3 front office mistakes that cost the Baltimore Orioles dearly in 2023

Baltimore didn't do nearly enough to bolster the pitching staff last offseason

Going into the offseason, it was a known fact that the Orioles needed some pitching. Having Grayson Rodriguez waiting in the wings was nice and all, but Baltimore's young pitching depth left a lot to be desired after him. After general manager Mike Elias talked about Baltimore increasing their payroll for 2023, the hope was that they would be in play for some of the top arms on the free agent market like Carlos Rodon and Jameson Taillon.

However, that is not how things went down at all last offseason. Instead of making waves in free agency or the trade market, the Orioles did more of the same as they stayed away from the deep end of either market and instead shopped in the clearance aisle of the free market and only made one very modest trade in exchange for some cash.

In fairness to the Giants, the free agent market last offseason got to be pretty nutty and they did sign Kyle Gibson to a one year, $10 million deal to at least pay lip service to their pitching needs. Gibson obviously didn't do much in Baltimore, though, as he posted a 4.73 ERA in 33 starts. The only reason the Baltimore pitching staff was respectable at all was because Kyle Bradish and Felix Bautista had the seasons of their lives. Hopefully the Orioles aren't banking on that type of luck happening again going into 2024.