Well, we’ve just about made it through 2024. In just a few short hours, we’ll be moving into 2025 and…almost nothing will have changed.
Maybe you’ll have some short-term lifestyle changes take effect, or maybe you’ll go a bit bigger and enact something more beneficial from a long-term perspective. I’ve made a few successful changes over the past couple years that have put me in a much better spot than I had been previously.
But what about the Orioles? Well, it’s been a very slow couple weeks since the announced signings of Tyler O’Neill
and Gary Sanchez. Outside of the Orioles missing out on the top tier of available free agents, there hasn’t been a ton in the way of actual news or transactions. The O’s have made a couple interesting minor league deals, including picking up former top prospect Jordyn Adams, but there hasn’t been much of note for a few weeks.
So, with the new year quickly approaching the Orioles are resigned to working the trade market for a top starting pitcher, if that’s something they’re interested in. What else outside of that will the O’s be focused on? Here are a few ideas, a couple things the Orioles can resolve to change in 2025.
Return to the playoffs and actually win in October
The last time the Orioles won a playoff game was Game 3 of the 2014 ALDS against the Tigers. They were subsequently swept in that year’s ALCS and have now run their October losing streak to 10 games. We’d love to see that change in 2025.
It’ll be a difficult battle to get back to the playoffs for the third year in a row, there’s no doubt about that. With the Yankees and Red Sox taking big swings in free agency and the trade market, the AL East is going to be a rock fight all year. It’ll take a lot for the O’s to capture the division title, but they’re in a good spot roster-wise and should hopefully be able to leverage their star power into another successful year.
But they can’t afford to get swept out of the playoffs again. If we have to deal with the narrative that this team isn’t built to win in October or some nonsense in that vein, it’ll be a really challenging winter heading into 2026.
Sign Gunnar Henderson to a contract extension
Is this a realistic option? Well, Henderson is a Scott Boras client so it certainly won’t be easy. But there are top stars, like Bobby Witt Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr., who agreed to massive contract extensions well before hitting free agency.
Henderson is currently slated to hit free agency after the 2028 season. From Mike Elias’ perspective, you want to take advantage of these team-friendly contract years while you have them. But if you want to keep someone like Henderson around, and his performance to this point suggests that the Orioles absolutely should want to keep this guy in Baltimore for the rest of his career, you probably need to start laying that groundwork now.
Did Juan Soto break the market for top stars? Maybe. Would Henderson be willing to make a deal like the one Witt has, in the neighborhood of $300 million? Maybe, maybe not. He’s currently 23 and is slated to hit free agency at 27, a year older than Juan Soto is now. But there’s also a lot of uncertainty regarding the future of MLB’s local broadcasting revenue, and there’s a real chance we get a lockout or a strike after the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement in 2026. Maybe that makes Henderson a bit more likely to take a long-term deal now, rather than wait and test his luck.
It would probably take $350 million, maybe more, to lock Henderson up for the foreseeable future. Despite the cost, he’s an elite player who’s shown no signs of slowing down, and he’s still super young. There’s very little risk in locking a player like that up for 12+ years. This one is a big IF, but it should be right at the top of the list for Mike Elias and company.
