BALTIMORE — It was around this time last year that the Baltimore Orioles made their biggest offseason move, trading for right-hander Corbin Burnes.
That turned out to be a one-year rental when Burnes went to Arizona via free agency in late December. Now the Orioles are running out of time if they want to replace him with a bona fide ace before spring training.
“We like where we’re at, but we still have time on the clock before the offseason’s over,” general manager Mike Elias said at the team’s Birdland Caravan on Friday. “There are still free agents. The trade market sometimes happens very late. I can’t forecast that or handicap it, but there’s still those possibilities.”
In their first offseason under new ownership, the Orioles have done some spending, but they haven’t pulled off anything as bold as trading for Burnes. Baltimore has added outfielders Tyler O’Neill and Dylan Carlson, starting pitchers Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano, reliever Andrew Kittredge and backup catcher Gary Sánchez. Aside from O’Neill, none of those acquisitions came with more than a one-year commitment from the team.
As a result of those moves — plus raises to arbitration-eligible players — Baltimore’s payroll now ranks 15th in the majors, according to Spotrac. That’s a notable jump for a team that was near the bottom not too long ago, but the Orioles still have very little money committed for 2026 and beyond.
There may be some logic to keeping future expenditures low at a time when Baltimore has several young standouts — Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Grayson Rodriguez and Jordan Westburg among them — who could cost a lot to sign long-term.
“There’s positives to it when you have year-to-year flexibility,” Elias said. “But I’m expecting that will evolve and maybe not remain the case. Maybe this time next year, we’re talking about something different.”
For now, the Orioles haven’t locked up any of their young stars, and the lack of long-term deals on the roster comes with its own cost. For example, Baltimore is set to pay the 41-year-old Morton and 35-year-old Sugano a combined $28 million this year. Meanwhile, the New York Yankees signed All-Star Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract — an average of $27.25 million per year.
Fried’s deal might very well be riskier than what the Orioles did, but there’s a reason pitchers like that command longer contracts. Baltimore’s success in 2025 may come down to whether the rotation holds up after losing Burnes and adding only short-term solutions in free agency.
As the Orioles wade slowly into deeper spending waters, owner David Rubenstein made news recently when he told Yahoo Finance that he wishes baseball had a salary cap. In that respect, he did not sound like an owner eager to go on a spending spree in the way Baltimore fans might have hoped when he took over the franchise at the beginning of last season — with a roster loaded with young, inexpensive talent.
Instead, increasing the payroll has been more of a gradual process.
“I think we’ve elevated the payroll continuously since the beginning of the rebuild,” Elias said. “We’ve talked about it all along. Obviously that was before David Rubenstein and his group bought the team, but after they purchased it, it certainly, like I’ve said, kind of expanded our options in a great way.”
As the Orioles seek a third consecutive postseason berth, one thing Elias isn’t doing is bemoaning the big spending by other organizations. He was asked Friday about the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have drawn plenty of envy and ire by adding Blake Snell, Tanner Scott and Roki Sasaki to a team that already won the World Series last year.
“I’m glad they’re in the National League West. They’re a great, great, great organization,” Elias said. “They’re obviously kind of at the top of their game right now. (Shohei) Ohtani is a once-in-a-century baseball player, and they have him. They’re very well run all around. Hopefully that’ll be our problem in the World Series, but kudos to them.”
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