The Orioles’ rebuild continues to slouch forward. But with their best prospects on the cusp of breaking the majors, perhaps they’re about to turn a corner.
Major League Signings
- Jordan Lyles, SP: one-year, $7MM plus club option for 2023
- Robinson Chirinos, C, one-year, $900K plus incentives
- Rougned Odor, 2B: one-year, $700K (Rangers paying the remainder of the $12.3MM remaining on his contract)
- Total spend: $8.6MM
Options Exercised
- None
Trades and Claims
- Claimed RP Bryan Baker off waivers from Blue Jays
- Claimed IF Lucius Fox off waivers from Royals; later lost on waivers to Nationals
- Claimed RP Cionel Perez off waivers from Reds
- Acquired prospects Antonio Velez, Kevin Guerrero, PTBNL and draft pick from Marlins for RP Tanner Scott and RP Cole Sulser
Notable Minor League Signings
- Rico Garcia, Spenser Watkins, Marcos Diplan, Jacob Nottingham, Anthony Bemboom, Shed Long, Andres Angulo, Wes Robertson, Buddy Baumann, Conner Greene, Chris Owings, Chris Ellis, Beau Taylor, Matt Harvey
Extensions
- None
Notable Losses
- Tanner Scott, Cole Sulser, Pedro Severino, Fernando Abad, Maikel Franco, Pat Valaika, Austin Wynns, Thomas Eshelman, Eric Hanhold, Hunter Harvey, Nick Ciuffo, Brooks Kriske
The biggest headlines surrounding the Orioles this season involved things that didn’t end up happening. John Means had his name come up in trade talks, though a deal never materialized. Cedric Mullins was a popular target for teams around the league, though he is also still in Baltimore. Ditto for Austin Hays and Trey Mancini. As the offseason wore on and Carlos Correa lingered on the open market, it was suggested by some that the Orioles could be dark horse candidate to sign him, due both to their lack of spending commitments and the connection with GM Mike Elias. While with Houston, Elias was reportedly the one who convinced the rest of the Astros’ front office that they should take Correa with the first overall pick in the 2012 draft. As fun as that would have been, that also didn’t happen.
In the early portion of the offseason, the club made a handful of waiver claims and minor league deals. Just on the verge of the lockout, in late November, they signed Rougned Odor to a major league deal. With Odor still being paid by the Rangers as part of the extension he signed in 2017, the Orioles were able to bring him aboard at the league minimum rate. He hasn’t posted a wRC+ above 100 since 2016, but there’s virtually no risk for the O’s to give him a shot and see if he can turn himself into a valuable trade chip for them.
On December 1st, with just a few hours to go until the lockout was set to begin, it was announced that Baltimore had agreed to sign Jordan Lyles to a one-year, $7MM guarantee. (It wouldn’t be made official until after the lockout.) This would go on to be the biggest move of their offseason. In fact, this is the largest contract handed out by Elias since he was hired as the GM in 2018. It seems the M.O. is to focus on the youth pipeline until it’s fully connected to the majors, with little concern given to the short-term competitiveness or watchability of the big league team. Spend as little as possible and wait for the kids to arrive.
In other offseason news, it was announced in January that the dimensions of Oriole Park at Camden Yards would be changing, with the left field fences being both pushed back and elevated. This is an attempt to curtail the extreme homer-friendly nature of the park, which has allowed the most dingers in the league since it opened in 1992. Elias later admitted that the club also hopes this will help them lure free agent pitchers to Baltimore in future seasons.
After the lockout, the Lyles deal was made official and the O’s also signed Robinson Chirinos. At the time, the 37-year-old was the only catcher on the 40-man roster but was still expected to be the backup to top prospect Adley Rutschman. But Chirinos will become the starting catcher for now, as Rutschman was later shut down with a triceps strain that’s expected to keep him out of action until mid-April. Anthony Bemboom was upgraded from depth option to big league backup.
