Baltimore

Orioles

The 32-year-old southpaw is the top remaining free agent pitcher on the market, with the Giants and Mets among the other teams that are vying for his services. It seems like the Orioles are intent on adding at least one additional starter to their rotation before the 2026 season begins. They have also been linked to Justin Verlander should they fail in their pursuit of Valdez.

The Orioles have their five starters after adding Shane Baz and Zach Eflin, but it seems they’re still hoping for more depth beyond Tyler Wells and Cade Povich. Verlander, who finished strong in his age-42 season, would presumably want to be promised a rotation spot wherever he landed.

Crouse was a notable pitching prospect just a couple years ago but hasn’t put it together at the highest level, recording a lackluster — 4.96 FIP — 1.30 WHIP and 36/24 K/BB ratio across 32 1/3 innings at the highest level for the Phillies and Angels from 2021-2024. The 27-year-old righty was cut loose by Los Angeles last April after just a handful of appearances for Triple-A Salt Lake.

The Braves tried to push Suarez through waivers after avoiding arbitration with him last week by signing him to a $900,000 deal. The 28-year-old Suarez had a 1.86 ERA in one start and six relief appearances after the Braves picked him up from the Angels last season. He previously posted a 5.47 ERA in 61 starts and 38 relief appearances for the Halos from 2019-24. He’s out of options, so unless he makes the Orioles out of spring training, he’ll go back on waivers again at the end of March. More likely, though, is that the Orioles just put him right back on waivers in the coming days.

Luciano lasted eight days on the Orioles’ 40-man, which is longer than most of their waiver pickups this winter. Maybe they’ll get lucky and sneak him through waivers, as they just did with Jhonkensy Noel.

The 28-year-old hit .208/.259/.340 with two home runs, four RBI, and a 25/4 K/BB ratio across 58 plate appearances for the Giants last season. The former top prospect is just organizational catching depth at this point.

So Noel will remain with the Orioles after being designated for assignment by both Baltimore and Cleveland this offseason. The 24-year-old has big-time power but needs to make far more contact before he can be relied on as an MLB hitter.

Walker passed through waivers earlier this week after being designated for assignment back in late December. The 31-year-old southpaw has bounced around between the Braves and Orioles over the past couple months but it appears he’ll enter spring training as part of Baltimore’s relief mix now that the dust has settled.

Robertson went unclaimed after being designated for assignment by the Orioles at the end of December. The 28-year-old outfielder will be organizational depth with Baltimore if he doens’t elect free agency.

Henderson elaborated, “I could never get to the spot that I wanted to get to with my swing... I just wasn’t able to hold the plane and my body was adjusting to it, not feeling great, so that didn’t really set up me in the right spot to leverage the ball like I normally do... Looking forward to being healthy this year and getting back to my normal self.” It’s strange that nothing about the shoulder issue came out at all from the Orioles during the 2025 campaign, but it could help to explain the 24-year-old superstar’s significant falloff at the plate, especially in the power department — falling from 37 long balls to just 17. Assuming full health, look for Henderson to bounce back in a big way in 2026.