{"id":131440,"date":"2025-12-17T02:06:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=131440"},"modified":"2025-12-17T02:06:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:06:54","slug":"breaking-news-the-orioles-have-hit-an-unexpected-roadblock-in-their-pursuit-of-a-80-million-free-agent-pitcher-what-once-looked-like-a-smooth-path-to-a-major-rotation-upgrade-is-now-clouded-by-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=131440","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS: The Orioles have hit an unexpected roadblock in their pursuit of a $80 million free-agent pitcher. What once looked like a smooth path to a major rotation upgrade is now clouded by bad news that could reshape Baltimore\u2019s offseason plans. The question is whether the Orioles pivot \u2014 or push harder."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"has-video wp-caption \">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1480866320-e1746770070728.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1480866320-e1746770070728.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1480866320-e1746770070728.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1480866320-e1746770070728.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Mike Elias\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"587\" data-dom-ready-time=\"878\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>So far this offseason, the\u00a0Toronto Blue Jays\u00a0are sending a message to the rest of the American League East and baseball:<\/em> we\u2019re ready to spend. Coming up one win short of winning the World Series has clearly driven the front office to spend more money to get over the hump in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>They signed Dylan Cease in free agency to strengthen their already loaded rotation. To compete with not only the Blue Jays but also the\u00a0Boston Red Sox\u00a0and\u00a0New York Yankees, the Orioles needed to make some big moves.<\/p>\n<p>Their first happened at the\u00a0MLB\u00a0Winter Meetings last week.<\/p>\n<p>Baltimore agreed to a contract with\u00a0power-hitting first baseman Pete Alonso of the New York Mets. They beat out Boston for him, which was big.<\/p>\n<p>The Orioles\u2019 work this offseason is far from done.<\/p>\n<p>They would like to add to their rotation.\u00a0According to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox, Orioles, and Yankees are in the mix for right-hander Michael King. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic gave a grim outlook for Baltimore.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Orioles Get Bad News on Michael King\u2019s Free Agency<\/h2>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">King is one of the remaining highly sought-after pitchers this winter in free agency.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Framber Valdez of the Houston Astros is the other. Baltimore has also been linked to him.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Rosenthal joined the \u201cFair Territory\u201d podcast and had a grim outlook for Baltimore in terms of getting King.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\"><em>\u201cI would expect that the Orioles are really going to have to outbid the Yankees and Red Sox to get Michael King,\u201d Rosenthal said.\u201d \u201cI know what they\u2019ve done is really \u2026 but they\u2019re still not a team that necessarily is going to be considered, by Michael King at least, the way the Yankees and Red Sox are.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">King was traded by the Yankees to the\u00a0San Diego Padres\u00a0in\u00a0December of 2023.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">That was the deal that sent Juan Soto to the Bronx. He has since moved on in free agency to the Mets. Now, New York is looking to get him back, this time in free agency. Yankees manager Aaron Boone knows what to expect from King.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\"><strong>As far as the Red Sox go, will they lose out on two free agents in one offseason to the Orioles?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow would have some explaining to do if it happened. Being outbid by the Yankees is one thing, but twice in one winter by Baltimore?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Baltimore Looking to Spend Big This Offseason<\/h2>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">The Orioles are looking to spend and spend big this offseason. Alonso is a sign of that. King would be a big addition to their rotation, but it sounds like they are his third option if you listen to Rosenthal.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">According to\u00a0Major League Baseball Trade Rumors, King is projected to get a four-year, $80 million contract this offseason.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">There is also the possibility that he takes a shorter deal, given his recent injury history.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Baltimore would like to add either King or Valdez this offseason.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">King would be the cheaper option, but with the Yankees and Red Sox in the mix, it creates obstacles. Another pitcher is a must if the Orioles are going to contend in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>They signed Dylan Cease in free agency to strengthen their already loaded rotation. To compete with not only the Blue Jays but also the\u00a0Boston Red Sox\u00a0and\u00a0New York Yankees, the Orioles needed to make some big moves.<\/p>\n<p>Their first happened at the\u00a0MLB\u00a0Winter Meetings last week.<\/p>\n<p>Baltimore agreed to a contract with\u00a0power-hitting first baseman Pete Alonso of the New York Mets. They beat out Boston for him, which was big.<\/p>\n<p>The Orioles\u2019 work this offseason is far from done.<\/p>\n<p>They would like to add to their rotation.\u00a0According to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox, Orioles, and Yankees are in the mix for right-hander Michael King. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic gave a grim outlook for Baltimore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So far this offseason, the\u00a0Toronto Blue Jays\u00a0are sending a message to the rest of the American League East and baseball: we\u2019re ready to spend. Coming up one&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":131446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING NEWS: The Orioles have hit an unexpected roadblock in their pursuit of a $80 million free-agent pitcher. What once looked like a smooth path to a major rotation upgrade is now clouded by bad news that could reshape Baltimore\u2019s offseason plans. The question is whether the Orioles pivot \u2014 or push harder. - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=131440\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS: The Orioles have hit an unexpected roadblock in their pursuit of a $80 million free-agent pitcher. What once looked like a smooth path to a major rotation upgrade is now clouded by bad news that could reshape Baltimore\u2019s offseason plans. The question is whether the Orioles pivot \u2014 or push harder. - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So far this offseason, the\u00a0Toronto Blue Jays\u00a0are sending a message to the rest of the American League East and baseball: we\u2019re ready to spend. 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