Jun 26, 2026; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitcher Trevor Rogers (28) pitching in the first inning against the Washington Nationals at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Lexi Thompson-Imagn Images
With the World Series ending on Wednesday night, free agency is underway, and the Orioles need to make some decisions over the next several days.
Four players filed for free agency on Thursday — left-handed reliever Keegan Akin, right-handed starter Chris Bassitt, right-handed reliever Andrew Kittredge and left-handed starter Trevor Rogers.
Akin was on the 60-day injured list after his July Tommy John surgery, and the others were on the 40-man roster.
The Orioles will have more work to do because they have players on the 60-day injured list who’ll need to be returned to the 40-man roster, and they’ll need to clear space for minor league players they’ll need to put on the roster.
The Orioles have seven remaining players on the 60-day IL — right-handed starters Kyle Bradish and Zach Eflin, right-handed relievers Ryan Helsley and Colin Selby, first baseman/designated hitter Ryan Mountcastle, third baseman Jordan Westburg, and outfielder Tyler O’Neill.
Those players must be reinstated by Monday.
The Orioles have a $25 million mutual option with Eflin, who had Tommy John surgery in April. They’ll surely decline that option. They also have a $7.5 million option on Mountcastle, who missed nearly all the season with a fractured left foot and a strained oblique, one that they’re expected to decline.
They have no obligation to Selby, who didn’t pitch in 2026 and had surgery to repair his rotator cuff and labrum.
They will have to put Bradish, Helsley, O’Neill and Westburg back on the 40-man roster.
Helsley exercised his $14 million option for 2027 on Thursday.
The Orioles have a $20 million option for outfielder Luis Robert Jr. for next season. They can buy out his contract for $2 million. Robert, who was claimed off waivers from the New York Mets, suffered a left hamstring injury after playing just three games.
Left-handed pitcher Dietrich Enns, who was outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk in May, has a $3.5 million option for next season, which the Orioles are unlikely to exercise.
Decisions on options must be made by Monday.
The Orioles also must decide by Monday at 5 p.m. whether to extend a qualifying offer to Rogers. He’ll have to decide whether to accept the offer by 4 p.m. on November 17th.
Monday is also the day that minor league players with six years of service time can become free agents.
Seven Orioles are eligible for arbitration — Westburg, reliever Félix Bautista, Codi Heuer and Albert Suárez, shortstop Gunnar Henderson and outfielders Colton Cowser and Leody Taveras.
Bautista, Cowser, Henderson and Westburg are certain to be offered contracts for next season. It’s possible that Heuer, Suárez and Taveras won’t be.
The Orioles have until November 20th at 8 p.m. to offer contracts.
By November 17th, the Orioles will have to add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, although there’s no guarantee that there’ll be a Rule 5 draft, which is scheduled for December 9th, because the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires on December 1st.
The specter of the expected December 1st lockout will hang over the offseason’s transactions, and the next month could be fun because most of the moves that usually occur over three months now will be made in just one.
During the last lockout in December 2021, there was a signing frenzy ahead of the deadline, The Orioles had an agreement with free-agent starter Jordan Lyles that wasn’t official until he passed a physical, which wasn’t until the lockout ended in March.
The guess here is that most free agents won’t want to wait until March—or later—to choose a new team because once the lockout ends, spring training will begin just a few days later.
It seems probable that the Orioles will extend the $23.15 million qualifying offer to Rogers. In an article in The Athletic this week by former major league general manager Jim Bowden, he lists the top 40 free agents. Rogers is the only player on his list that he thinks the Orioles will have serious interest in.
Bowden ranks Rogers as the 15th most attractive free agent and predicts he’ll get a three-year, $64 million contract.
The Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres are the other teams he thinks will be in the market for Rogers.
Notes: The Orioles signed two minor league free agents this week — right-handers Robinson Martinez and Victor Padilla.
Martinez was 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA in 18 games for High-A Aberdeen and Double-A Chesapeake in 2025. He pitched in the Mexican League in 2026 with a 3-0 record and a 4.30 ERA in 16 games.
Padilla is a 17-year-old Dominican player.
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