As the calendar flipped to April, Tanner Scott and Cole Sulser were sent to Miami. In exchange, Baltimore received a couple of prospects, a player to be named later and the Marlins’ pick in Competitive Balance Round B in the upcoming draft, yet another move dedicated towards building the team of the future. After that, Chris Owings had his contract selected. He had a .326/.420/.628 line with the Rockies last year before a broken thumb curtailed the remainder of his season. He can act as a veteran utility man and perhaps turn into a trade chip if he can hit at anywhere near last year’s pace.
That’s surely what Orioles fans will be focused on, the future, for the present and the recent past provide little to feel good about. Baltimore has finished last in the AL East in four out of the last five seasons, with the only exception being the shortened 2020 campaign when the Red Sox burrowed beneath them. Five years of almost constant basement dwelling seem almost certainly to carry forward into a sixth, as Baltimore’s four division mates are all projected to be quite strong yet again, on the heels of each winning at least 91 games last year.
When it comes to the future, though, there’s plenty to be excited about. Baseball America’s most recent Organization Talent Rankings placed the Orioles system fourth on the list, with many of the club’s top prospects nearing their MLB debuts. Rutschman, considered by many to be the best prospect in the game right now, seemed like he had a chance to crack the Opening Day roster before the unfortunate injury news. That will push his debut down the road but hopefully not for too long. Grayson Rodriguez will start this year in Triple-A, meaning he could push for a roster spot soon. D.L. Hall and Gunnar Henderson will be just behind in Double-A.
The path out of the bottom of the AL East will be steep, but with an impressive collection of prospects about to join the squad, it’s possible that this is the year where it actually feels like the Orioles are climbing. Though they haven’t spent any money in recent years, that also means they have a wide open future payroll. Just about everything comes off the books this year, including the ill-fated Chris Davis contract. Though 2022 is likely to be another dreadful year, it should only get better from here.
Well, now that most of the Free agents are gone, the Orioles can’t do much
However, they have improved since last season, just how much is a question mark
Time will tell, if they truly have ‘Slouched’ Forward
The Davis deal is actually a minor problem; the 100 M or so they’ll need to pay off the Nats for the MASN mess weighs much heavier, Expect at least another 3-5 years of darkness. Then, it’s a matter of how good the prospect gang really is, AND the potential of an expansion financial windfall.
But of course the Spanks/Sox/Jays and Rays won’t just be sitting there while all this happens. A new working paradigm is needed; maybe a new owner or daddy’s passing.
Initially, I thought 3-5 years was pretty pessimistic, @tillman.
But, the lower end is probably a realistic time frame. That’s more a function of geography than anything else though. The AL East is the best division in baseball, man.
I thoroughly detest tanking.
However, I am not altogether sure what else Baltimore was to do. In their case, I think a complete reboot was in order, unfortunately.
It will certainly be interesting to see what evolves from the ashes. Hard to say as prospects are prospects & prospects excel at breaking your heart. At least they’ve a whole lot of ’em. It is definitely a volume game. & the Orioles do have volume.
Hold fast, @fomiel, @Lefty, & the rest of the Oriole guys. Probably going to be a rugged summer. Might be a couple more even.
But I think you’ll be back to pissing the rest of the East off one day again.
& hey, Mullins is more exciting than anyone on the Yankees. I so covet him. So that’s a good start anyway.
Agree about Mulllins; Hayes too. And another hope is that if they do expand, they’ll re-align them away from the Big Three of the division.
And my only issue about their “tank” was the cheap-ness of it. They’re not the Pirates; they occupy OPACY almost rent free, they own their RSN, etc. They could have made this a whole lot easier to digest by at least attempting to maintain a competitive balance. Building a winning culture isn’t just some cliche; I’m covinced that when players (and fans) come to the park thinking they have a decent chance to win, it makes a difference. I remember when Pedroia yelled at a reporter after a close loss;” We lost a one run game; WE”RE NOT SUPPOSED TO LOSE F@@ing ONE RUN GAMES!!!”.
