The Orioles and first baseman Ryan Mountcastle have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a contract that gives the O’s control over Mountcastle’s first free agent year, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray. Mountcastle will earn $6.787MM in 2026, and Baltimore holds a $7.5MM club option on the first baseman’s services for 2027. Mountcastle is represented by Apex Baseball.
The $6.787MM salary is an exact match for Mountcastle’s 2025 earnings. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $7.8MM salary for Mountcastle in 2026, yet the first baseman has eschewed on even a modest raise while also agreeing to give up a year of free agency, meaning that he won’t be able to fully financially capitalize on a bounce-back season.
The deal may simply reflect the lack of leverage Mountcastle has over his future in Baltimore, as it was viewed as something of a surprise that the Orioles tendered the first baseman a contract in the wake of his lackluster 2025 campaign. A solid 111 wRC+ hitter over the 2020-24 seasons, Mountcastle plummeted to an 81 wRC+ in 2025 after hitting .250/.286/.367 with seven home runs over 357 plate appearances. A severe hamstring strain limited Mountcastle to 89 games, which president of baseball operations Mike Elias said in November was a factor in the decision to tender Mountcastle a contract.
Elias’ view is that a healthy Mountcastle can rebound to his pre-2025 self, and thus the team didn’t want to let that player go for nothing. Keeping a veteran on hand as a complement to Coby Mayo and Samuel Basallo made some sense if the Orioles weren’t fully ready to give the youngsters a full run at regular first-base duties, yet the picture suddenly got a lot more crowded when Baltimore signed Pete Alonso to a five-year, $155MM contract.
It could be that this agreement is a step towards making Mountcastle more of an attractive trade candidate for any interested suitors. Beyond his lack of a raise on his 2025 salary, the club option would give a new team some additional control at a potential bargain price if Mountcastle can indeed regain his old form. The Orioles could also pivot by moving Mayo in a trade, and thus Mountcastle becomes first base/DH insurance for 2026 and potentially beyond, giving the team a bit more time to evaluate Basallo.
They are really doubling down on Mountcastle.
They think he can bounce back
Or increasing trade value.
It seems the Orioles valuation of Mountcastle, and the industry’s are divergent.
I for one have always been a big fan of Mounty, and I’m stoked at the re-up. Sadly, I think most Orioles fans could care less.
Here’s hoping Mounty goes off this year!
I would be more excited if Mounty played more positions to get some flexibility to get him in the lineup.
As is, he only can play 1b/DH. Plays a below average corner OF if they really need someone- but they will be hard pressed to find time for him.
Alonso is going to take 1b or DH full time (likely 1b). Adley/Basallo are likely to take the C and the lions share of the time at DH (get the other in the lineup). Basallo can play some 1b (never really looked into how good it looked in the minors).. Mayo can at least play some 3b (but really belongs at 1b). Westburg at 3b gives them a ton of options if they need to move him to SS or 2b (really more of moving to 2b if holliday is out or holliday to ss and westburg to 2b).
That is a lot of mouths to feed at 1b/dh/C.
IF you are thinking about corner OF- Cowser seems more and more like their plan at CF (even though he is a corner OF). Tavarez is their other CF option, but i could see them rolling out Oneil or Beavers there and just take the D hit.
They paid a lot for ward (1 year at 12..75m and giving up on Grayson)- so he is taking one of the slots in the corner OF for as much as he can handle.
The other corner OF is going to be a mix of Kjerstad, Beavers, and Oneil all need to get playing time. So maybe they try to work Mountcastle into that group as the other corner OF.
Basically he needs at least 1 injury to get regular playing time. Even then, he may not even be the first man up to get major run if someone goes down. Even for most of the INF- Mayo is likely getting more run (and may not have been getting many ab before that). At C, it would not even free up that many ab at DH.
Yes, a lot of mouths to feed. Let’s see where they are by game 1. Spring Training can bring any number of issues from hammies, to obliques, there could always be AB’s by that time.
No such thing as too much depth.
This is really the one question mark on the roster I don’t get currently. Now if you’re dealing Mayo to acquire starting pitcher I understand keeping Mounty around. But as it looks currently, Mountcastle has literally no spot available to him. Between Alonso/Mayo/Basallo, 1st base is going to be taken mainly by Alonso, Mayo probably gets some starts there and 3rd to spell Westburg occassionally. Basallo is going to get some time at DH when hes not catching. I just don’t see where Mounty fits without a trade happening.
I think you may be overrating Mayo’s certainty on the roster. Given how much he struggled last year in MLB and AAA, there’s a good chance he gets sent down. Mountcastle could platoon at DH and relieve Alonso at 1B when defense is required.
The option would give the Orioles insurance in 2027 in case Mayo’s bat doesn’t work out as hoped.
(They also avoid super 2 status on Mayo by sending him down for a few weeks)
I agree to an extent, though I will say both Mounty and Alonso aren’t great defenders, Mountcastle is obviously a bit better based on metrics. At some point though, you have to do something with Mayo, either trade the guy while he still has some value or commit to giving him consistent playing time. 304 AB’s across 2 seasons doesn’t really say much about a guy. Mounty on the other hand had been a solid enough hitter up until last year, though he’s been limited to 115 games in 2023, 124 in 2024 and 89 in 2025. Not exactly the greatest options available either way,
I kinda lean towards giving the younger guy the opportunity personally but I can understand the other side of the argument as well.
