The Baltimore Orioles have their work cut out for them when it comes to improving their roster this MLB offseason.
The team’s talented young roster came up short during the 2025 campaign, which was why Baltimore ended up in last place in the ever-competitive AL East division. This was a stark contrast to the Orioles’ 2023 and 2024 seasons, where they combined for 192 regular season wins before ultimately falling flat in the playoffs each year.
Baltimore’s front office has no choice but to hope that their core of position players (including Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, and Jackson Holliday) are going to bounce back from their disappointing individual performances this year, as they aren’t going to trade any of these potential star players away.
Instead, the Orioles are expected to address their pitching staff, as they’re much more short-handed in terms of talent there.
Orioles Aren’t Known for Being Busy in November
The Orioles’ brass has already made one major move this offseason: hiring Craig Albernaz to be their franchise’s 21st manager. However, aside from adding members to Albernaz’s staff and other small roster moves, Mike Elias and the rest of Baltimore’s front office haven’t made any big personnel moves in free agency or via trade yet.
And MASN’s Roch Kubatko conveyed why fans shouldn’t expect this quiet start to change much for the rest of this month in a November 12 article.
“The general manager meetings in Las Vegas probably won’t produce any trades for the Orioles. They tend to function more as a way to lay the groundwork for future discussions at the Winter Meetings, which are held next month in Orlando,” Kubatko wrote.
He later added, “President of baseball operations/general manager Mike Elias has done a lot more claiming and selecting than trading in November since his hiring in 2018.”
The Orioles being quiet in November should not be seen as a bad thing. In fact, there’s a case to be made that taking time and waiting to see how the free agency and trade market play out is a wise strategy.
Teams that are the quickest to sign players can often end up overpaying because they overestimated what that player’s market value would look like. And sometimes the best trades only become available after other moves around the league are made.
Therefore, while Elias and the Orioles will likely stay quiet in November, fans can expect big things in December and January.
