The window to be a contender in baseball is finite, and because of the volatile nature of the game, a team that’s on top today could be facing a different reality tomorrow. As a result, when teams get the opportunity to capitalize on being one of the sport’s best teams, they have to seize their moment.
The Baltimore Orioles gave themselves the chance to do that over the past two seasons, winning more than 90 games and making the playoffs each year, but as this offseason progresses, they seem to be squandering their opportunity to get a leg up on the rest of the league.
For years in Baltimore, the Orioles had one model. Field competitive teams with star players such as Manny Machado, Nick Markakis or Zack Britton until a year or two before they hit free agency, and then trade those stars for younger players, keeping the payroll low. That model is similar to the one used by other small-market teams, including the Pirates, Rays and Guardians.
In this most recent rebuilding cycle — after 115, 108, 35 and 110 losses from 2018 through 2021 — the O’s stockpiled a considerable amount of talent, headlined by two No. 1 overall picks in Adley Rutschman and Jackson Holiday. They also drafted a number of other impact players, including shortstop Gunnar Henderson, third baseman Jordan Westburg and outfielder Heston Kjerstad.
Not only did the O’s strike gold with several of those players, but this team also ended up being the last to benefit from an era of roster construction in which teams could tank and be rewarded for it. Prior to the implementation of the draft lottery in 2022, baseball’s worst team by record received the first pick in the draft. The Orioles took advantage of that more than once and seemed primed for a lengthy window of contention once their rebuild came to fruition.
But with Baltimore having come up almost empty throughout free agency thus far, and with many of the top free agents this offseason now off the board, the Orioles appear to be falling back into their old habits — ones that were supposed to disappear once their talent level increased. This is a contending team still behaving like a rebuilding one. The roster has much of the foundation in place to be a perennial winner, but they have some key missing pieces that can only be addressed via trades or free agency.
The Orioles’ lack of aggressiveness when it comes to major free agents is particularly concerning considering that they have a new ownership group in David Rubinstein,…