Why is Orioles’ Mullins’ 2025 salary larger than Mountcastle’s? | MAILBAG

Question: How do arbitration-eligible players whose performance has declined over the last three years still get significant pay raises? It doesn’t make sense. Ryan Mountcastle has contributed more consistently over his last three years and gets less money than Cedric Mullins. Mullins has no arm and offensively has been erratic at best. From: Mirv Metzger

Answer: Mirv, the analytics point to Mullins being more valuable over the last three years than Mountcastle. From 2022-2024, Mullins’ WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is 9.4. Mountcastle’s is 6.2, though both had a 2.6 WAR in 2024.

Mullins is in his third and final year of arbitration eligibility while Mountcastle is in his second, and it’s natural that he’d get paid more. If they were both in the same year of arbitration eligibility, their salaries might be similar. Mullins will be paid $8.725 million while Mountcastle will get $6.787 million.

Question: Do you think the Orioles should sign any more free-agent pitchers? From: Rick Encina

Answer: Rick, always good to hear from you. I think the Orioles have probably signed all the free-agent pitchers they’re going to sign. I wouldn’t be surprised if they traded for another starter, but other than perhaps a minor league contract, I think that signing two starters, Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton, and reliever Andrew Kittredge will be the end of their notable signings.

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.