Baltimore Orioles' Four Worst Contracts on Next Season's Payroll

While the Baltimore Orioles young core has helped make them successful, the club still has a few bad contracts on their payroll.

Sep 19, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles outfielders Cedric Mullins (31) and Austin Slater (15) run into each other attempting to catch a ball in the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images / Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles have made the postseason twice in as many years, accomplishing that feat for the first time this century.

They achieved that on the back of 101 wins in 2023 and 91 wins in 2024, but were promptly bounced in the first round of each trip to the playoffs.

Their young core has progressed astoundingly well over the years to help propel them into perennial contention after their lengthy rebuild, but it still feels like there should be more success.

These four contracts on their 2025 payroll stand above the rest as the worst and could hold them back yet again when it matters most.

All figures accurate as of December 3

RP Cionel Perez

We are just two seasons removed from relief pitcher Cionel Perez posting an ERA of 1.40 across 66 appearances.

In the two years since he has pitched to an ERA of 4.04 across 127 appearances with a combined ERA+ of 97.

Yes, he did not allow a single home run in 2024, an astounding feat, though it did come in only 53 2/3 innings as he is as much of a lefty specialist as there can be with the three-batter minimum.

In fact, across his career, he has allowed left-handed batters to bat .205/.307/.299 with only five home runs in 382 plate appearances, and right-handed batters to bat .260/.352/.367 with 10 home runs across 565 plate appearances.

While Perez may not allow home runs, he allows base runners at an alarming rate with a career WHIP of 1.416 and a 1.398 WHIP in 2024.

One-Year, $2.2 Million

RP Gregory Soto

Gregory Soto is on the third team of his career and has progressively gotten worse since his peak ERA+ of 126 in 2021.

The Orioles acquired Soto from the Philadelphia Phillies for two depth pieces after the reliever requested to be traded as he believed that he was a closer and the Phillies were using him as a middle reliever.

While Baltimore did allow Soto to finish five games down the stretch, he tallied a grand total of zero saves and pitched to an ERA of 5.09.

Soto is another reliever like Perez who clogs the bases, doing so at a worse rate than Perez with a career WHIP of 1.437 and a WHIP in 2024 of 1.566.

The key to winning games is not allowing runners to get on base, not allowing 1 1/2 runners to reach per inning.

Arbitration Projection of $5.2 Million

SP Trevor Rogers

Trevor Rogers is another pitcher that the Orioles traded for at the 2024 MLB trade deadline, one that can only be viewed as a massive failure for the club outside of Zach Eflin.

Rogers has yet to return to the height of his career of 2021, a campaign that saw the pitcher reach a 2.64 ERA across 133 innings and an ERA+ of 160.

In the three years since he has pitched to a 5.09 ERA across 249 1/3 innings in 52 starts with an ERA+ of 85.

It is unclear what Baltimore saw in Rogers that made them willing to trade Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers to acquire the pitcher, but he is now an overpaid innings eater at the backend of their rotation that is in desperate need of an upgrade.

Arbitration Projection of $2.7 Million

CF Cedric Mullins

Break out your torches and pitch forks.

Cedric Mullins has been an Orioles staple for years, debuting with the club in 2018, and now approaching his last year of team control.

While many remember him fondly for his 30-30 2021 campaign, he has yet to return to those heights and has been roughly league average.

2021 saw the outfielder post a 137 OPS+, and in the three seasons since, he has an OPS+ of just 105, with the majority of his 9.3 WAR in that time coming on defense.

2025 will be his age-30 season, and a contract year, so we may witness the second coming of Mullins, but to this point he has been highly overrated for one year's accomplishments while being vastly overpaid.

Arbitration Projection of $8.4 Million