With the start of the Winter Meetings less than a week away, it is no surprise that the Baltimore Orioles will be looking to improve in this area.
According to Jake Rill of MLB.com, the Orioles are expected to seek help in the starting pitching market ahead of next week’s Winter Meetings, as it was one of the main reasons why they missed the postseason last year.
“The Orioles have not yet bolstered their rotation,” Rill wrote. “In fact, they lost a pair of starting candidates with the departures of right-handers Grayson Rodriguez (traded to the Angels for Taylor Ward) and Albert Suárez (non-tendered).”
Baltimore has been very active in the offseason so far. They’ve bolstered the outfield and lineup by acquiring Ward from the Los Angeles Angels and signing outfielder Leody Taveras, and upgraded the bullpen by re-acquiring reliever Andrew Kittredge from the Chicago Cubs and recently adding Ryan Helsley to a two-year, $28 million deal to be their closer.
However, the Orioles’ rotation still has more questions than answers. It currently consists of Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Tyler Wells and Cade Povich, all of whom missed time at some point last year due to injury. Bradish and Wells in particular are recently recovered from major elbow surgeries, so their workloads in 2026 may be limited out of precaution.
While the O’s have a plethora of minor league pitching talent, the team may want to hold off on promoting any of their young prospects at the start of next season.
President of baseball operations Mike Elias has made it very clear this offseason that the Orioles need to add a frontline ace. All of those injuries and inconsistencies last year (outside of Rogers) resulted in a 4.62 ERA from Baltimore’s starting staff, the fifth-worst mark in Major League Baseball.
Frontline starting pitching candidates that Rill floated the possibility for the O’s to sign this winter were Framber Valdez, Michael King, Ranger Suárez, and Tatsuya Imai; the latter was recently posted by the Nippon Professional Baseball League.
However, Rill also noted that Elias has not signed a starting pitcher to a multi-year deal since joining the Orioles in 2018 as the team’s general manager and executive vice president. This included 2024 ace Corbin Burnes, who ended up signing a six-year, $210 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks last winter. Burnes, though, was limited to 11 starts for the Diamondbacks last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
The Toronto Blue Jays’ signing of Dylan Cease to a lucrative seven-year, $210 million contract may also set the standard for what the other frontline free agent starters may want this offseason.
If Baltimore isn’t inclined to sign a starting pitcher to a multi-year deal, Rill named veterans Merrill Kelly, Zac Gallen, Chris Bassitt and Justin Verlander as potential names they can sign to short-term deals. The Orioles could also seek starting pitching help via the trade market, with MacKenzie Gore from the Washington Nationals, Joe Ryan from the Minnesota Twins, Kris Bubic from the Kansas City Royals and Freddy Peralta of the Milwaukee Brewers all possibly being available.
After missing the playoffs and finishing in last place in the AL East for the first time since 2022, improving their starting pitching is poised to be the Orioles’ biggest priority ahead of the Winter Meetings, with the hopes of contending next year in a historically ultra-competitive division.
