MLB Insider Expects Orioles to be Aggressive This Winter
Hot off a 101-win season and their first American League East division title in nearly a decade, the Baltimore Orioles enter the offseason currently with the lowest payroll in Major League Baseball.
With a roster ripe with promising, controllable young talent, the Orioles appear to be entering a very competitive window. One MLB insider thinks the O's will be quite active this winter, improving their roster either through trade or free agency.
In the latest episode of the Jack Vita Show, longtime national baseball writer for USA Today Bob Nightengale weighed in on how he expects Baltimore's offseason to play out.
Nightengale envisions the Orioles making a big move or two over the next couple months.
“I think they’ll be aggressive because they have no choice," Nightengale said. "They just won the division. They’ve got the best young, raw talent in the American League East. There’s no reason they can’t put a stranglehold on this division for the next four or five years, but they need some frontline pitching to do so."
Where might the Orioles find starting pitching at a premium? There are viable options available on the trade market and in free agency. Nightengale suggested the O's pursue the 2022 American League Cy Young Award runner-up, who he believes will be traded this winter.
"If I’m them, I’m all over Dylan Cease," Nightengale said. "Remember now, their GM used to be the assistant GM under Jeff Luhnow in Houston, and that’s what Luhnow did. He had the great, young prospects and he went out and traded for Verlander. He went out and traded for Gerrit Cole. And that’s what you need to do, and I think they’ll follow the same blueprint.”
As Nightengale notes, Orioles general manager Mike Elias was the assistant GM to Jeff Luhnow in Houston. Nightengale believes the Chicago White Sox will deal Cease in the coming months.
“I think they’ll move him," Nightengale said. "I really do. Everybody’s just starving for starting pitchers. They’ve got a hot commodity. You’re not going to get anymore for him later on than you will now, so I think they move him. The Dodgers have been involved, Atlanta’s been involved, I would think Baltimore will jump in; they need him. And you get two years of him, not just one year. And I think [the White Sox] kind of want to remake that whole roster.”
If the Orioles don't want to part ways with their prospects at this time and would instead prefer to ink a free agent pitcher to a lucrative contract, Jordan Montgomery could be a logical target, but he won't come cheap.
"He’d be perfect in Baltimore," Nightengale said. "He can handle the pressure, he’s proven that. So I think the market is wide open for this guy... I would think Montgomery’s price is going higher and higher with what he did. He’s proven he can pitch in the big markets.”
You can catch the full conversation with Bob Nightengale on the Jack Vita Show here:
Subscribe to the Jack Vita Show on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon | iHeartRadio | Stitcher | Pandora | TuneIn | Listen Notes | Podtail | Podchaser | Hubhopper | Audio junkie | Himalaya | Podcast Addict | Available wherever podcasts are found.
