Three Things Looming Ahead of the Orioles’ Offseason

Just two years after finishing 101-61 and claiming the No. 1 seed in the AL, the Baltimore Orioles found themselves at the bottom of the AL East. The young core struggled to be on the field at the same time, and disastrous pitching doomed the season in April and May.

The season began with hopes that back-to-back winless postseasons would ignite the O’s to take things up a notch. Gunnar Henderson was coming off an MVP-caliber season, Grayson Rodriguez had the chance to establish himself as one of the MLB’s best starters, and another top 10 prospect in Samuel Basallo could make his debut this season.

Instead, the Orioles’ season was dead by the end of May. The starting rotation was getting battered, and the offense could not consistently produce runs. 

Things went so poorly that the O’s ended up as sellers at the deadline, trading away fan favorites like Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn and even their best offseason acquisition in Ramon Laureano.

While the end of the season ended with prospects Jeremiah Jackson, Dylan Beavers and Basallo injecting some life into the team, there are still major concerns with the team as Mike Elias heads into the most important offseason of his career with the Orioles. 

GM and Skipper Search

In what seems like forever ago, the O’s departed with skipper Brandon Hyde earlier this season. The move came after growing frustration from fans and criticism from the media that called out Hyde for using repeated tactics that were not helping the team get back on the right foot. 

The Orioles also lost their general manager this season, although in much less dramatic fashion. The O’s announced that former GM Mike Elias had been promoted to director of baseball operations. 

This leaves the Orioles in a unique spot, as most teams who are shopping for a GM and a manager are not as talented, on paper, as the O’s are.

When asked about the upcoming search, Elias said that the manager search would happen “immediately.” Elias also mentioned that interim manager Tony Mansolino, who was the O’s third base coach before Hyde’s departure, would be in the mix to take the permanent position.

When it comes to the GM search, Elias had a much more intriguing answer: “It may not happen imminently,” said Elias. 

In a vacuum, this quote would be concerning. How could the team operate without a GM?

In the Orioles’ case, the team had been operating without a GM for the entire season. Elias had been promoted before the season, but the announcement was delayed due to the O’s poor start.

With Elias having handled the roster duties this past season, odds are he could handle them going forward as well. The Orioles front office has the luxury of waiting until they find the right guy. 

Offseason Focus

On top of a search for a new manager, the Orioles front office will be tasked with retooling the pitching staff.

Ahead of the 2025 season, the Orioles knew they had to make some moves to improve the rotation. With Burnes’ departure and Bradish set to miss most of the season recovering from Tommy John surgery, the rotation needed attention.

Elias’ plan was to acquire several depth pieces like Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Suagno that could keep the team afloat until Bradish returned. 

That plan did not work in the slightest.

The average ERA of the seven starters who made at least 10 starts was 4.84; Not a great mark for a postseason hopeful team. Trevor Rogers is also doing some heavy lifting with that number. If not for his dominant season, that number jumps up to 5.35.

If the Orioles want to ensure another 2025-esque season does not happen, it has to start with properly addressing the rotation. In his postseason presser, Elias mentioned doing just that.

The O’s are lucky enough to have two high-end starters at the front of their rotation that they did not have in Bradish and Rogers. The team can also utilize veteran 29-year-old Dean Kremer who settled in after having a rough April and May.

Outside of those guys, there are a lot of question marks. Can Rodriguez stay healthy and bounce back after not pitching since 2024? Will Cade Povich or Brandon Young make any improvements this offseason after a not-so-great season?

Elias has to bring in two more arms, another high-end starter, and someone to help provide some leadership from the back end. 

At the front, the Orioles should be pursuing arms like Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease and Zac Gallen. All of these guys have notable postseason experience and can help take pressure off Rogers and Bradish.

The next tier down is where Elias will more likely make more moves to address the middle of the rotation. Arms like Shane Bieber or Merrill Kelly could be potential targets.

The O’s could also acquire someone via trade, a tactic that Orioles fans will greatly appreciate if it can bring another talent like Corbin Burnes to Baltimore.

Addressing the Champagne Problem

With the plethora of talent the Orioles have developed through the minors, the O’s find themselves with a good problem to have: too many young hitters.

With the promotions of Basallo and Beavers, the team has too many mouths to feed. This problem really did not come to light much this season because of injuries.

At first base the Orioles have three, maybe four, guys that could be spending time there next season in Ryan Mountcastle, Coby Mayo, Basallo, and potentially Adley Rutschman.

Each player is in a different spot with the team. Mountcastle is an okay power bat who can flash the leather, but he is a free agent in two years and has struggled to stay on the field. Mayo had an up-and-down year at the plate but is limited to first base due to his glove.

Then there are the two catchers. Of the two, Basallo has more experience at first compared to Rutschman. The Orioles had Basallo play 20 games at first in the minors in preparation for his promotion to the big-league team.

However, Rutschman faced some injury trouble this year as two separate oblique injuries limited the Oregon State product to 90 games this year.

In efforts to keep Rutschman healthy, the team could reduce the amount of games Rutschman catches in 2026, moving him to first or DH.

At most, the Orioles can get three of those four guys in the lineup. It can be up to the next manager to decide if they want to mix and match every game.

Or, the O’s could use Mayo or Mountcastle as a part of a trade to acquire a pitcher. With the O’s farm lacking high-end prospects, current MLB talent would be needed to get the high-end guy that the O’s are looking for. 

It will be interesting to see how the front office values each player during the offseason to determine where they will play in 2026.

A Long Winter Ahead

As an Orioles fan, watching a fantastic postseason unfold without my team being a part of it is incredibly painful, especially when the team’s expectations were to be in these games.

The offseason ahead for the Orioles will have major implications for the future of Orioles baseball. If the right levers are pulled, the team can get back on track and start challenging for the AL pennant. However, if Elias fails to address the team’s needs, it could be one of the worst wastes of talent in MLB history.

This team could look very different in four months time, and only time will tell if those changes were for the better.