{"id":548295,"date":"2026-01-31T23:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T23:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/548295\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T23:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T23:24:17","slug":"mlb-insider-says-baltimore-orioles-could-make-splash-on-free-agent-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/548295\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Insider Says Baltimore Orioles Could Make Splash on Free Agent Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Baltimore Orioles<\/a> finished last season with a 75-87 record, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2022 after dealing with injuries and struggles throughout the year.<\/p>\n

But if you ask MLB insiders, the team has done everything right this winter to put themselves back in the hunt, and they might not be finished just yet.<\/p>\n

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On the Baseball Insider’s Podcast, Robert Murray made it clear that Baltimore should be on everyone’s radar for the rest of the offseason.<\/p>\n

“If there’s a team that can make a splash on the free agent market, it’s going to be the Baltimore Orioles,” Murray said. “They need a starting pitcher, they’ve got money to spend…I think they have another move in them.”<\/p>\n

What the Orioles Have Done So Far<\/p>\n

Baltimore has been one of the busiest teams in baseball this winter, making moves that signal they are ready to compete right now.<\/p>\n

The biggest splash came with the signing of first baseman Pete Alonso<\/a> to a five-year, $155 million deal after he hit .272 with 38 home runs and 126 RBI for the New York Mets in 2025.<\/p>\n

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That deal is the largest free agent signing in franchise history, which shows just how serious the front office is about winning.<\/p>\n

The Orioles also traded for outfielder Taylor Ward from the Los Angeles Angels and gave up pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez to get him done.<\/p>\n

They added closer Ryan Helsley on a two-year, $28 million contract, re-signed Zach Eflin to a one-year deal, and pulled off a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays for starting pitcher Shane Baz<\/a>, giving up four prospects and a draft pick in the process.<\/p>\n

With stars like Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Jordan Westburg, and Jackson Holliday already on the roster, the lineup looks like one of the best in the American League.<\/p>\n

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Some analysts have even called them a potential World Series contender for 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What Valdez or Gallen Would Bring<\/p>\n

Despite all those additions, the Orioles are still missing one thing\u2014a true ace at the top of the rotation.<\/p>\n

That is where free agents Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen come into the picture, and either one would change the outlook for this team heading into the season.<\/p>\n

Valdez, who spent his entire career with the Houston Astros, has been one of the most consistent starters in baseball over the past few years.<\/p>\n

According to Baseball Reference<\/a>, he posted a 3.66 ERA with 192 innings pitched and 187 strikeouts in 2025, and his career numbers are even better with an 81-52 record and a 3.36 ERA over 1,080.2 innings.<\/p>\n

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He is a two-time All-Star and helped Houston win the 2022 World Series, which means he brings both talent and experience that the Orioles could really use.<\/p>\n

Gallen is another option for Baltimore, though he comes with more risk after a rough 2025 season.<\/p>\n

The former Arizona Diamondbacks starter had a career-worst 4.83 ERA in 33 starts last year according to Baseball Reference<\/a>, though he still managed to pitch 192 innings and has a strong track record with a career 3.58 ERA.<\/p>\n

He is just 30 years old and could bounce back in a big way with a change of scenery, and he would likely cost less than Valdez on the open market.<\/p>\n

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Either pitcher would give Baltimore the front-of-the-rotation starter they need to compete with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays in what figures to be a brutal AL East race this year.<\/p>\n

Murray seems to believe the Orioles have the money and the motivation to make it happen, and with spring training just a couple of weeks away, time is running out for them to act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Baltimore Orioles finished last season with a 75-87 record, missing the playoffs for the first time since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[1079,22,143,47,2538,5,72353,377,82,92,79,350,582,916,54,1514,581,388,56,585,85,78,381,4,61,125,444,118,74,89,22488,109,5144,68,5694,1362,142,86,96],"class_list":["post-548295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-adley-rutschman","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-baseball-insider","tag-blue-jays","tag-chris-bassitt","tag-eugenio-suarez","tag-framber-valdez","tag-free-agent","tag-grayson-rodriguez","tag-gunnar-henderson","tag-houston-astros","tag-jackson-holliday","tag-jordan-westburg","tag-justin-verlander","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-lucas-giolito","tag-luis-arraez","tag-marcell-ozuna","tag-max-scherzer","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-orioles","tag-patrick-corbin","tag-paul-goldschmidt","tag-pete-alonso","tag-red-sox","tag-robert-murray","tag-ryan-helsley","tag-shane-baz","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-taylor-ward","tag-the-orioles","tag-yankees","tag-zac-gallen","tag-zach-eflin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}