Orioles' $20 million question with All-Star OF should have a simple answer
· Yahoo Sports
Orioles' $20 million question with All-Star OF should have a simple answer originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The 2026 season for the Baltimore Orioles has not gone to plan, though as September gets underway, they're still in contention for an AL Wild Card spot.
Visit casino-promo.biz for more information.
But regardless of what happens this season, the Orioles will have some big decisions to make in the upcoming 2026-2027 offseason. One of those big decisions will come with a $20 million All-Star slugger.
As USA Today's Bob Nightengale highlighted, the Orioles will have to decide whether to pick up Luis Robert Jr.'s $20 million player option or pay him a $2M buyout. Fortunately, this is an easy question: Baltimore should pay Robert $2M without much thought.
Orioles have an easy $20M question with Luis Robert Jr.
"The Orioles now must decide whether they want to pick up his $20 million option next season or pay him a $2 million buyout," Nightengale writes.
This decision for the Orioles, which they now have to make after claiming Robert off waivers from the New York Mets, should have a very easy answer.
He played in three games for the Orioles since being picked up, and he had a .795 OPS thanks to one double, one homer, and three RBIs in 12 plate appearances.
However, he's just landed on the injured list and will miss some time. Robert would've needed to play incredibly well down the stretch, helping the Orioles make the playoffs, to make his case to stay on the roster with a $20 million option.
MORE: Bo Bichette likely not to opt out of Mets $42 million contract
Even then, the Orioles likely would have spent the $2 million buyout and re-signed him to a cheaper one-year prove-it deal for 2027 instead of such a large $20M contract.
Maybe if Robert was playing as he did in 2023, when he was an All-Star with 37 homers and an .857 OPS, then a $20M per-year deal would've made sense.
But between his lackluster production this season, a .707 OPS between the Orioles and Mets, and his time spent on the injured list, this $2 million buyout is the only acceptable answer to this $20 million question for the Orioles this upcoming offseason.
More MLB news:
- Jose Berrios ‘extremely unlikely’ to opt out of $48 million deal with Blue Jays
- Yankees predicted to get Aaron Judge back soon, but with a catch
- How Reds' Sal Stewart has MLB history on his side for NL Rookie of the Year award
- Kevin McGonigle is runaway favorite to win AL Rookie of the Year for Tigers
- Phillies' Jesus Luzardo on track to be best road pitcher in MLB history since 1913