FILE - Baltimore Orioles general manager Mike Elias speaks prior to a baseball game between the Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, in Baltimore. Elias was voted Major League Baseball's Executive of the Year on Tuesday, Nov. 7, after the team finished with the American League's best record for the first time since 1997. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
Orioles Firmly in Mix for Bold Pitching Additions in Free Agency
There are benefits to being young and good like the Baltimore Orioles.
The Orioles won 101 games in 2023, won the American League East and secured the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. The three-game AL Division Series sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers left a sour taste in everyone’s mouths in Baltimore. But, this team looks primed to be good for a while.
The Orioles have a payroll of $60 million entering 2024. That makes it sound like they’re operating at an Oakland Athletics level. But thanks to a bushel of young players and a farm system that features baseball’s No. 1 overall prospect in Jackson Holliday, this team is primed for the future.
They’re also primed to spend this offseason, according to MLB.com.
The site posted eight predictions for this offseason, including Shohei Ohtani signing with the Seattle Mariners and Juan Soto being traded to the New York Yankees.
The site also predicted that the Orioles would go for pitching — and not just starting pitching. The site predicted the Orioles would sign a top-level starter and a top-level closer.
Well now. Here’s the logic:
With a current projected 2024 payroll just north of $60 million and nothing firm on the books for 2025, the Orioles have the ability to aggressively add to a 101-win team that, unfortunately, demonstrated youth and a pitching shortage in a too-brief October. The clubhouse has proven itself worthy of ownership and the front office taking the next step, and that means impact external acquisitions.
For starting pitching, the site ties the Orioles to Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola in free agency, or perhaps Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes or Cleveland’s Shane Bieber via trade.
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As for closer, with Félix Bautista out for most, if not all, of 2024 after Tommy John surgery, the site projects the O’s could make a hard push for the top closer on the market, San Diego’s Josh Hader.
With a young core, money to spend and assets to trade, the point is the Orioles have the room to make big moves this offseason and position themselves to make a deeper run next October.
