Five days after the World Series marks a number of deadlines for baseball teams that spur a lot of activity. The Orioles were active with shuffling the fringes of the roster on this day, churning five players out of the organization while bringing four in from assorted waiver claims. None of the moves make much of an impact on anyone’s imagined Opening Day 2027 roster.
More substantially, the Orioles officially extended a qualifying offer to free agent Trevor Rogers. He’s one of eight players to receive
one this year. He has time to decide whether to accept or decline the offer; it should be expected he’ll decline and pursue a contract that is almost certain to go for at least four years as a free agent. If he signs such a contract elsewhere, the Orioles would get a compensation pick next year, assuming that system survives in the new CBA that will be negotiated after the owners lock out the players next month.
This is the full list of Orioles moves:
- OF Heston Kjerstad, C Yohel Pozo, and RHP Yosver Zulueta cleared waivers, were outrighted to Norfolk. All will become free agents when that period opens.
- OF Leody Taveras cleared waivers and elected free agency rather than accept outright assignment
- IF Ryan Mountcastle’s contract option for 2027 declined, making him a free agent
- RHP Josh White claimed off waivers from Marlins
- LHP Philip Abner claimed off waivers from Mets
- C Zach Morgan claimed off waivers from Giants
- RHP Chase Hampton claimed off waivers from Cardinals
Additionally, all 60-day injured list players – Kyle Bradish, Ryan Helsley, Tyler O’Neill, and Jordan Westburg – are returned to the 40-man roster.
This is a sad way for the Orioles tenures of both Kjerstad and Mountcastle to end.
Kjerstad was the #2 overall pick in 2020, a slight reach based on the consensus at the time, which allowed the O’s to get Coby Mayo later. Not long after being drafted, Kjerstad suffered from myocarditis that put a long pause on his career, and even after finally getting going, he tore his Achilles. Last but not last, after finally making it to MLB and having a season where he was hitting decently, a Yankees pitcher hit him in the head and he suffered a concussion. Kjerstad has not been good since then.
Mountcastle peaked with 33 home runs in the 2021 season, after which the Orioles moved back and raised the left field wall in an attempt to help the team be more attractive for pitchers. This didn’t particularly work, since they have signed zero valuable free agent pitchers since the dimensions changed. One analysis is that the fences cost Mountcastle a total of ten homers since the start of the 2022 season. That wouldn’t really change the narrative of his career too much. After Pete Alonso was signed to the big contract last offseason, the writing was on the wall, and Mountcastle got hurt early this year so he never had a chance to play back into the picture.
Random offseason waiver claims by Mike Elias are historically not players who Orioles fans need to spend much time getting invested in. You never know, though.
Josh White turns 26 later this month. The 6’1” righty was drafted by the Marlins in the fifth round four years ago and has mostly been a multi-inning reliever in the minors. He’s put up a 2.36 ERA and 1.112 WHIP in Triple-A over parts of the past two seasons. That’s pretty good, although he had a 5.0 BB/9 in Jacksonville this season. In a lone game in the majors this year, he failed to complete an inning while issuing four walks and allowing five earned runs.
Philip Abner, 24, was a sixth round pick by the Diamondbacks three years ago. He has bounced from there to the Giants to the Mets and now the Orioles just since mid-August. Abner has appeared in 18 MLB games across the past two seasons, allowing a 6.75 ERA while sporting a 5.6 BB/9. The command challenges were less prevalent in the minors before this season.
Chase Hampton, 25, was a Yankees draft pick in the sixth round four years ago. He has never pitched in a major league game, in part because he missed the entire 2025 season after needing Tommy John surgery in February of that year. After the surgery, Hampton had command problems; he walked 7.1 per nine innings with the Yankees Double-A team this year. He’s been chucked by the Yankees, Nationals, and Cardinals just since September.
Zach Morgan, 26, is a catcher who has also never appeared in the majors. He hasn’t hit much in Triple-A. I have no idea what might be more appealing about him than about Pozo.
