Baltimore Orioles

Off-season Overview:

The Orioles had a quieter than expected off-season in light of their hopeful demeanor. After a surprising year in 2022, Baltimore's GM made it seem as if they were going to spend and make a big splash this off-season. He did not. Baltimore added SP Kyle Gibson, SP Cole Irvin, RP Michael Givens, 2B Adam Frazier, and C James McCann. While those adds do help their team, none of them terribly impactful players. Baltimore desperately need a big arm in their rotation and, while Irvin and Gibson are upgrades, neither are exactly shut down pitchers. The Orioles also lost SP Jordan Lyles, 1B Jesus Aguilar, and 2B Rougned Odor. Though Baltimore improved, they are going to need the young core to be ready if the Orioles want to take another step forward this year.

Ceiling:

A 2nd place finish in the AL East and a trip to the Wild Card series. Admittedly, this is a stretch. However, Balitomre's offense is legit and they have great young players in ROY favorite SS Gunnar Henderson and C Adley Rutschmann. Baltimore has the potential to be really good if their young pitchers DL Hall and Grayson Rodriguez come up and dominate. That's the only way the Orioles thrive is if these rookies make waves in 2023.

Floor:

A 5th place finish in the AL East. Baltimore's offense is legit. The pitching, however, is suspect at best. Any holes in the lineup or rotation this years creates another miserable season in Baltimore, especially where every AL East team is getting better.

My Prediction:

A 4th place finish in the AL East but another step in the right direction. Baltimore's future is incredibly bright. Nonetheless, they are still a season or two and a pitcher or two away from winning. Look for big years from Henderson, Rutschmann, and Rodriguez and enjoy their offense as a whole. But the Orioles win about the same amount of games as last year and fall just shy of a true breakout year.

-- Cyrus Beermann