5 Orioles players that won't be back in 2024

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The 2023 season did not end the way that the Baltimore Orioles hoped. Despite being among the absolute best teams in all of baseball in the regular season, they were unable to stop the all-of-a-sudden red hot hitting Texas Rangers in route to getting swept out of the ALDS.

In many ways, what the Orioles accomplished this season was remarkable. They won 101 games despite having fairly questionable starting pitching depth and one of the younger lineups in all of baseball. That they were able to be the top seed in the AL despite all of that points to how much talent is in the organization. While it hurts right now, the future is clearly very bright in Baltimore.

However, that doesn't mean that changes do not need to be made. The Orioles definitely could use some upgrades on their pitching staff as well as maybe at a couple positions in the field. Before we can even begin to process who those upgrades may be this offseason, it is important to look at who could be heading out of town this offseason

Here's a look at 5 Orioles players that won't be back in 2024

Unlike a lot of teams across MLB, Baltimore's roster decisions appear to be fairly straightforward going into the offseason. They don't have any players that they need to make hard decisions about whether or not to extend the qualifying offer to nor do they really have guys that are heading into their later arbitration years that could get notably nontendered. What they do have, though, are some guys that are about to hit free agency that shouldn't be back in 2024.

Lets take a look at some of the Orioles players that aren't likely to be back next season.

Adam Frazier

Let's get this out of the way right now: Adam Frazier was not "bad" for the Orioles in 2023. He put up 1.7 rWAR in 455 plate appearances with a .240/.300/.396 slash line with 13 homers. Not exactly a guy that was tearing the cover off the ball in 2023, but he wasn't a guy that any team would be embarrassed to have bat low in their lineup even if he is well past his prime.

The "problem" the Orioles have is that they have too much infield talent with not enough roster spots. Jordan Westburg was already the preferred option at second by the end of the season and Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo, and Connor Norby are going to be in the big leagues sooner rather than later. The Orioles don't have the roster room in the long-term for all of these guys without factoring in Frazier (again, Baltimore's big league infield is loaded), so what is the utility in keeping Frazier around when he is decidedly medium at best?

Another problem to consider here in context with all of Baltimore's youth is price. Despite being one of the Orioles' least exciting every day players, Frazier was Baltimore's third highest paid players in 2023 at $8 million. While that is more an indictment of ownership's unwillingness to spend than anything else, that is money that should probably be spent investing in the pitching staff and not in a second baseman in decline with better and cheaper options available.

In short, Frazier seems like a good dude who will most certainly be employed as an every day player next season somewhere, but it shouldn't be with the Orioles and instead should probably be with a rebuilding team looking for some roster stability.

Kyle Gibson

When the Orioles signed Kyle Gibson to a one year, $10 million deal before the 2023 season, the hope was that he would provide quality innings as well as veteran leadership for Baltimore's inexperienced, but talented roster. He didn't necessarily need to be a stud on the mound (although that would have been nice), but they did expect reasonable production out of him for that price.

Now that the dust has settled, the results of that decision have been decided mixed. On the one hand, Gibson has seemed like a positive influence in Baltimore's clubhouse and he did end up throwing nearly 200 innings for the Orioles in 2023. However, he also posted a 4.73 ERA in those innings and seemed to confirm that that is who he is on the mound instead of the guy that went to the All-Star Game in 2021.

The fundamental problem about Gibson is that he is, at his best, a mediocre pitcher. He doesn't miss a lot of bats (his 7.4 K/9 rate this season is right in line with his career norms) and relies on balls in play finding gloves while giving up a lot of hard contact which is...not exactly the recipe for success.

More importantly, the starting rotation is the easiest place on the Orioles' roster to point to when it comes to needing an upgrade. This Baltimore team is very likely to be a top contender again next season and they don't need to be running out veterans with near 5 ERAs and very limited upsides every fifth day. With Gibson set to hit free agency again, the Orioles can just do better than him especially the expected price tag.

Jack Flaherty

The Orioles' trade deadline strategy did not exactly go over well with outside observers. Baltimore's farm system is obviously loaded and they could have pretty easily landed at least one quality starter if they wanted to. However, the pool of players worth having was shallow and the price tags weren't to the Orioles' liking, so they instead ended up with Jack Flaherty at the trade deadline.

Flaherty's story is a familiar one in MLB. The once hot-shot young starting pitcher has found himself struggling to find his former glory and to stay on the field at all since his 2019 season where he finished in the top 4 of Cy Young voting. No one denies that Flaherty has a ton of talent, but you will struggle to find many that have a lot of faith in him right now given the injuries and underperformance the last four years.

On the whole, Flaherty's tenure with Baltimore has been disappointing. In nine appearances since the trade deadline (including seven starts), he posted a 6.75 ERA in just 34.2 innings of work. Flaherty's price tag at the deadline wasn't a ton, but this was a situation where you get what you pay for.

With Flaherty about to hit the open market, what is incentive for Baltimore to try and keep him around. He was actively worse after they traded for him, the guy just can't stay healthy, and there has been little sign that he will ever be the guy he once was. This is another roster spot in need of some love this offseason and step one is to let Flaherty go.

Aaron Hicks

Aaron Hicks is a weird case because, on the surface, he is a guy that appears to have been reborn since joining the Orioles after his release from the Yankees. After several seasons where he struggled to hit at all, Hicks slashed .275/.381/.425 in 65 games with the Orioles. That is legitimate production and the front office deserves kudos for picking him up off the scrap heap.

However, there is a lot to consider here when it comes to trying to keep him. One, other teams are also going to notice that the soon-to-be free agent Hicks' good work as well which is going to make his price tag jump considerably especially when you factor in the fact that he plays a competent center field.

The Orioles also have some really good outfielders coming up from the minor leagues. Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad, Dylan Beavers, and Enrique Bradfield Jr. all appear to be very legit outfield prospects and at least some of these guys are going to need playing time sooner rather than later and all of them have more upside than Hicks brings to the table.

When you factor in Hicks' lack of an offensive track record in recent years, the potential cost associated with keeping him, and the internal options that Baltimore is likely to have at their disposal here very soon, it just doesn't make a ton of sense to keep him. Now if he wants to stay in Baltimore on a cheapish, short-term deal...well, that is a different story entirely.

Shintaro Fujinami

The Baltimore bullpen is hard to evaluate right now. On the one hand, Orioles' relievers ranked second in all of baseball in 2023 by fWAR at 7.5 and fifth in ERA at 3.55. Again, great news there. However, that production was very top heavy with Felix Bautista, Yennier Cano, and Danny Coulombe doing the bulk of the heavy lifting. When Bautista had to have Tommy John surgery, it became very apparent that the quality of the team's bullpen depth was questionable.

So where does Shintaro Fujinami fit into all of this? Well, he is a pending free agent which sort of forces the issue of whether or not to bring him back. More importantly, though, is that he hasn't been very good as he posted just a 7.18 ERA this season, although his 4.85 mark since joining Baltimore has been an improvement.

For a budget conscious team like the Orioles, one of the best bang for their buck ways to improve the roster in free agency is by adding bullpen arms. Sure, they are not likely to play in the deep end of the free agent reliever pool, but there are going to be a LOT of very decent right-handed relievers available this offseason for reasonably price tags.

Does Shintaro have some upside? Absolutely, but he also walks way too many hitters and just hasn't performed well enough to take another flyer on.

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