I have always loved those power/speed guys.
It’s like carrying a rimfire pistol in the field along with your shotgun. Just provides more opportunities to get on the board.
& I get that, Tillman.
The logic – which I’m sure you know – is that the crappier you are, the better draft picks fall to you. Well…there is also the financial aspect of it. Cheap pays in some instances.
I’ve a friend who is attempting to see a game in all 30 stadiums.
He was in Baltimore last summer. Said Camden is one of the most beautiful parks there is. He also said the Orioles are fairly hard to watch, no matter the venue.
I don’t care* for the Orioles moving very much. They are a traditional rival. Sure they’re on the skids right now. But they’ve had plenty of good clubs over my lifetime.
*Turns out MLB could care less about what I care for. So.
What rough beast slouches towards Baltimore .
Still in disbelief that Jordan Lyles got a guarenteed deal.
Innings matter!
They do, and an innings eater on the Orioles is valauble. But I wouldn’t call him an innings eater. It was the first time in 11 seasons he’s pitched more than 150 innings. It was just the second time since 2015 he even pitched 100+ innings.
Seems like they started their rebuild about the same time as Detroit. They have Mancini, and Means, and Mullins developed, and not much else. Mancini is in his final year before FA. You can’t operate at a glacial pace as the windows are only 6 years long.
In the al east the tigers rebuild definitely wouldn’t be considered as far along as it does in the al central! Tigers would be the clear 5th team in the east with lil potential to finish better then that this season
Mancini is gone after this season. Mullins is a one year wonder who already was breaking down last year and has complained about playing so many games during the season. Means is also coming off of injuries.
This team doesn’t have a window.
They are spending less than $40 million on the players on the major league roster. That’s just mind blowing.
I understand that no amount of spending was going to turn them into a contender this year, and yes they need to keep building with youth.
But maybe free up $20 million to spend on a handful of mid range free agents? Maybe win 70 games instead of 65? And who knows, maybe you get lucky and either find a piece to build around or someone who can be flipped for a significant return.
Is doubling payroll to improve to 92 losses a wise investment?
This should be the last offseason us Orioles fans should be content without any spending. I’m going into this winter hoping they can land Correa and a few starters that are actual mlb arms.
This had to be the easiest of the 30 team reviews to write. For like the fifth year running.
They assigned it to a 3rd grader
Orioles still suffer from absolutely horrific contract management. in 2023 they will be clear for this one year on Chris Davis deal, but the management will once again pick it up in 2024 and beyond.
They are still “paying” for Giants starter Alex Cobb til 2025.
Its incredible how the Orioles are shackled to awful deals or decisions that put them in a financial hole so they cannot improve properly.
Almost HALF their payroll is dedicated to players who are retired or play for other teams
All the old regime
Which is still there. The GM is in name only. The Angelos family run the Orioles.
New regime is in place. Popular belief around Bmore is that old man Angelos mettled way too much, very egocentric including he being the reason why Davis and others of his production ilk were signed, they kept Machado one year too long, that agents of free agents did not like dealing with the Os, etc. Local talk identifies the son’s as hands off with the day to day operations decision making. Long overdue. They are letting Elias and company do their jobs. Things are gonna get good quick. Can’t wait.
Sure, local media will say whatever the Orioles tell them to or get run out of town and barred from Orioles events. The Angelos brothers are definitely not hands off and if Elias had his druthers and was doing what he wanted, do you REALLY think he’d let this team be pitiful like it is right now and not try one bit to win? Elias was hired years ago, so when is he going to be allowed to do his job? Your wait is going to be a long, long time because winning is not this team’s goal.
To “Ed “the Mythical One””. I feel your pain. That said, Elias is doing his job and the son’s are keeping out of the daily operation of the team. That’s the camp I’m in. And yep, it’s been a long long time. I yearn for a return to the Hoffberger type ownership era of Orioles baseball. The son’s, lifelong Baltimorians, have an opportunity here to be good stewards of this beautiful game which the fans and the Baltimore community so rightfully deserve. They’ll do it. Cheers!
