6 Orioles players who won't be back for the 2027 season

The Baltimore Orioles are approaching a crossroads as an organization. Not only are there very fair questions over Mike Elias’s leadership of the front office, but several spots on the Orioles’ roster are very uncertain. We know that Pete Alonso will anchor the lineup for the foreseeable future, and Gunnar Henderson will be around for at least a couple more years. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), not all of the faces that Orioles fans have become accustomed to seeing leave after the season ends.

Baltimore has several pending free agents, and the team can’t keep all of them even if they wanted to. They also have six arbitration-eligible players, and some of them could be at risk of being non-tendered. The more and more you dive into the Orioles' roster, the more and more guys you will find that could be entering their final days with the team.

These are the Orioles players the team will move on from after the 2026 season

The goal is to identify players who aren't likely to return, not just to make a list of pending free agents. For example, you will not see Trevor Rogers' name on this list. Perhaps we are being overly optimistic, but the Orioles pressing hard to bring Rogers back still makes sense, especially when you look at the rest of the free-agent pool.

There are going to be players that move on from the Orioles this coming offseason that don’t appear on this list, and some of those listed may end up surviving Baltimore’s roster purge. This is our best guess as to who won't be back next season, and nothing more.

Chris Bassitt

The Orioles signed Chris Bassitt to a one-year deal last offseason to provide some much-needed stability to their rotation. Unfortunately, Bassitt missed most of June and July with a back injury and issues with bone spurs, and that one-year pact has left a lot to be desired.

At almost 38 years old and coming off a season where Bassitt posted a 4.59 ERA in 20 appearances while dealing with injuries, it is hard to see him coming back. The Orioles need more upside than he is able to provide at this stage of his career, and Bassitt may be looking for a role on a potential playoff team that would pay better than Baltimore would after his down season. In short, Bassitt is pretty much a lock to leave in free agency.

Andrew Kittredge

Another of the Orioles' pending free agents that doesn't seem likely to return is Andrew Kittredge. Kittredge has provided some nice utility down the stretch for Baltimore out of the bullpen, but his 3.54 ERA and 3.74 FIP have been pretty mediocre for a bullpen arm that is making north of $8 million.

If Kittredge is willing to return at a discounted rate given his production, lack of swing-and-miss, and age, then a reunion with the Orioles may actually make sense. However, it just doesn't feel that likely either side will agree to a deal that the other side would also agree to.

Leody Taveras

Leody Taveras was a good idea in theory when the Orioles signed him for $2 million. The Orioles had some defensive and/or health questions in the outfield, and Taveras was pretty good as recently as 2024. In terms of bench outfielders, Baltimore could have done a lot worse than Taveras.

However, that doesn't mean they should keep Taveras around whatsoever. Despite getting quite a bit of playing time, Taveras has only managed a .216/.286/.339 line in 477 plate appearances. Taveras is speedy and has a strong arm, so a team with little outfield depth could use him off the bench. Given where the Orioles are as an organization, they can do better than him at this point.

Zach Eflin

You are forgiven if you forgot that Zach Eflin was still a thing. Eflin was a similar signing to Bassitt, as he was considered a one-year Band-Aid solution to the Orioles' rotation woes. However, a couple of key differences between the two arms do exist. First, while Bassitt did have some health issues, Eflin's were on a different level, as he made exactly one start before blowing out his elbow and needing season-ending Tommy John surgery.

The other, potentially more pressing issue is that Eflin's contract has a mutual option for a whopping $25 million for 2027. Eflin is a mortal lock to opt into the player side of that mutual option, but the odds are very high that Baltimore will decline theirs given the uncertainty over Eflin's elbow and his potential recovery timeline. In fact, Eflin will probably have to demonstrate that he can still throw before any team will sign him for any appreciable amount of money.

Ryan Mountcastle

This is sad, but also pretty inevitable. As soon as the Orioles signed Alonso, the writing was on the wall with Ryan Mountcastle. Due to middling production, possessing little defensive value, and being very inconsistent in showing his raw power, Mountcastle was already on borrowed time. When you average a.728 OPS over the previous four seasons, it doesn't take a whole lot to have someone take your spot.

Making matters worse, Mountcastle just had a lost season in 2026, after a broken foot followed by an oblique injury limited him to just 15 plate appearances this year. Even if Mountcastle was willing to accept a salary AAV similar to the $6.79 million he was paid this year, why would the Orioles pay him when they have so many similar or better bats in the organization other than him right now?

Luis Robert Jr.

We know this comes as a shock to many of you, but claiming Luis Robert Jr. off of waivers didn't work out. In fairness to the Orioles, it was a relatively low-risk move at the time, since the Mets had already paid the bulk of the money owed to Robert Jr. before they placed him on waivers.

However, as talented as he is, Robert Jr. is basically made of a single wet newspaper. After several lost seasons with the White Sox due to injuries, Robert Jr. dealt with a back issue in New York and is now on the injured list in Baltimore with a hamstring injury. A player's availability is arguably his most important attribute, and Robert Jr. can't stay on the field enough to justify bringing him back at almost any price.

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