Baltimore Orioles Have Hefty Arbitration Bill To Settle Soon

There are only a few days left before the Baltimore Orioles know whether they’ll be heading to any arbitration hearings later this year.

The deadline to avoid arbitration is Friday, which is when the Orioles hope to have all of their arbitration-eligible players either locked into one-year deal or contract extensions. If they’re unable to, then there’s a chance the O’s and those players could go to an arbitration hearing.

The thing is, the Orioles have a lengthy list of players eligible for arbitration and not much time to get deals done.

Baltimore had 17 arbitration-eligible players. The Orioles have contracts with four of those players — Jorge Mateo, Keegan Akin, Sam Hilliard and Ryan McKenna. Only Mateo got a deal of more than $1 million, as the Orioles paid him $2.7 million.

There are 13 more left, and several of them are key to the Orioles, who won 101 games and the American League East last season.

Most notable among them is outfielder Anthony Santander, who has been the subject of trade rumors at times this offseason because of his potential arbitration bill, which could hit $12 million according to Fangraphs. He batted .257 with 28 home runs and 95 RBI in 153 games.

Santander is one of three players in their final year of arbitration, along with Danny Coulombe and John Means, the latter of which could clear $6 million in arbitration.

Means only pitched in four games for the Orioles, going 1-2 with a 2.66 ERA. He spent most of 2023 recovering from Tommy John surgery. He and the O’s avoided arbitration early in 2022, agreeing to a two-year, $5.925 million contract that ended after last season.

Both of the Orioles’ other starting outfielders from a year ago are arbitration-eligible in Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays. They, along with Ryan O’Hearn and Dillon Tate, cannot be free agents until 2026.

Young star Ryan Mountcastle, along with Cionel Perez, Cole Irvin, Jacob Webb, Tyler Wells and Ramon Urias are in their first year or arbitration.

Players who have three or more years of Major League service but less than six years of Major League service are eligible.