Where are the Orioles and Why Aren’t They Spending?

Photo Credit: George Walker IV / Associated Press

Winter is here. The Winter Meetings may be over with, but there is plenty of action that will take place over the next couple of weeks. The AL East is a division that has been active so far. But where are the big splashes from the Baltimore Orioles?

The Time to Strike is Now

After the Soto signing, the Yankees pivoted to the pitching side of things. They landed Max Fried on a big ticket deal and acquired Devin Williams to help give themselves a 1-2 punch in the back of the bullpen. The lineup is thin right now, but they just added Cody Bellinger and they are not finished. If you shift to the city of Boston, they made a big splash by acquiring Garrett Crochet. Boston still needs more but they are much improved. For whatever the case may be, the Orioles have made 2 smaller moves despite losing 2 of their best players from last year’s team.

The time is now to strike for the Orioles. The entire sentiment of “the prospects are coming” is a thing of the past . They are here and their window is now. Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman are the building blocks for the Orioles and they are both inexpensive. You pair that with Jackson Holliday and Colton Cowser, this team is built to contend for the long haul.

Adding Tyler O’Neill is a fine move. O’Neill nearly matched his career best season (2021) last season and was the true right handed power bat the Red Sox needed. O’Neill (131 wRC+) replaces Anthony Santander (129 wRC+), who is coming off a career best season. The Orioles gave O’Neill 3/$49.5M with an opt-out after year 1. Earlier this week Baltimore signed 35 year-old Japanese right hander Tomoyuki Sugano to a 1/$13M deal. Sugano has been one of the best Japanese pitchers in Japan for the past decade. But Baltimore has a lot to do before they replace their ace Corbin Burnes.

Burnes was the Orioles prized acquisition from last offseason and he is still out on the open market. There have been no reports linking Burnes back to Baltimore. Burnes was the engine of the Orioles rotation. They needed an ace and they got ace-like performances out of him all season long. Burnes returned to his Milwaukee Brewers form posting a 2.92 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. Burnes is an innings eater and has plenty of great baseball left in him. Sure, the strikeouts were down a bit last season compared to previous seasons, but his ability to limit base runners is elite. His velocity is still there and the Orioles desperately need him.

Tyler Braddish is recovering from Tommy John surgery, so his services are unavailable for 2025. They have last year’s trade deadline acquisition in Trevor Rogers, who despite being under team control, was sent to Triple-A after being acquired. Relying on a not so healthy Grayson Rodriguez is risky. He’s talented but has not shown the ability to be a front of the rotation arm. As much as Zac Eflin is a good pitcher, that rotation doesn’t scream playoff caliber to me if Eflin is your game 2 starter in the postseason. For a team that should be heavily favored to win it all, they need to bring back their ace or go legitimately acquire one. Luis Castillo is available. Maybe that is a fit. The Orioles have the farm system to go grab any high caliber player they choose but they don’t seem willing to make it happen.

It would be painful to see a player like Burnes walk away, especially after trading players like Joey Ortiz (104 wRC+) and DL Hall. The Orioles made out well, but they will have forfeited some major trade chips for just 1 year of Burnes and zero playoff wins.

Start Spending Money

On March 28, 2024 the new Orioles ownership group was introduced to the public. Of course the goal in mind when buying a franchise it is to win the World Series. David Rubenstein kept it short and simple when saying what it meant moving forward.

"This is a new day, a new chapter," Rubenstein said.

The current state of the organization doesn’t feel very new or different. An unwillingness to spend while focusing on maintaining a bright future over winning now. The AL East is entirely up for grabs. Despite the Yankees lineup needing work, they are a team that will make noise in the AL East. The Red Sox improved and likely will not be done this winter. The Rays will of course be a competitive group with many of their arms finally healthy. And then there’s the Blue Jays, who everyone is curious what they will do with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. However, every single team has a flaw making it any team’s division.

It isn’t just the AL East though. The rest of the AL is wide open for the taking. The AL Central should be interesting but probably lacks a truly dominant team. And for the first time in what feels like a decade, the AL West is there for the taking with the Astros taking a step back. The AL is up for the taking and the Orioles should be the team to go and take it. What was the point of all of those 100 loss seasons if you don’t actually put all of your chips into the table when the time is right?

They have the core to win but they are missing a key piece or two. With a projected payroll around $120M, there is no reason they cannot go out and get the necessary pieces they need to become the favorites in the American League. The question is, what is stopping them?