The Orioles haven\u2019t played a game in 2026, but they went 1-1 in arbitration hearings.<\/p>\n
A .500 finish is only acceptable in this instance.<\/p>\n
Left-handed reliever Keegan Akin lost his case and will be paid $2.975 million instead of his filing of $3.375 million. A three-person panel made the decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Akin has become a workhorse in the bullpen, with his 64 appearances last season ranking second to Yennier Cano\u2019s 65. He also was second to Cano in 2024 with 66.<\/p>\n
A role change after closer F\u00e9lix Bautista\u2019s shoulder injury and some deadline trades left Akin with a career-high eight saves, raising his career total to 11 in six major league seasons. He posted a 3.41 ERA in 63 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
A third year of arbitration eligibility for Akin sets him up for free agency following the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
The Orioles drafted Akin as a starter in the second round in 2016 out of Western Michigan University, putting him among the longest tenured players on the club. He\u2019s a lock to head north after spring training and frequently work in high leverage.<\/p>\n
He also was an opener in three games last summer.<\/p>\n
Dietrich Enns is expected to make the Opening Day roster as a second lefty. Grant Wolfram also is on the 40-man roster, but president of baseball operations\/general manager Mike Elias could make another move.<\/p>\n
Kyle Bradish won his arbitration hearing this week and will be paid $3.55 million instead of the team’s $2.875 million offer.<\/p>\n
MLB.com first reported Akin\u2019s result.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orioles haven\u2019t played a game in 2026, but they went 1-1 in arbitration hearings. A .500 finish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,11038,125,579,578],"class_list":["post-561117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-baseball","tag-keegan-akin","tag-orioles","tag-orioles-featured","tag-roch-kubatko"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116035324758134127","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561117","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=561117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}