The Orioles have spent too long looking like a team without a clear edge, and that’s the problem staring them in the face now. They’ve been stuck in mediocrity or worse for more than two seasons, they just traded away the face of the franchise, and the current version of the club doesn’t offer much that jumps off the page. For a team trying to claw its way back into relevance, that’s a dangerous place to be.
Good teams usually have something unmistakable about them. Sometimes it’s elite pitching, sometimes it’s a fearsome lineup, sometimes it’s a knack for winning the tight ones.
The 2012 Orioles were a perfect example of that kind of identity. Their run differential suggested an 82-80 team, but they finished 93-69 and got back to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years by going 29-9 in one-run games.
That wasn’t luck in a vacuum; it was tied to a bullpen that was one of the best in baseball.
This group doesn’t have a calling card like that. The pitching staff ranks 17th in ERA and 17th in WAR.
The offense has scored the 14th-most runs in MLB and hit the 15th-most home runs. Defensively, the numbers are all over the place, from eight DRS to minus-17 OAA depending on which metric you trust.
The Orioles are technically in the wild card race, but the overall picture points to a team that may be fortunate just to finish above .500.
The front office clearly tried to shape this roster into something more defined. The idea seemed to be power.
Pete Alonso was signed in free agency, Taylor Ward was acquired in a trade, and the hope was that their bats would help set the tone. Instead, the two have combined for 32 home runs this year after hitting 76 elsewhere in 2025, and Ward was shipped to the Mariners last week.
Gunnar Henderson was supposed to bounce back and maybe get close to the 37 homers he launched in 2024, but he’s sitting on 18 and has posted the worst offensive season of his career. As a team, the Orioles own a .394 slugging percentage, which ranks 22nd in MLB.
There was also a real push to build around starting pitching. Baltimore committed to Shane Baz, brought Zach Eflin back, and added Chris Bassitt as a veteran stabilizer.
The theory was simple: let the rotation hold things together while the offense did the heavy lifting. The results have been mixed, but not without some encouraging pieces.
Eflin lasted just 3.2 innings before needing Tommy John surgery. Bassitt missed two months and, before that, had not been especially effective, putting up a 5.27 ERA and 79 ERA+.
Even so, Baz, Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, and Brandon Young have given the club something useful to work with. That group at least gives the Orioles a base to build on for 2027, even if Rogers is a pending free agent.
The Orioles keep saying they’re still chasing a playoff spot this season, and with just two games separating them from the final wild card position, that’s the right message to send publicly. But the deadline moves told a different story.
The front office seems to be aiming at 2027, not just this month. And while president of baseball operations Mike Elias still appears to have the backing of control person David Rubenstein, that support may not be unconditional.
Rubenstein recently said it was “a little frustrating and embarrassing” that the Orioles have struggled so much since he took over the team. That doesn’t sound like a man thrilled with the current state of affairs.
If Baltimore misses the postseason, it would be a second straight year without playoff baseball, following a 2024 season that faded badly in the second half and ended with a first-round sweep. This was supposed to be a competitive window.
Last year, injuries and Brandon Hyde took the blame. This time, Elias won’t have as many places to hide.
It’s at least possible Rubenstein decides to move in another direction, even if that would be a sharp turn after the two appeared aligned on the Alonso signing and extensions for Baz, Bradish, and Samuel Basallo.
So what does fixing this actually look like? It starts with Elias being less precious about roster construction and more ruthless about making the team better right now.
That means choosing which prospects are truly worth building around and dealing the rest for impact talent. The Orioles already showed how that can work with the DL Hall and Joey Ortiz-for-Corbin Burnes deal.
Burnes didn’t re-sign, but he was excellent in 2024, and Hall and Ortiz haven’t exactly made anyone regret the move. If anything, Baltimore may be better served making those kinds of trades before young players show enough flaws to drag down their value.
Adding outside talent can do more than just fill a hole. It can shake up an organization that may have gotten too comfortable with its own ideas.
Different clubs develop players in different ways, and the Orioles could use some fresh voices. That kind of change might help interrupt the downward spirals this team has run into lately.
There’s also a case for going back to a more demanding approach with the homegrown players. Entering 2026, the Orioles planned to give Colton Cowser an everyday role in center field and hoped Coby Mayo could cover for Jordan Westburg during his indefinite rehab.
Those bets didn’t pay off. Cowser spent weeks on the bench, and Mayo is still a work in progress.
Having too many good players for too few spots is a better problem than the opposite, and making young players beat out veterans for jobs can sharpen a roster fast.
A total teardown doesn’t seem likely this offseason. But some kind of refresh is clearly needed.
Call it a retool, a reset, whatever label fits. Unless something unexpected happens, Elias will have to set aside some pride and do the kind of winter work he’s often avoided as a baseball executive.
For Orioles fans, that might finally be the kind of change worth watching.
In Other News...
Orioles May Have Found A Bigger Catcher Piece Than Fans Realized
Carlos Narvaez arrived in Baltimore at the trade deadline with the kind of profile that can be easy to overlook in the moment, especially next to a catcher like Samuel Basallo who carries so much of the long-term buzz. But the Orioles clearly see Narvaez as more than just depth. Manager Craig Albernaz has already singled out Narvaez for his preparation and defensive work, the sort of traits that matter when a club is trying to settle a young pitching staff and keep the game organized behind the plate.
The bigger picture is that Baltimore does not appear interested in asking Basallo to shoulder everything at catcher right away, which opens the door for Narvaez to play a meaningful role over the next two years. In that sense, the move may have been less about finding a backup and more about giving the Orioles a catcher who can help ease Basallo into the job while still handling real innings of his own. For a team thinking beyond the present, that kind of arrangement can end up mattering more than the flashier headline. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Prospect Bats Just Kept Making Baltimores Depth Hard To Ignore
The Orioles farm system kept giving Baltimore more to think about as Enddy Azocar turned in the kind of night that gets noticed up and down an organization. Named the Orioles Hangout MiLB Player of the Day, Azocar went 3-for-5 for the Keys with a double, a home run, four runs scored, three RBIs and a walk, another reminder that the club has several bats pushing for attention at the same time.
Norfolk had its own offensive bright spots even in a 9-3 loss to the Buffalo Bisons, with Creed Willems leaving the yard and Randal Diaz collecting three hits, including two doubles and a home run. The pitching side included work from Michael Forret, Carson Dorsey, Cohen Achen and Esteban Mejia, but the bigger picture for Baltimore is becoming harder to ignore: the organization keeps finding more position players producing in bunches, and the depth chart is starting to look crowded in a good way. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Just Changed Their Farm System In A Way Fans Will Feel
The Orioles spent the deadline reshaping both their big-league roster and the pipeline behind it, and the changes were broad enough to be felt well beyond the clubhouse. Baltimore sent catchers Adley Rutschman and Jake Rogers to Boston in exchange for Carlos Narvez and three prospects, then swung another deal to bring pitcher Michael Forret back from Tampa Bay, while also moving outfielder Taylor Ward for three right-handed pitchers.
For a franchise that has spent plenty of time talking about balance between now and later, these moves clearly tilted the organization deeper into the pitching side of the ledger. The major league roster changed, the minor league depth chart changed, and the farm system now looks heavier on arms than it did before, which is the sort of shift fans will notice as soon as the next wave of prospects starts moving up through the system. [Read more 🡒]