Baltimore Orioles: An arbitration-fueled expensive team
The Baltimore Orioles are fueled by arbitration this offseason, which is going to be costly.
The Baltimore Orioles have a general history of settling with arbitration-eligible players before actual hearings take place, and as of Friday’s 1 p.m. ET deadline for salary figures exchanging approached, the team had high hopes that history would continue.
At the 10 a.m. mark, however, no figure exchanges were in breaking news, and it became clear that, perhaps this particular year, some O’s might end up in hearings to decide their salaries. Two other things should have struck Orioles fans as well. First, the arbitration-eligible players this year are significant pieces of the team, and second, whether or not any eligible player makes it into a hearing, Baltimore is going to be a costly last-place team come opening day.
The players still without contracts on Friday morning included: Manny Machado, the team’s HR leader in 2017. Jonathon Schoop, their RBI leader. Kevin Gausman, their second starting pitcher. Zach Britton, the injured closer. Tim Beckham, the shortstop (maybe); Brad Brach, the guy who may replace Britton to start the season, and backup catcher Caleb Joseph.
Holy cow! That’s essentially the whole team minus Adam Jones, Chris Davis, and Dylan Bundy. Let’s call it the Eligibility Core, and this bunch will inevitably end up costing the team a lot of money.
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Baltimore Sun writer Eduardo Encina has projected Machado and Schoop to cost the team together $10 to 11.5 million more this year, with Machado cashing a paycheck of $17 million minimally, and Schoop taking home over $9 million.
Gausman figures to take in another $4 million, a conservative estimate; Beckham will move to perhaps $1.5 million, and Brach figures to need $4 million. It’s hard to figure what Britton will command with a repaired Achilles tendon, but let’s say he’ll cost at least $9 million.
This means that these Baltimore Orioles – Davis ($21.1 million), Jones ($17.3 million), Bundy ($1.2 million), Machado, Schoop, Gausman, Beckham, Brach, and Britton – will be in the neighborhood of $84-85 million in 2018. This is an expensive neighborhood when the team only won 75 games last year.
Also, apparently, sixteen other players have to be paid, including three other starting pitchers. And Britton probably won’t throw a pitch until June or July.
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The Baltimore Orioles will need to come out this season really swinging the bats.