While Orioles GM Mike Elias is widely regarded as an incredible identifier of young talent, the 2024 season has raised questions on his ability to round off a championship ball club.
While this Orioles team hasn’t necessarily been bad this season, their 81-59 record is a significant step back from their 2023 season, and the roster as a whole has not quite delivered on expectations.
Of course, injuries ravaging the pitching staff are out of Elias’ control. However, knowing Kyle Bradish was a major question mark to begin with, John Means has struggled staying on the field for a while now and Félix Bautista was not going to be holding down the back-end of the bullpen, it’s fair to question why Elias wasn’t more “all in” to adequately replenish the O’s pitching staff.
With all that being said, that brings us to the main point of this article. Mike Elias has never had a more important offseason in his Baltimore tenure than the one upcoming.
Acquiring Corbin Burnes in the 2023 offseason is hopefully a sign that he’s willing to be aggressive and give talent to get talent. But the stakes will be much higher this time around. His first obstacle will be rounding out the starting pitching rotation, which will already be down Bradish, Means and Tyler Wells.
Elias did get ahead of this, acquiring Zach Eflin and Trevor Rogers at the deadline, who will both be under team control in 2025. Rogers, however, has really struggled in his short Baltimore tenure and is currently trying to figure things out down in Triple-A Norfolk and and will likely have to put together a strong spring training to make the 2025 roster.
Corbin Burnes, Baltimore’s ace, is also poised to enter free agency, and Elias/ownership will need to do everything they can to make sure he is an Oriole for the rest of his career.
The pitching free agent market outside of Burnes isn’t too great, so it will be interesting to see how high a price Baltimore is willing to pay in its attempt to retain the former Cy Young winner.
Elias will also need to decide what to do with some of his young talent. Samuel Basallo and Heston Kjerstad highlight a plethora of Oriole prospects who could be on the chopping block this offseason to, as aforementioned, help supplement a depleted pitching staff.
The position players are in a pretty good spot for Baltimore. The front office does have some decisions to make in the outfield, though.
Anthony Santander, who is closing in on 40 home runs this season, is set to be a free agent. Elias could bank on Kjerstad replacing that production for a fraction of the cost, but the likelihood of that is certainly not high, and paying Tony will hopefully be high on the to do list.
There are likely some major changes coming to Charm City in 2025, which is unfortunately just how the business works, especially for a team whose goal has now shifted to trying to win a World Series as early a couple months from now.
Expect a lot of new faces on the pitching side of things, and hopefully, Elias can find a way to patch some holes on this team and have them ready to make another run in 2025.
What are your thoughts on the significance of the O’s impending offseason? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
Represent The Baltimore Battery and show off your fandom with our official merchandise! Reasonably-priced attire made just for you! Visit our official shop site by clicking here!
Represent The Baltimore Battery and show off your fandom with our official merchandise! Reasonably-priced attire made just for you! Visit our official shop site by clicking here!
Like RJ’s content? Follow him on X – @blaw690
THE BALTIMORE BATTERY 
Leave a reply to boogrobinson Cancel reply