Media `barred from Orioles events?` BS Never happened. Cite one case.
Nestor Aparicio, Drew Forrester, Ken Rostenthal was run out of town for being critical of The Orioles.
Would have been funny to see a blank sheet of paper in the space alloted for thus article, followed by a mic drop
They didn’t factor in the health of Peter Angelos and what his passing will have on this franchise?
This team isn’t spending any money on anything. They aren’t trying to compete. They are keeping costs down as much as possible until the financial future becomes more clear. Peter Angelos’ health looks large over this franchise. When he passes, the team is likely to be inherited by his sons. They may not want to carry that tax burden and will perhaps sell the team. When that happens, who knows if the team will even stay in Baltimore at that point.
This story line has been beaten into the ground and debunked time and time again the past 2 years.
So, Peter Angelos is fine and you know exactly what his sons will do? What has the team been doing other than paring down payroll and not making any serious strides to being a better team?
You do not know what the sons will do either, Swami.
Nor do you. So to assume that things won’t change is equally silly,
I’ve been right about this organization soooo many times. I know how they operated. People tend to hate me because I am a realist. I say things exactly how I see them based on track record. It doesn’t fit the Orange Kool-Aid rah-rah narrative so people tend to hate me. But, they always come back and say, “He was right.”
Just sit back and watch the mediocrity. Keep spending that money while the front office of this team laughs at you for being a dupe.
Miami has had a losing record every year since 2010, except for a fluke 31-29 record in 2020. With the economic system in MLB, you can be a mediocre or worse team for a very long time. The Orioles management knows it and plans on it. Many teams have/have had a Chris Davis-like contract, but most don’t take 6 years off just because of it. O’s have plenty of prospects, but will need to surround them with legitimate MLB players at some point.
Orioles were trying to win in 2018. Your math is sucky.
Jordan Lyles is getting the party started early.
The team is paying Chris Davis through 2037. This continuing Correa notion is ridiculous. If he opts out with the Twins at the end of the season, Baltimore will not be his next stop. The Orioles front office has one talent, convincing the most gullible fan base in baseball that they care about competing with the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox.
… Wait, the Orioles had an offseason? When was this?
When they won about 50 games last year. They’ve been having off seasons for many years now.
Elias is doing a great job in repairing the Orioles organization from head to toe. It’s not only a MLB team rebuild, it’s the whole organization. We’re almost there – it’s just around the corner…
Heard this all before and nothing’s come of it. The problem is and has always been the Angelos family that meddles in everything the team does. This isn’t a rebuild. For that to happen you’d actually need to see some progress. This is a tanking organization that’s being held in limbo while the owner of the team’s health is wavering.
“just around the corner” of a polydodecahedron.
Some people`s anger and arrogance make them too blind to see progress.
And some peoples’ homerism and ability to be a bigger sucker than those kids lollipops in cartoons make them blind to an organization that has, is, and will continue to pull the wool over their eyes.
$8.6 million for ex-Rangers cast-offs and $7 of it was for Jordan Lyles…”Funny game ain’t it Monty”
I get where Ed is coming from but he sounds exactly the same as the Baltimorons did in 2010 and 2011. “It’s all Angelos’ fault, we will never be any good again.”
Except in 2012 you had Markakis, Jones, Weiters, Machado, Tillman, Chen….etc. They finally accrued enough top picks in the same place at the same time and had the most successful 5 year in the AL East from 2012-2016 while spending good money to supplement the pieces in place.
So history doesn’t really back your argument anymore Ed.
If you can’t see the quality and quantity of high level prospects sitting at High A through Triple AAA right now, I don’t know what to tell you. Or the slew of international signings from just 19′ and 20′ that are currently making up like 80% of the Shorebird’s roster.
