You may have noticed I have been awfully quiet for close to two months. That’s because I haven’t had much to say as Orioles GM Mike Elias has cobbled together the 2025 roster.
Even if all of the moves pan out, the Orioles are miles behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. Still, even if the additions haven’t been sexy, Elias has added a dash of this and a pinch of that, like any good chef.
But with spring training fast approaching, it is time for Elias to make the sexy move everyone has been waiting for. After seeing the Orioles add outfielder Tyler O’Neill and catcher Gary Sánchez just before the winter meetings in Dallas in early December, Baltimore held its collective breath for bigger news.
Letting relievers Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb walk hardly qualified as what fans wanted. The signings of right-handers Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano added depth to manager Brandon Hyde’s rotation but still failed to gain much buzz.
The team added right-handed reliever Andrew Kittredge as a quick pivot when it saw something in Jeff Hoffman’s medicals that nixed a reported three-year, $40 million deal.
All three pitching deals harkened back to the old Andy MacPhail adage: “There is no such thing as a bad one-year contract.”
And now, with Elias’ roster seemingly set on 13 position players — Colton Cowser, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad, Jorge Mateo, Ryan Mountcastle, Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, Adley Rutschman, Ramón Urías, Jordan Westburg, O’Neill and Sánchez — the Orioles GM signed former Cardinals top prospect Dylan Carlson.
So, now there are 14 players for 13 spots.
Approximately 2,800 miles away in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto has had as silent an offseason as possible. With spring training about three weeks away, he has only added a right-handed platoon bat in Donovan Solano.
This is the same Jerry Dipoto who since 2015 has made more than 120 trades as GM of the Mariners. That doesn’t even include deals he made for cash considerations or for players to be named later.
Rumors have been swirling around for more than a month that the Orioles are one of the teams most interested in right-handed starter Luis Castillo. The Mariners are in desperate need of bats, yet they are apparently also incapable of taking on any huge contract, such as free-agent first baseman Pete Alonso.
So could Mountcastle be a more affordable option for the Mariners as part of a deal for Castillo, with the Orioles taking on most or all of the remaining three years and roughly $72 million? The contract has a vesting option for 2028 depending upon the time Castillo spends on the injured list between 2025 and 2027.
Look, Carlson is set to make just $975,000 in 2025 and has minor league options remaining, so the Orioles don’t have to break camp with him. But where there is smoke there could be fire. At one time, O’Neill and Carlson were two of the Cardinals’ prized prospects. Perhaps Elias asked O’Neill what he thought of Carlson and liked what he heard.
All I know is Elias had what looked to be a settled group of 13 position players. He definitely still needs to add a top-tier arm to the rotation. Dipoto historically makes more trades than Carter has liver pills. How Elias gets back to 13 position players bears watching as the clock begins to tick to us turning our attention to Sarasota and thoughts of warmer days ahead.
Photo Credit: St. Louis Cardinals Archive