Orioles prospect with 2025 options

Photo credit: Reggie Hildred-USA TODAY Sports

As Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said, an unintended benefit of early postseason elimination is the opportunity to plan for next season. Some of the decisions to be made soon after the World Series are over is whether to exercise the options of some of the players on the 2024 Orioles.

Let’s take a look at the players and their contracts.

Danny Coulombe

Coulombe has a $4 million option for 2025 and could earn up to $925,000 more if he appears in 65 games. The Orioles and Coulombe agreed to a 2024 salary of $2.3 million and the option and incentives to avoid arbitration last January.

Coulombe appeared in 61 games in 2023, and the lefty missed about half of that season after surgery to remove bone chips from his left elbow.

He had a 2.12 ERA in 33 games and allowed just 15 hits in 29 2/3 innings and didn’t allow any of his 13 inherited runners to score.

His chances of a return look excellent.

Seranthony Domínguez

The Orioles traded outfielder Austin Hays to the Philadelphia Phillies on July 26^th for Dominguez, who has an $8 million contract with a $500,000 buyout/

Dominguez has multiple World Series Most Valuable Player, Reliever of the Year, League Championship Series MVP and All-Star honors.

Domínguez was 0-2 with a 3.97 ERA in 25 games with the Orioles. Both of their losses came on game-winning homers in three days at Citi Field. He saved 10 games in 11 occasions.

It seems unlikely that the Orioles will spend $8 million on Dominguez next season, especially with the impending return of Felix Bautista as their closer.

The guess here is that the Orioles will pay Dominguez the $500,000 buyout and try to negotiate a cheaper contract.

Eloy Jimenez

Jimenez was acquired from the Chicago White Sox in the final minutes before July 30^th commercial term He concluded a six-year, $43 million contract he signed with the White Sox in 2019. Chicago paid the Orioles an undisclosed amount of cash to pay for part of Jimenez’s contract.

It has buyouts of $3 million in 2025 and 2026.

Jimenez hit .232 in 33 games with one home run and seven RBIs. In September, he was 1-for-24 (.042).

He finished the season on Norfolk’s Triple-A roster and will not return to the Orioles.

Ryan O’Hearn

O’Hearn and the Orioles avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $3.5 million contract with a $7.5 million option through 2025. O’Hearn could earn an additional $500,000 if he plays in 120 and $500,000 more if he plays in 150. He played in 142 games. 2024.

The team had a rough second half offensively, and O’Hearn’s numbers weren’t as strong after the All-Star break.

O’Hearn hit .274 with a .790 OPS in the first half, 11 home runs and 37 RBI. In the second half, he hit .250 with a .719 OPS, four home runs and 22 RBI.

He played 52 games at first base, 23 in the outfield and 54 as a designated hitter. O’Hearn’s best numbers came as a DH when he hit .280 with an .820 OPS, seven home runs and 27 RBI.

Like Coulombe, his chances of a comeback also appear to be strong.

Cionel Perez

Another lefty reliever who avoided arbitration by agreeing to a 2024 contract worth $1.2 million with a $2.2 million option. Perez can earn an additional $100,000 if he pitches 70 innings and an additional $850,000 if he completes 50 games.

The most innings Perez has pitched in his three seasons with the Orioles is 57 2/3 innings in 2022, which he surpassed with 13 games completed in 2023.

If Perez matched his 57 2/3 innings in 2025, he would earn $25,000 more.

Perez had a 4.53 ERA but did not allow a home run in 53 2/3 innings. His September was rough, allowing nine runs on 13 hits and five walks in nine innings.

His return seems unlikely under these contract stipulations.

League Championship Series and former Orioles

One of the most enjoyable parts of watching the Division Series is keeping track of how well the former Orioles did. With the Philadelphia Phillies (Hays) and San Diego Padres (Manny Machado) out, there aren’t many Orioles-identified players left to watch.

In the National League Championship Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers have two former Orioles, right-hander Jack Flaherty, who spent the last two months of the 2023 season with the Orioles, and Evan Phillips.

Phillips, a former Uber driver, has a 2.28 ERA and 44 saves for the Dodgers since joining them in 2021. In 44 games with the Orioles from 2018 to 2021, Phillips was 1-3 with an effectiveness of 7.36. He came to the Orioles in July 2018 in the trade that sent Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to Atlanta.

The Dodgers’ opponents, the New York Mets, have infielder Jose Iglesias, who hit .373 in 39 games in 2020, and right-handed reliever Reed Garrett, who pitched in two games for the Orioles in 2023.

In the American League Championship Series, the Cleveland Guardians have Alex Cobb, who started one game in the division series against Detroit. Cobb pitched for the Orioles from 2018 to 2020. No former Oriole pitched for the New York Yankees in their Division Series win over Kansas City.

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