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Baltimore Orioles: What’s on their 2022 post-lockout to-do list

By Eric Treuden

BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 29: The locked gates before the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 29, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. The game was closed to the public due to the social unrest in Baltimore. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 29: The locked gates before the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 29, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. The game was closed to the public due to the social unrest in Baltimore. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /
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BALTIMORE, MD – SEPTEMBER 28: Ryan McKenna #65,Cedric Mullins #31 and Austin Hays #21 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrate a win after a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 28, 2021 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD – SEPTEMBER 28: Ryan McKenna #65,Cedric Mullins #31 and Austin Hays #21 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrate a win after a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 28, 2021 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

The Baltimore Orioles still have plenty of work to do on the heels of their fifth consecutive losing season. In 2021, the club finished with a 52-110 record, their worst performance since the 2018 campaign.

After finishing below .500 every year from 1998 to 2011, the O’s were able to ride standout performances from stars such as Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, and Chris Davis — all of whom did not last very long with the club through the rebuild aside from Davis — to a nice stretch of three playoff appearances in five seasons from 2012 to 2016, a feat they had not accomplished since the 1970s.

Currently very much in the middle of a long and painful rebuild process, the Orioles have another exciting young core of players that are either already on the Major League roster or are knocking on the door. Let’s take a look at the three moves this team should be looking to make as soon as the MLB lockout is over.

The Baltimore Orioles need to figure out what to do with Cedric Mullins. Extend or trade?

Cedric Mullins was far and away the best player on the 2021 Baltimore Orioles. In a huge breakout season, the 27 year-old abandoned switch-hitting and became a strictly left-handed bat, a move that paid off in the biggest way.

In his first full season in the majors, Mullins rode 5.7 WAR and 30 home runs and steals, MLB’s only 30-30 season, to a ninth-place finish in the AL MVP voting. The 2021 All-Star and Silver Slugger is reportedly drawing widespread interest on the trade market but is also an intriguing extension candidate.

Cedric Mullins is under club control through 2025 as of now. Sure, he may not be able to replicate his numbers from this past season, but it would certainly be smart to look to extend him through perhaps the 2027 season.

Should an extension come to fruition, Mullins would be firmly in the middle of the club’s playoff window and could, if the Orioles are lucky, put the team on his back and take them to the World Series for the first time since 1983.

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