Offseason Outlook: Baltimore Orioles

The Orioles entered 2025 as contenders, but their season quickly fell apart. They have the pieces to bounce back in 2026, but it remains to be seen how aggressive they will be in making upgrades this offseason.

Guaranteed contracts

Option decisions

Guarantees for 2026 (assuming Enns option is assumed): $20.5 million
Total future liabilities: $103 million

Arbitration-eligible players (service time in brackets; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Non-tender candidates: Mountcastle, Akin, Carlson, Castillo, Cano, Jackson

Free agents

As seen above, the O’s have virtually no long-term commitments. They have a large arbitrage class, but none of the projections are particularly burdensome. Even with those arb players, Grid source expect the club to have a paltry payroll of $69 million next year, nearly $100 million less than what they spent in 2025. A few non-tenders should give them even more breathing room.

However, all that potential wage capacity doesn’t guarantee aggressive moves. They also had a lot of dry powder this past winter and still kept it pretty modest. The only multi-year pact was a three-year agreement Tyler O’Neill with an opt-out after the first season. Otherwise they were one-year deals for experienced players such as Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, Andrew Kittredge, Gary Sanchez And Ramón Laureano.

The investments in pitching were especially disappointing. The O’s clearly needed more in the rotation. Being the first offseason under new owner David Rubenstein, some fans believed a new level of spending was possible. In November, then-general manager Mike Elias set expectations quite high. “You definitely want to keep the whole menu of player acquisition open,” he said. “These are high-value deals on free agents over many years. We have already been involved in those conversations.”

But the O’s ended up with a 41-year-old Morton and a 35-year-old Sugano. The rotation ended up being a source of frustration for the O’s all year. A spring injury Grayson Rodriguez quickly deepened and led the O’s to a mid-March signing Kyle Gibson. In April, Zach Eflin hit the injured list and Morton struggled enough to be bumped to the bullpen. Gibson stepped up to try to plug the holes, but he was fired after four starts and released in May. Many other boys also struggled to put together good grades.

The season quickly disappeared. At the end of April they were 12-18 years old and in May they turned 9-18 years old. They were better the rest of the way, but it was too late to get the season back on track. They entered the deadline as sellers and were aggressive in trading veterans for prospects.

As we enter 2026, the rotation once again needs some work, although there are some positive developments. Trevor Rogers It took me a while to get on track in 2025, starting the season on the IL with a knee injury but having a great finish. He averaged 1.81 over 18 starts. It’s unrealistic to expect him to remain this good over a longer period of time, but the numbers under the hood are promising. Kyle Bradish returned to the mound after his Tommy John surgery in 2024. He made just six starts in the majors, but also made six more as part of his rehab.

Rogers and Bradish provide a powerful one-two punch atop the rotation. Rodriguez would be another option for rotation, but he missed the entire season due to elbow and shoulder issues. He’s expected to be ready for spring training, but the O’s will likely have to consider his workload for a while. Boys like it Daan Kremer, Cade Povich And Tyler Wells can fill out the back end, but adding another front-end guy makes sense, something Elias has admitted. Will 2025’s poor season prompt a more potent offense this offseason?