Scruff-I had a comment pending while I was in a meeting and basically repeated most of what you said (not seeing it until I refreshed).
Someone’s got to go, that’s all there is to it. It doesn’t make sense to keep Mountcastle and Mayo just in case someone gets hurt. If Westburg is healthy, Mayo won’t play much at 3B. Basallo’s going to get some PT at 1B if Alonso is out before Mountcastle would, but Alonso is good for 150+ games.
I think they’ve tried to trade both and aren’t getting what they want – so overvaluing as O’s says above is probably a factor…and the Orioles have a history of overvaluing their own young players.
Mayo is getting 0 starts at 3B. At least with the O’s, that’s for sure.
The scenario I was pondering on was a Westburg injury or trade. I don’t think I’ve seen any rumors of a potential Westy trade so I would strike that from the hypothetical, but he does need to stay on the field, we all know how talented the guy is when he’s available.
Westy can be one of the best bats and an anchor to the lineup. When he’s healthy. My point was that the O’s gave up on trying to play Mayo at 3B. Not sure if other teams would give him a shot there if he’s traded. His defense is bad there and wasn’t great at 1B either, but at least that’s defensible bc he was learning a brand new position, in real time. The O’s kinda messed with this kids head, IMO
not only a westy injury- westy plays 2b and holliday can play ss- so mayo is really the back up plan for 2b, ss and 3b- by playing 3b and moving westy around.
I think it’s almost guaranteed Mayo will start the 7+ games Westy has off at third for rest.
Even with Westy injured for about half the season, Mayo got 19 innings at 3B last year- after 68 innings in ’24- and ZERO innings at 3B since 5/6/25. You’re putting him down for 63+ innings at 3B next year, why?
Zero chance Mayo sees any action at 3B at the MLB level. If Bullfrog Jackson isn’t available, they’ll sign a stopgap to cover third until Westy’s healthy.
They should have tried Mayo in corner OF before now. His arm will play in the OF, and it’s his bat that will keep him in the bigs anyway.
Mounty had the speed for corner OF work, but his arm isn’t quite like Mayo’s. Besides, Mounty has 1B licked, and Mayo is boardering on ‘meh’.
After last year, no such thing as not enough depth.
Hooray! Big fan of the signing, love me some Hitcastle! ♥️
….Ryan, is that you?
I am wondering if this is a sign and trade or if it was Mountcastle trying to make himself the one to keep over Mayo.
If I’m Mountcastle and between 324 game slots available at DH and 1B, where Alonso is good for 150+, Rutschman, Mayo, O’Neill and Basallo are all ahead of you on the pecking order, I’d rather take my chances elsewhere. Let alone Mayo. When will he play and what use is it to have him for that much $ not playing?
At this point Mountcastle needs a 180. He added no value last year.
At least one or the other of Mountcastle or Mayo won’t be an Oriole when 2026 begins. In October I thought that would be Mountcastle, but given this and the rest of the winter, I now lean they trade Mayo for pitching.
It’s nice to see them have 1B/DH insurance for either situation. I can’t see Mounty/Mayo on the same roster as well. Today makes Mounty more appealing in a trade. I’d assume Elias has or has had offers for Mayo so maybe that means Mounty is getting some new threads. Maybe
Mountcastle to KCR for Bailey Falter!
People confused by this don’t seem to understand that Mountcastle will 100% start vs lefties one way or another.
To everyone that thinks Mayo is possibly available. He is only available for Skenes. Maybe the miz too. It’s common sense if you really follow the O’s. You do not as a GM sacrifice the 1-2 draft pick consensus Austin Martin the flop for the 1-12 Kjerstad the flop unless your main focus was on enticing the two high schoolers you picked in the 4th and 5th and gave early 2nd round money to forego their college commitments and control their rights. Drafting Kjetstad was practically inconsequential, That draft had one priority, saving money for Carter Baumler and Coby Mayo.
I really hope Elias would only trade Mayo for Skenes, since there’s a zero percent chance it happens. Let that asset continue to depreiciate
For a team who spends some money, but can’t go crazy, this seems like a waste of it. All these little moves add up.
Exactly, especially for the Orioles given the griping about money. They spent $13M on Sugano and $15M on Morton and $5M for Gibson…yet would not pay the same or less for a TOR arm (and I’ll keep talking about it until something goes thru this winter)..
They paid Mateo $3.5M to basically be a pinch runner and hit .177 last year. They could have given any one of us the $ and we added more value (0.0 versus his negative).
I don’t think they’d get $6.8M value out of Mountcastle but he would get some PT. Having both him and Mayo is definitely a waste of both, and since Mayo whined last year about being sent to AAA in March he will definitely not like this setback to his path as things stand.
TM, your hindsight is 20/20!
Love that Mounty is as committed to the Orioles as they are to him
Doesn’t really make sense that Mountcastle would sign this