dry if the membership decides to be aggressive.
The membership nonetheless has a reasonably robust place participant group, even with Santander set to depart, so pitching could be the plain place to spend. Félix Bautista is anticipated to return after lacking 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure. That may bolster the bullpen, however additional reinforcements wouldn’t damage. The rotation with out Burnes might function Eflin, Rodriguez and Dean Kremer. Younger pitchers like Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott might work their method into the combo, whereas Rogers might get again on monitor after his disappointing season. Bradish and Wells might get again into the combo by midseason, however Means is slated at no cost company.
It looks like Albert Suárez shall be an possibility as nicely. Although he has far lower than six years of service time, gamers who return from pitching in Japan or Korea usually get provisions of their new contracts that permit them to grow to be free brokers no matter service time issues. That doesn’t look like the case with Suárez, though he pitched within the KBO in 2022 and 2023. Per Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Solar (X hyperlink), Elias mentioned this summer time that the O’s would be capable of preserve him past 2024.
There are a variety of choices there however there’s nonetheless an argument for attempting to carry again Burnes or one other gifted starter. Blake Snell is prone to choose out and be part of Burnes as a former Cy Younger winner in the marketplace. Max Fried, Jack Flaherty, Yusei Kikuchi, Luis Severino and loads of different notable names shall be on the market as nicely. As just lately as a yr in the past, the thought of connecting the Orioles to free brokers of that caliber would have been a stretch, however it’s going to seemingly be extra believable going ahead.