Add in the Dominican facilty and the fact that the O’s have less than $40 million committed to their roster for the next 6 years and I can’t believe that you would be too short sighted to see a plan about to come to fruition. Not to mention some decent pieces in place with Mullins, Mountcastle, Means & Hays, or that at least 2 of the 10 or so highly successful minor league pitchers who are currently about 25 and bouncing between MLB & Triple A will end up figuring things out. Akin for example looked great yesterday.
The pessimism is tired and annoying especially with no actual facts behind anything you are saying.
History absolutely supports me.
What did they do with that good core? They lucked into Gonzalez and Chen and Tillman had some of the best seasons in his life with this team. DId they go out and get a staff ace to anchor things down? Nope. They blew money on Ubaldo Jimenez and later Alex Cobb. Yay. Instead of going after a staff ace.
Then they added Pedro Alvarez and Angelos signed Chris Davis. Yes. HE signed Chris Davis. It was HIS move to do this. Not Duquette’s.
What became of Machado? Markakis? Jones? Wieters?
They had the best 5 year run in recent history. Yeah, after about 15+ seasons of being one of the worst organizations in all of baseball…finally, the blind squirrel found a nut, and didn’t know what to do with it. Adding Pedro Alvarez and Delmon Young to a team full of corner outfielders and DH/1B already. Great idea. What have they done since? Become one of the worst organizations in baseball again.
Add in the Dominican facility….yeah…you know what? They did that about 10 years ago or so and that was supposed to be a huge thing. It never paid dividends at all.
Yep, they have a low payroll. That’s about $30 mil less than they kept the payroll the whole time they were losing before. You think they won’t do that again? Especially given the health status of Peter Angelos and what might happen when his sons inherit the team?
Mullins: One year wonder at age 27 is it?
Mountcastle: Drafted as a first round SS that can’t play defense anywhere and I was never sold on his hitting ability. His stats rely on a crazy, unsustainable BABIP with no walking ability. He’s a .250-.260 hitter with 25-30HR power. He’s another guy that if he’s not hot and blasting homers for you, he offers you absolutely no other value.
Hays: not sold on him. Look at his minor league track record. Once a speedy contact hitter that was a slick fielder, he bulked himself up like nuts in one off season (wonder HOW that happened?) and ruined himself. Now he’s an injury prone guy that will slug for the fences and is more of a corner OF’er than a CFer now.
Means: Already hurt his arm. This will be a problem moving forward. You got your best years out of him already.
You are relying on what you think might be. I am relying on the history of this franchise and the directions they’ve taken. None of the prospects are proven and a lot of them are suspect.
You’re being sold a bill of goods. No facts huh? How’s the knowledge I just dropped on you. And are you seriously going to try to sell me on DELMARVA prospects right now? Single-A players? That’s a LONG WAY from MLB level. Seriously….
I’m with Ed here. I’ve been a fan for a long time and this goes back nearly 40 years.
I remember when every player the Orioles would develop turned into gold. I’m old enough to remember Cal Ripken’s rookie year, and Eddie Murray was the one prior to that. It was even more so on the pitching side – if they didn’t develop the pitchers themselves they traded for them. Flanagan, McGregor, Palmer. Storm Davis and Mike Boddicker came up and performed well.
Suddenly, the well dried up. In part because the Orioles lost their touch, in part because their talented system folks were plucked by other teams. They went from the Midas touch, to everything they touched turned into the pyramids my dogs make on the lawn. Let me trace the next 30+ years…
1. Mike Young and Larry Sheets were next up in the mid 80s. They each had one great year and did not sustain. Then it was endless hype with no performance. Jim Traber would make the team not miss Eddie Murray? Ken Gerhart a 30/30 threat? They did develop Steve Finley and Curt Schilling…for other teams. (OOPS!)
2. The Orioles were gifted Ben McDonald and ruined him. Somehow Mike Mussina evaded disaster and came up as a bonafide stud. The Orioles have not home-grown a pitcher who starred for them EVER SINCE.
