Good morning, Camden Chatters.
Mark it down, O’s fans: Pete Alonso is really, truly a Baltimore Oriole. Alonso passed his physical yesterday and the Orioles officially announced his signing. It’s happening! The Birds will introduce Alonso to Baltimore today with a 4 PM press conference that will be broadcast on MASN, MASN+, and Orioles.com.
The Orioles actually did it. They signed a top-shelf, coveted free agent for the first time in the Mike Elias era. This might qualify as the Orioles’ most high-profile
free agent signing since they landed Miguel Tejada in 2003. (I’m not including Chris Davis, because in that case the O’s were just re-signing their own guy with little competition, not swooping in to outbid other teams. And also, I don’t want to talk about Chris Davis.)
With this Alonso signing, we’re seeing a whole new Mike Elias. Never before had the Orioles’ president of baseball operations given a commitment anything like this to a free agent, either in terms of dollars or years. His previous largest contract was last winter’s three-year, $49.5 million deal for Tyler O’Neill, which…has not gone great. Beyond that, Elias has preferred to play things conservatively, handing out relatively cheap, one-year deals to players who make the team only marginally better, if at all.
But now, Elias has landed his highest caliber free agent yet. He deserves credit for learning from his previous offseasons’ mistakes and acting decisively and aggressively this time around. In a perfect world, Elias might not have wanted to give Alonso a fifth year. But that’s what it took to get the deal done, so he got it done. He had the financial leeway and he used it. The Orioles got their man.
Of course, there’s still more work to do. Everyone in baseball knows that the Orioles still need to upgrade their starting rotation. But now that the Orioles landed Alonso, it feels like anything is possible. The O’s could be top bidders after all for some of the highest caliber free agent starters available, including Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, or Tatsuya Imai. Or they could package some of their excess position players — Coby Mayo is an obvious candidate — to swing a trade for a cost-controlled starter. Or how about a signing and a trade? The world is the Orioles’ oyster.
The O’s aren’t messing around this offseason. And I’m excited to see where they go from here.
Links
As you’d expect, it’s all Pete Alonso in today’s batch of Orioles links, including a rave review from a great former O’s skipper who managed him with the Mets.
Buck Showalter on new Orioles slugger Pete Alonso: ‘A guy you can trust’ – The Baltimore Sun
With Pete Alonso signing, Orioles prove they’re ready to be bold – The Athletic
Adding Pete Alonso helps support O’s young core in their lineup – Steve Melewski
Addition of Alonso produces memorable Winter Meetings for Orioles – BaltimoreBaseball.com
Pete Alonso finds perfect fit with Orioles, who need his right-handed power – The Athletic
More thoughts on Alonso agreement and unusual Winter Meetings for Orioles (updated) – School of Roch
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! One current Oriole has a birthday today: happy 29th to Grant Wolfram, who made his MLB debut this season with 21 relief appearances for the Birds. The lefty figures to be in the mix for a bullpen spot in 2026. Also born on Dec. 12 was former O’s first baseman Garrett Atkins (46).
On this date in 1993, the Orioles made one of the best free agent signings in their history, inking first baseman Rafael Palmeiro to a five-year deal. Over the course of that contract, Palmeiro batted .292 with a .916 OPS and averaged 36 home runs per season, anchoring the lineup for an O’s team that made playoff appearances in 1996 and 1997. (Let’s not talk about Palmeiro’s second stint with the Orioles in 2004-05.)
And on this day in 2007, the rebuilding Orioles traded the aforementioned Miguel Tejada to the Astros with two seasons left on his six-year deal. The five-player haul brought outfielder Luke Scott, pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton, and Dennis Sarfate, and minor leaguer Mike Costanzo to the Orioles. Scott and to a lesser extent Patton contributed to the Birds for a few years, but for the most part the O’s didn’t get a lot of value out of the deal.
