Even if the Orioles don’t sign another player this offseason, the reigning American League East champions are set for a payroll increase.
The Major League Baseball arbitration deadline arrives Thursday with 13 arbitration-eligible players on the Orioles roster set to receive new deals.
Four others have already signed one-year deals. Shortstop Jorge Mateo signed for $2.7 million in November. Left-hander Keegan Akin signed for $825,000, and outfielders Sam Hilliard and Ryan McKenna each received $800,000.
The 17 arbitration-eligible players collectively will make about $24 million more than they did a year ago, according to projections from MLBTradeRumors.com.
Some of the major raises are still ahead, with outfielder Anthony Santander due $12.7 million in arbitration, according to the projections, compared to the $7.4 million he earned as an everyday player in 2023.
To be eligible for arbitration, a player generally must have at least three years and no more than six years of service time. There are plenty who fit that description on the Orioles.
Along with Santander, the following players are awaiting their 2024 contracts: left-handers Danny Coulombe, John Means, Cionel Pérez and Cole Irvin; right-handers Tyler Wells, Dillon Tate and Jacob Webb; infielders Ryan O’Hearn, Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías; and outfielders Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays.
As a result, the overall payroll for the Orioles — which has been at or near the bottom of the league since the 2019 season, when executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias took over — should rise to about $85 million, according to FanGraphs’ roster resource tool.
The Orioles’ 2023 payroll, per Spotrac, was about $71 million (the second lowest; league average was slightly higher than $165 million).
Still, at $85 million, only two teams in the majors have lower projected payrolls, per FanGraphs: the Oakland Athletics and Pittsburgh Pirates.
During spring training last year, chairman and CEO John Angelos said the Orioles wouldn’t have a payroll at the level of the New York Mets and Yankees, Boston Red Sox or Los Angeles Dodgers, to name a few. And he said the Orioles wouldn’t be alone in that limitation.
“That’s not an Oriole thing,” Angelos said last winter. “That’s a small, middle-market team [thing].”
Angelos was only partly correct then. At the time, the San Diego Padres — another small-market franchise — held a total payroll of around $256 million. The fire sale from the Padres this offseason, however, perhaps indicates San Diego was spending above its means. The Athletic reported that the Padres took out a loan of $50 million in September to cover their payroll obligations.
It’s a far cry from when the Orioles competed at the top of the league in payroll. Baltimore led the league in payroll in 1998 and hovered near the top at the turn of the century.
The Orioles aren’t likely to get back there anytime soon. But, in the meantime, Thursday’s arbitration deadline will lead to a rise. Should a player and the team not reach a deal, the sides will exchange figures and an arbitration hearing determines the 2024 salary for the player.
In December, the league and Major League Baseball Players Association agreed to move up the deadline by one day, an MLB spokesperson confirmed.
The first-time arbitration candidates, with MLB Trade Rumors’ salary projections in parentheses, are Webb ($1.2 million), Wells ($2.3 million), Mountcastle ($4.2 million), Urías ($2 million), Pérez ($1.3 million) and Irvin ($1.8 million).
Mateo, a second-year arbitration candidate, already agreed to a deal. Mullins ($6.4 million), Hays ($6.1 million) and Tate ($1.5 million) round out that group.
Players entering their third year of arbitration are O’Hearn ($3 million), Coulombe ($2.2 million) and Means ($5.93 million). Santander is a fourth-year arbitration candidate because he earned Super Two status. Wells and McKenna will also be Super Two candidates based on their service time entering their first arbitration year.
Most of the arbitration-eligible players are major contributors for the Orioles.
Santander had the best season of any of Baltimore’s arbitration candidates. The 29-year-old hit .257 with 28 homers and a .797 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. Mullins and Hays were everyday contributors too, hitting .233 and .275, respectively. Mountcastle, a fixture at first base or designated hitter, hit 18 homers with a .270 average.
Wells, despite missing much of the second half of the season due to arm fatigue, was Baltimore’s best starter in the first half. He finished the campaign with a 3.64 ERA and 0.986 WHIP. Means returned for just four starts after Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery, but the southpaw should be in the running for a place in the rotation this season. And Coulombe, a late addition before the 2023 season, wound up being one of the team’s most reliable relievers. He pitched to a 2.81 ERA.
That glut of young players under team control, in Elias’ words, is “kind of an earmark of having a good roster these days.” Much of that good roster, then, will receive well-deserved pay increases starting Thursday.
