Did they do enough to keep or improve on their second place finish?
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Now that the Orioles have (probably) moved past the window where they might make a significant move to try to improve the team from the outside, there is one question that’s been on everyone’s mind. Have they done enough to make good things happen this year?
There can be no question that the Orioles have spent money and signed players who will be on the team this year. They have added about $60 million to the payroll compared to last Opening Day, nearly all of which was committed to free agents. The basic fear is that they may have spent all that money to, at best, tread water. There were no high-upside additions. There may even be no one who will help them beyond 2025.
While this was the course the Orioles took over the offseason, other teams in the division went out and made moves that have some real star impact potential. The Yankees may have lost out on Juan Soto to the cross-town Mets, but they dropped some big money on one of the two best starting pitchers available: Max Fried. They also swung a trade for elite reliever Devin Williams.
Farther north, the Red Sox also had a big trade and a big signing. They were the team to finally make the deal for Garrett Crochet, the former White Sox starter who everyone has assumed would be dealt away from the tanking team for the past year. They gave out a big, deferred, and opt-out-laden contract to Alex Bregman that could help them improve on last year’s fortunes.
Still farther and across an international border, the Toronto Blue Jays splashed around some cash as they signed former Oriole Anthony Santander to deal that was also heavily-deferred. They brought in a recent elite reliever, Jeff Hoffman, as well, and even spent some money to bring in future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer to their rotation. That’s a group that could go somewhere.
Then there’s the Rays, who could always end up suddenly being good for no apparent reason. If this happens to be a year where they do that, the challenge for the Orioles holding or improving in the AL East is even greater.
With all that in mind, what are you thinking right now about where the Orioles will end up finishing in the division?