3. The mid-90s Orioles knew they had nothing coming up (David Segui? Please…) so they signed free agents and made trades. They were great from 94-97 3 of 4 years, would have been 4 were it not for Phil Regan being the most inept manager this side of Rich Kotite.
4. The fire sale in 2000 netted Melvin Mora and nothing. Fourteen years of darkness followed letting go of Davey Johnson because he wanted to be treated like a successful manager.
5. Ed already touched on it. And they blew their window by not giving Nelson Cruz the one extra year he wanted. 2012-16 was lucky. The Orioles put together Buck Showalter, a top-notch bullpen and great offense to overcome bad starting pitching just enough to produce a winning team. That margin was narrow and disappeared starting in game 33 of the 2017 season (POOF!)
6. A “rebuild” by definition means a tear down AND BUILD BACK. The tearing down part has never ended. Anything not tied down is getting traded “for the future”, and the team desperately hopes that you fall for that hype again. Mancini’s gone in July, folks, and Mullins, Mountcastle, and Means are gone as soon as its time to pay them more.
Oh, and Akin’s on the IR now. Jordan Lyles (!) is the #2 pitcher on this squad and would be AAA depth on a competent team. Wells got lit up yesterday as expected. Want to talk pessimism again?
And I would add that the team is merely treading water until the situation with Peter Angelos and a potential sale of the organization takes place. Most of the “core” of this next wave is already at or past their mid 20’s. Closer to 30, and free agency, than not. In Mullins and Mountcastle, you got two unproven commodities. You don’t know if these are foundation pieces or not. Means is the only good pitcher you have and even he’s been hurt. Around them? Nothing. You have no idea how these highly touted young arms will turn out. We’ve had a lot of them come up and burn out or get hurt.
Don’t mistake realism for pessimism.
I’m with Buck here. Ownership is finally out of their mettling ways. First sign. Brady Anderson, one of Peter’s boys, out. I believe, a requirement made by Elias if the son’s wanted to hire him. Two. They honored Elais’ request to move back the left field fence. It took a couple of years to happen, but it did. So why did it take so long? The Orioles do not own Camden Yards. They are a tenant. In negotiating a lease extension, I’m thinking the fence issue was a key topic. Was the lessor, the Md Stadium Authority, willing to consider this physical alteration. Yes, but with compromise. Did Elias want the fence moved back as far as it was? No way. The compromise? If the Orioles were willing to give up revenue by cutting back on seating at least make it significant enough that the “pitch” would be large enough to attract other tenants. To me, looks like Camden Yards can truly be considered a multi purpose facility now. The Orioles may lose some revenue but the Md Stadium Authority will more than make up for any loss of stadium revenue by being able to bring in other tenants. Three. Do I like everything Elias is doing. Nope, but it’s coming from him not the sons. Finally! Cheers.
You can be with whomever you want, but the Baltimore Orioles are not with you. After coming from a winning organization like Houston, do you REALLY think Elias is running this team like HE wants to? You think he wants an annually horrible team that is spending NOTHING on the team and producing a horrible team year after year?
Do you honestly think Chris Davis would have remained on this roster for as long as he did if that was Elias’ decision to make? It wasn’t. Davis was on this roster for as long as he was because Angelos signed him.
Keeping the payroll so low is coming directly from the top. It will continue to be low for as long as the team is still owned by Peter Angelos. The ONLY time I will believe the Angelos family is not meddling with the baseball operations is when none of them are part of the ownership group.
Ed. Thanks for the response. To your point, ownership does have control over the “purse strings” as all owners should. And I’m sure the the sons along with their consultants came up with a yearly payroll limitation for management to work with. Elias has accepted this and, using whatever logic he has, thinks he can turn things around. What I like is that ownership is out of the daily operation of this business. They are letting the baseball management personnel make the baseball decisions. Finally!