3 Orioles players we'll be glad are gone in 2024 and 2 we will wish stayed

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Given that so much of the Baltimore Orioles roster is made up of young guys that still have plenty of years of team control left, they did not have to deal with very much in the way of free agent departures this offseason. The lineup is largely the same, as are the key members of the pitching staff -- which also added Corbin Burnes in a blockbuster trade a month or so ago. Not bad.

However, there were some guys who left this offseason, and while none of them can be considered impact players with the Orioles or their new teams, they are roleplayer names of note that at least warrant a look as to whether or not Baltimore should have tried to keep them around for 2024 and beyond.

With our premise established, here are some of the players that left the Orioles this offseason that won't be missed and one that very well might be.

4 players Orioles should be glad are gone, and 1 they should've kept for 2024

Baltimore moving on from Jack Flaherty was absolutely the correct decision

Just a few years ago, many people thought that Jack Flaherty was going to be an ace. Back in 2018 and 2019 with the Cardinals, he posted a top five Rookie of the Year finish and a top four Cy Young finish while looking unhittable at times. Unfortunately, a combination of factors transformed him from a future "face of a franchise" type into a guy that appears to be fighting to prolong his career.

Since his hot start, a series of injuries sapped Flaherty of his stuff and his command worsened significantly over time. Baltimore traded for Flaherty at the trade deadline last year in the hope that he could recapture his former magic right before he hit free agency, but he only managed to put up a 6.75 ERA after the trade. He did somehow land a one year, $14 million deal with the Tigers, and Baltimore should be thrilled that they weren't the ones that gave it to him.

Keeping Kyle Gibson around would have really helped the Orioles' pitching depth

Among all of the guys that the Orioles lost this offseason, Kyle Gibson is really the only loss that they could feel in 2024. At first glance, a guy that generally puts up an ERA close to 5.00 each year that doesn't really miss bats and who is 36 years old shouldn't warrant a second thought. However, given Baltimore's lack of pitching depth, there is an argument for wishing he hadn't landed with St. Louis.

All of the above criticisms of Gibson are fundamentally true. However, the one thing this guy does year in, year out is eat innings (and a lot of them). Over the last three seasons, he hasn't thrown less than 167.2 innings in a season and he has eclipsed 175 or more innings five times in his 11-year career. With the Orioles' bullpen being a bit thin while Felix Bautista rehabs in 2024, having a guy like Gibson around to preserve the relief corps this season wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world.

Aaron Hicks was great with the Orioles, but betting on a repeat could have backfired

Aaron Hicks' short stint with the Orioles in 2023 surprised pretty much everyone. Hicks is a fundamentally weird player who gets the bulk of his value from his ability to draw walks, but he was legitimately awesome after Baltimore signed him last May. In 236 plate appearances with the Orioles last year, Hicks slashed .275/.381/.425 and was a key reason the team was able to weather some injuries in the outfield.

That said, Hicks is really a pretty infuriating player offensively. Sure, he draws a ton of walks and, every once in a while, his power will show up for a stretch. However, he is also a career .233 hitter and has dropped some real offensive duds in his career. The Angels seemed to like what they saw out of him last year enough to give Hicks a one-year deal for the minimum (special thanks to the Yankees for eating Hicks' previous contract there) and, for that small sum, maybe keeping him wouldn't have been bad. With all of the young bats the Orioles have potentially coming up this year, though, cleaning up the roster and avoiding Hicks altogether was probably the right choice.

It was time for Baltimore to move on from Adam Frazier

Adam Frazier's days of being a key part of a lineup have been over for a while now. He was an All-Star in Pittsburgh and is widely respected across the league as a clubhouse leader and very tough out at the plate. However, his tenure with the Orioles was extremely mediocre (.696 OPS in 455 plate appearances) and, given where Baltimore is as a team, he would be a waste of a roster spot.

For a team that is transitioning or rebuilding, a player like Frazier is very solid. That is why the Royals snatching him up for $4.5 million makes a load of sense, as they are just trying to piece things together over there while they wait for help from the minors. However, the Orioles are the defending AL East champions with a metric ton of high-end position player prospects on the way. If there was an emergency situation at the trade deadline, then sure, but Frazier would just be taking a spot away from a guy that has more upside if the Orioles kept him.

Jorge Lopez should not be missed by the Orioles

The Orioles entered the offseason needing pitching badly, so the bar to be kept around was already pretty low. The bullpen in particular was hurting, with Bautista on the shelf and the rest of the group's contributions being incredibly speculative. That is why it was very telling that the Orioles designated Jorge Lopez for assignment at the end of September, ending his tenure with his THIRD team of the season.

It is hard to throw a fastball as hard as Lopez does, and for said fastball to be as bad as it was in 2023. His changeup is more reasonable, but it is clear that he isn't anywhere close to the guy he was with Baltimore in 2022 when he made the All-Star Game. His raw stuff was good enough for the Mets to sign him this offseason and hopefully that will keep the Orioles from making the mistake of trying to bring him back for a third time.

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