Even though the Orioles’ starting rotation was decimated by injuries this past season, the unit should enter 2025 on solid footing.
Kyle Bradish, John Means, Grayson Rodriguez and Tyler Wells all finished the year on the injured list. Rodriguez should be ready for the start of spring training. The other three could be available at some point next season with the possible exception of Means, who is a free agent.
The Orioles still managed to win 91 games and make the postseason despite the injuries to the starting rotation.
“It’s part of the game,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Unfortunately, it’s part of the game that stinks. We’ve been missing guys all year and hung in there.”
The Orioles’ best pitcher this past season was Corbin Burnes, who was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for left-handed pitcher DL Hall, infielder Joey Ortiz and a 2024 competitive balance pick in February.
Burnes met lofty expectations, finishing the regular season at 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 32 starts. He struck out 181 batters and walked just 48 in 194.1 innings. He started the All-Star Game for the American League in July.
Burnes was also masterful in the postseason. He pitched into the ninth inning in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Royals, allowing one run and five hits with three strikeouts and one walk. The Orioles still lost the game, 1-0, and were eventually swept by Kansas City.
Burnes is now a free agent and in position for a massive contract this offseason, possibly close to $35 million per year.
“We’ll see what it brings,” Burnes said of free agency after the Orioles were eliminated. “I haven’t thought much about what’s going on next. It’s going to be a crazy offseason. It’s going to be wild. I’m just trying to digest what happened. It was an early exit to what we thought was going to be a long run.”
If Burnes departs via free agency, the Orioles’ starting rotation still figures to include Zach Eflin, Dean Kremer and Rodriguez.
Orioles GM Mike Elias was shrewd to acquire Eflin, who went 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA in nine starts for Baltimore after being acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays ahead of this summer’s trade deadline. He pitched Game 2 of the Wild Card Series against Kansas City but was removed after four innings, 75 pitches and one run allowed in a 2-1 loss. He is under contract through 2025.
After an uneven first half of the season, Kremer turned in a quality second half. Kremer finished the season 8-10 with a 4.10 ERA in 24 starts. He is eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason.
“Dean’s not afraid,” Hyde said. “Dean likes the moment. … I just really love how competitive he is. He loves to be out there. He’s not afraid of environments and matured a lot. Just becoming a complete pitcher.”
Rodriguez faced big expectations when the Orioles selected him with the 11th overall pick of the 2018 MLB Draft. He had a meteoric rise through the minors, eventually becoming the top pitching prospect in baseball.
However, Rodriguez has dealt with some injuries the past few years. Rodriguez dealt with a right lat/teres strain that kept him out for the final two months of the 2024 season. He had the same injury in 2022, missing three months.
The hope is that he will come back fully healthy and stronger by next spring. Rodriguez was in the midst of his best season as a pro this year, going 13-4 with a 3.86 ERA in 20 starts before he was sidelined.
“We’re going to get him ready for 2025,” Hyde said. “It’s disappointing and tough, but he’s so talented and a huge part of our rotation this year and going forward. Just ran out of time.”
Chayce McDermott, Cade Povich, Trevor Rogers and Albert Suárez are options to fill out the rotation. Suárez helped anchor the rotation throughout the summer, finishing 9-7 with a 3.70 ERA in 32 games (24 starts). It was a remarkable performance considering Suárez had not pitched in the majors since Sept. 26, 2017, when he was a member of the San Francisco Giants.
Bradish and Wells could be options later in the season once they recover from elbow surgery. Bradish underwent Tommy John surgery on June 19 after finishing fourth in the American League Cy Young Award voting in 2023. The return of Bradish would be a huge boost for the pitching staff.
“Kyle Bradish is an absolute warrior, and he probably didn’t let on what he was pitching through, honestly, because he loves to compete,” Hyde said. “He wants the ball. He does not want to come out of the game. He’s just a fierce, fierce competitor, and he’s as tough as any player that I’ve had.”
The Orioles could also look to the free-agent market to further boost the rotation. Some of the available pitchers aside from Burnes are Max Fried (Atlanta Braves), Jack Flaherty (Los Angeles Dodgers), Luis Severino (New York Mets), Yusei Kikuchi (Houston Astros) and Shane Bieber (Cleveland Guardians).
Under the new ownership group led by David Rubenstein, the Orioles could have more financial flexibility to land a premier free agent. Elias is confident he’ll get the support to keep the Orioles competitive.
“I would be pretty confident that we’re going to keep investing in the major league payroll given what we’ve got here and the upward slope that we hope to get back on,” Elias said at his season-ending news conference. “We’re going to be smart about it.”
Photo Credits: Colin Murphy/PressBox and Kenya Allen/PressBox
Issue 289: October/November 2024
Originally published Oct. 16, 2024. Updated Nov. 4, 2024