The Orioles have wrapped up all of their arbitration negotiations and hearings, so they know exactly what they’re spending in 2018. They also know exactly what their needs are, which means they know what they have to spend to fill them.
The Orioles have over $40 million to spend, maybe
Thursday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at the Orioles’ payroll and their needs.
Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images
The Baltimore Sun’s Eduardo A. Encina calculates the O’s payroll as just over $121 million, giving them about $43 million in room to get back to 2017’s record Opening Day payroll. As the only notable arms in a rotation desperate for help are Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy, and the free-agent market is still hosting former O’s starter Chris Tillman, Lance Lynn, Alex Cobb, and more, well, Baltimore could fix a lot in a hurry if they open up their wallet.
Will they, though? They haven’t shown any real desire to upgrade, but late additions are also kind of a Dan Duquette thing, anyway, and the free-agent freeze has likely exacerbated that. We’ll know in a hurry if the Orioles are content to finish in last place in the AL East again while doing things like dealing Manny Machado before the trade deadline, or if they want to make one last run for it with this core and some new friends before Machado’s contract expires.
Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s OK, though. Subscribe to our daily MLB newsletter and let us do the heavy lifting for you each morning to find the things you need to see.
As Encina points out, the Orioles saw $46 million worth of contracts end before this offseason when Wade Miley, Ubaldo Jimenez, J.J. Hardy, and Tillman became free agents. With those roster spots open, money available, and a clear need for upgrades at positions where upgrades are available, it would be unconscionable for Baltimore to stick with the roster they’ve got.
In an offseason full of embarrassing actions by teams, the O’s deciding they were going to follow up a last-place finish by going the addition-by-subtraction route would rank pretty highly. They’ve got a few weeks left to avoid that being how they use the last of their Machado time, at least, but as with everything else this winter, we’ll believe signings are coming once we see them and not a moment before.
- The Indians got rid of Chief Wahoo when forced to, but the same mechanisms aren’t in place for their team name, and that’s a problem.
- Different fantasy leagues have different rules about how Shohei Ohtani is going to be scored, and as someone who doesn’t actually care about any of that, Grant Brisbee is the perfect person to write about how things should be.
- Speaking of Ohtani, the Angels are going to use him as a pitcher and a DH — not an outfielder. That means Albert Pujols’ playing time is going to be reduced, and given how horrible his 2017 was, that’s not a bad plan.
- An MLB team tried to send a special assistant to the GM to scout free agents at the MLBPA’s training camp, but they were escorted out. That’s because it’s not a tryout camp, y’all, it’s more like a gym.
- The version of David Robertson the Yankees got this time around was different than before.
- Twinkie Town is fine with Yu Darvish signing with the Cubs, since they believe Lance Lynn would be a better signing, anyway.
- Here’s part two in a Baseball Prospectus series looking at why hitters are succeeding younger than they used to.
- Longtime baseball scribe Jay Jaffe has moved on from Sports Illustrated, and taken up residence at FanGraphs.
- Terry Francona’s father, Tito Francona, passed away at the age of 84.
See More:
