Mountcastle among Orioles' contract tender decisions as deadline arrives

The Orioles have reached the latest important date on the offseason calendar, and this one is worth circling twice.

Teams must decide by 8 p.m. tonight whether to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible players. The list grew to 13 with the Taylor Ward trade.

Players with three-to-six years of service time must go through the process. The sides exchange figures if an agreement isn’t reached, and a three-person panel chooses a winner in hearings that run between late January and early February.

The Orioles prefer the file-and-go approach, also known as the alliterative file-and-trial, but they make exceptions for contracts that include options and aren’t strictly for the upcoming season.

The offseason began with 14 eligible Orioles, but the Mets claimed reliever José Castillo on waivers earlier this month and outfielder Dylan Carlson chose free agency after clearing waivers.

MLBTradeRumors.com ran its annual arbitration raise projections, with the usual disclaimer that media and fans shouldn’t treat it like a scorecard. Let’s take another look at current and possible future salaries:

Ryan Mountcastle: $6.787 million / $7.8 million
Keegan Akin: $1.475 million / $3 million
Trevor Rogers: $2.6 million / $6 million
Tyler Wells: $2.075 million / $2.7 million
Dean Kremer: $2.95 million / $5.1 million
Adley Rutschman: $5.5 million / $6.8 million
Félix Bautista: $1 million / $2.1 million
Kyle Bradish: $2.35 million / $2.8 million
Yennier Cano: $772,900 / $1.8 million
Gunnar Henderson: $782,300 / $6.6 million
Alex Jackson: $760,000 / $1.8 million
Albert Suárez: $825,000 / $900,000
Taylor Ward: $7.825 million / $13.7 million

Ten of the 13 seem to come without any disputes. Suárez probably makes it 11 tenders.

Mountcastle and Cano are the possible exceptions.

The bullpen is under reconstruction that began with the Andrew Kittredge reunion trade with the Cubs. The 2023 All-Star version of Cano would fit nicely, but he slipped in 2024 and face-planted this year with a 5.12 ERA and 1.483 WHIP in 65 games, and a brief demotion.

The Orioles must decide whether the neighborhood of $1.8 million is a wise investment. Are they confident that they can fix Cano under the continued tutelage of Drew French and Mitch Plassmeyer?

The payroll can support Cano, but that also would have been true of Webb, Danny Coulombe and Jorge Mateo.

Suárez is looking at a modest raise after an injury-plagued season. A shoulder strain in March that kept him out until September, and a mild forearm flexor strain after four appearances.

The fall from 2024 to ’25 was dramatic.  What happens next probably depends on the latest reports on Suárez’s recovery.

“He was huge for us last year,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said in September. “I mean, you go down the list of guys in 2024 that are big reasons why the Orioles got themselves into the playoffs, Albert's kind of at the top of the list with some of the big names on there.

“I'm disappointed for Big Al, because after the career turns that he took and going overseas to Asia, finally getting back to the big leagues and becoming a major league starter, just the kind of predicament he's found himself in here with the injuries, I just feel for him.”

And then, there's Mountcastle.

He’s the reason why today is so interesting and potentially nostalgic.

Mountcastle is one of the more popular players in the clubhouse and brings tenure as the 36^th overall pick in the 2015 draft who debuted in 2020. He finished eighth in American League Rookie of the Year voting in ’20 and sixth in ’21. The Orioles finally found a position for him after bouncing him from shortstop to third base to left field to first base, and he became a two-time Gold Glove finalist.

Mountcastle set the franchise’s rookie record with 33 home runs in 2021, but injuries, a bout of vertigo and moving back the left field wall dropped his totals to 22, 18, 13 and seven.

A hamstring strain contributed to Mountcastle appearing in only 89 games this season, and moving in the wall didn’t unlock his power. But his play isn’t the only issue here, of course.

Coby Mayo also bats right-handed and the Orioles need to find out whether he’s the real deal, which can’t happen with part-time work. It can’t happen while he rides the bench or the shuttle.

Mayo hit .301/.393/.548 in 24 games in September and seemed to get more comfortable at first base with almost daily drills with John Mabry. Samuel Basallo will back up Adley Rutschman and also play first. The designated hitter spot can be filled on a rotating basis, including one of the outfielders.

Mountcastle didn’t know where this was going to leave him as he packed for New York and the final series of the season.

“If it is my last game, I had a lot of fun here. And if not, I’m super excited,” Mountcastle said.

“I love all these guys. They’re my family. They drafted me, they took a chance on me, and it means everything. … I really love being here.”