There is no question Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias was able to improve his roster this past offseason, most notably offensively with the additions of Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward.
But the starting pitching depth has also been elevated in such a way that longtime staple Dean Kremer will throw his first pitches of the 2026 season with Triple-A Norfolk.
Clearly, Elias was able to sprinkle some of ownership’s money to add the aforementioned offensive duo along with starters Chris Bassitt (one year, $18.5 million) and Zach Eflin (one year, $10 million).
One area that was kind of mystifying to me was bringing back Ryan Mountcastle on a one-year, $6.79 million deal that also includes a $7.5 million club option for 2027.
This was done while the club saw little interest from other teams in acquiring the first baseman/designated hitter. It was also done while Jordan Westburg was healthy and the club had the somewhat redundant Coby Mayo on the roster with no real position.
As things have played out, Westburg’s injury has given Mayo an entirely new lease on his Orioles life. He has hit his way back into relevance this spring and will likely start the season manning third base.
In the meantime, what about Mountcastle? He hit .317/.349/.366 with 11 strikeouts, zero walks and zero home runs in the spring. It’s still sort of baffling as to what Elias continues to see that others don’t.
I bring this up because I just had my yearly fantasy baseball auction. I am not saying any of the 16 guys in the room are smarter than Elias. But when one of our league members bid a dollar on Mountcastle, there was a collective look around the room as if to say, “You brought him up, you can have him.”
If the goal was to improve the team this offseason, why not platoon Samuel Basallo and Tyler O’Neill at designated hitter and invest Mountcastle’s nearly $7 million salary into a better all-around version of Jeremiah Jackson or another bullpen arm that could bring some real impact?
The real mystery is what happened to Mountcastle’s long-ball prowess; it’s all but disappeared the past three seasons. He’s never gotten on base much, but now he isn’t bringing run production, either.
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I am not insensitive to what happened to Dean Kremer this past weekend. But following the thread from the first part of these three observations, the goal this offseason was to improve the rotation. Elias traded quite a bit of capital for Shane Baz, re-signed Zach Eflin and then gave Chris Bassitt real money. The Orioles had six healthy starters at the end of camp.
So why is the news that Kremer didn’t make the team so stunning and shocking?
Everybody is saying and doing all the right stuff. The club has explained the facts of life to a solid soldier who has been a reliable back-of-the-rotation starter on a team that needed him to be a bit more consistent, a bit steadier and a good bit better.
This doesn’t mean that the Orioles can’t win with Kremer in the rotation. It just means the bar has been raised by Elias & Co, and for now, Kremer is the odd man out.
My point in writing this isn’t to bash Kremer for being any sort of failed performer. But for an organization that once hung its hat on being the best at developing pitchers and trading for pitchers they could make better, the Orioles have struggled for the better part of three decades to level the playing field with the opposition when it comes to who is starting games.
Even now, not one of the five pitchers in this rotation were signed and developed as Orioles prospects. Kyle Bradish was acquired in Elias’ finest trade. Trevor Rogers and Baz were also acquired in trades. Eflin was acquired in a 2024 trade and then re-signed. Bassitt was signed as a free agent in February.
Kremer himself was acquired from the Dodgers in the Manny Machado deal in July 2018.
Of course, there is a real possibility that Kremer ends up being part of the rotation. If that does come to pass, it will most likely not be good news for the Orioles. It’ll probably mean someone is missing some real time with an injury.
Kremer, as mentioned, has been a solid soldier for the club. He is the team’s MLBPA representative and has always been a stand-up guy in dealing with the media after his starts.
Being Jewish myself, I understand what Kremer has meant to the Jewish community here. But this is about winning a good chunk more games than last season and being good enough to go toe-to-toe with three other very good teams in the division.
Here’s hoping that Kremer gets through this tough mental task of overcoming this sort of professional diss. But please don’t call this stunning or shocking. It’s part of the process of getting better.
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With Opening Day staring us in the face, one name we expect to see in the lineup is right fielder Tyler O’Neill.
To say that O’Neill was disappointing last year is the understatement of understatements. Due in large part to neck, shoulder and wrist injuries, he only played in 54 games and had just 209 plate appearances. O’Neill had nine home runs and 26 RBIs. His slash line was more reminiscent of an extra infielder than a power bat: .199/.292/.392.
With numbers like that, why am I so sure he’ll be included in Craig Albernaz’s Opening Day lineup? First, let me say that I see a very different player in terms of physique. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t want to mess with the son of a former Mr. Canada, but O’Neill now just looks like a finely-tuned athlete primed for a much better showing.
But Opening Day is a different story altogether. You see, O’Neill has homered in a record six consecutive Opening Day games.
The record used to be four, jointly held by catchers Yogi Berra (1955-1958), Gary Carter (1977-1980) and Todd Hundley (1994-1997). O’Neill tied the trio in 2023, broke the record in 2024 with the Red Sox and homered in his first game as an Oriole in Toronto last season.
One thing we know: Come Thursday, we’ll all be rooting for No. 9 to extend that streak to seven straight Opening Days with a home run.
Photo Credits: Kenya Allen/PressBox