After producing a 44-homer season, hitting 11 more than he ever had previously, O's outfielder Anthony Santander tonight was named an American League Silver Slugger Award winner.

A finalist the last three years, Santander is a first-time winner and joins Yankees Aaron Judge and Juan Soto as AL outfield winners.

The O's had two other Silver Slugger finalists, but Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg did not win.

Santander’s 44 homers ranked second in the AL and third in the majors. He hit .235/.308/.506/.814 with 91 runs and 102 RBIs, both career bests. He became the eighth Oriole to hit 40 or more homers and first since Mark Trumbo in 2016. And the first to drive in 100 or more since Jonathan Schoop in 2017. His 35 homers starting June 1 were third in the majors.

Santander was also the eighth switch hitter (12th occurrence) in MLB history to hit at least 40 homers in a season and one of four (five occurrences) with at least 44. He became the ninth player in O’s history with multiple 30-homer seasons. His 105 homers since the start of 2022 lead MLB switch hitters and rank sixth overall in the majors.

So, what did I miss?

I’m using open-heart valve-replacement surgery as a convenient, albeit painful, excuse for being so far behind on transactions and other news. It’s also why I’m resting after every sentence that I’m typing.

A quick but heartfelt thank you to everyone who cared for me at Sinai Hospital, beginning with Dr. Peter Cho, who removed my faulty valve and gave me one from a cow. I just hope that one day I get to meet its family and show my appreciation.

My gratitude extends to Woodholme Cardiology’s Dr. Jonathan Rogers and Dr. Charles Cummings, who remained patient as the Orioles dictated when I could schedule pre-surgery appointments and the actual procedure. They were skilled and tremendous comforts. And everyone at Sinai who gathered after the surgery and yelled at me to “breathe!”

Can’t remove the tube unless you’re breathing on your own, and that’s solid advice in any situation.

As the MLB free agent process plays out this winter, Orioles fans will be watching closely to see what their team does. They may also be watching a player from another team closely.

What Oriole fan would not be happy to see Juan Soto leave the New York Yankees? Even if he wound up with another team in the American League East, it would badly hurt the current division champs.

The New York offense seemed like a two-man show at times in 2024 and any O’s fan would be happy to see that as a one-man show next year.

Soto had a monster year on offense, batting .288/.419/.569/.989 with 31 doubles, four triples, 41 homers and 109 RBIs. His OPS ranked third in the majors and was his best since posting a .999 for the Nats in 2021.

He is the rare player who walked (129) more than he struck out (119), posting an 18.1 walk percentage.

If we are to believe various free agent predictions, to re-sign pitcher Corbin Burnes, the Orioles are going to need to fork out around $200 million dollars, maybe more. 

Five outlets – MLBTradeRumors.com, ESPN, FanGraphs.com, and two from The Athletic – all predict Burnes gets a seven-year contract. That would take him through his age 36 season. On the low end, FanGraphs has Burnes getting $196 million and on the high end $247 by Jim Bowden of The Athletic. Several outlets ranked Burnes as the No. 2 free agent behind Juan Soto.

Soto’s projections by the way range from 12 years and $540 million to 15 years and $622 million. But you get a shuffle with that remember. 

That brings us to O's outfielder Anthony Santander for which we see a wide range of predictions. On the low end, ESPN predicts a three-year deal for $69 million. MLBTradeRumors.com goes with four years and $80 million. FanGraphs has him getting five years and $100 million while The Athletic goes with five years and $105 million. Jim Bowden has it six years and $142 million.

That is some range – from $69 to $142 million. The low-end predictions here seem to be in the Orioles wheelhouse, and I would imagine are very doable for the club. But would the Orioles go five years and $100 million for a player that ranked third in the majors with 44 homers?

The Orioles have picked up 2025 contract options on first baseman/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn, lefty reliever Cionel Pérez and righty reliever Seranthony Domínguez. But in a surprise move, they declined the $4 million 2025 contract option on lefty reliever Danny Coulombe.

The club today also made the procedural move of reinstating pitchers Félix Bautista, Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells and infielder Jorge Mateo from the 60-day injured list. 

Coulombe has been a dependable reliever for the club since they acquired him just ahead of Opening Day 2023 from the Twins for cash considerations. But now he officially becomes a free agent where he could re-sign with the Orioles or sign with any other club. 

Perhaps the team has injury concerns here as Coulombe was on the injured list last year from June 11-Sept. 20 as he underwent a procedure to remove bone chips from his left elbow.

But he finished the year throwing 3 2/3 scoreless over four games and pitched 0.2 innings scoreless in the playoffs.

An Orioles offense that ranked second in the American League and fourth in the majors in runs per game in 2024, has produced three Silver Slugger finalists in Anthony Santander, Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg.

The Orioles are also up for the American League offensive team of the year. Their batters did slump in the second half and scored just one run in two playoff games.

Henderson is a finalist at the shortstop position, Santander in the outfield and Westburg for a utility spot.

The finalists for the Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award are voted on by MLB managers and coaches. Winners will be announced on MLB Network on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Henderson and Adley Rutschman won Silver Slugger awards last year. Santander is a finalist for the third straight year and Westburg is a finalist for the first time.

The offseason gives media a chance to make early predictions on free-agent signings, trades and other activity while waiting for actual news.

Don’t pay any attention to early World Series odds. No team has a set roster in November.

Can we at least wait until spring training?

OK, if you’re going to press me, the Orioles make the playoffs in 2025. That’s all I’ve got.

The Athletic’s Jim Bowden has Corbin Burnes and Max Fried signing with the Mets. I never considered Burnes as a realistic possibility for the Orioles, but I also stress how new ownership dumps us in uncharted hot stove waters.

Let’s dive into the first post-World Series mailbag while the offseason heats up.

You ask again, I answer again, and we have the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original.

This is a politics-free mailbag. Let’s consider it practice for next week.

It’s also an editing-free mailbag. Let your clarity, length and style shine.

An important reminder here that my mailbag gets lots of candy on Halloween and your mailbag gets a toothbrush and dental floss.

We’re kind of just thinking out loud here today. But as the Orioles look to win more games and get back on top of the American League East next season, I believe changing or making some slight alterations to how the Orioles do business could be helpful moving forward.

Over the next few weeks, I will take a look in this space at some ways that could happen. 

Less aggressiveness on two-strike counts

Going back several years when I started hearing about and writing about the O’s working hard to make better swing decisions on the farm, I reported that this means essentially that a hitter does not shorten his swing with two strikes.

The thinking was, always put your best swing on the ball and try to drive it. In all counts. Shortening up the swing to just make contact works against that.

The mailbag is filling up again, like the bases in the bottom of the 10^th inning in Game 1 of the World Series.

Freddie Freeman isn’t here to empty it, so I’ll take over.

You ask, I answer, and we have our latest sequel to the beloved 2008 blockbuster. I thought about editing for clarity, length and style, until I had a moment of clarity and decided against it.

Also, my mailbag clinches pennants and yours clutches pearls.

Can you get more specifics on Colton Cowser's hand surgery? Having broken my hand playing ball back in the day where I just got casted and healed for weeks, I am curious as to what they corrected with his surgery.
Sorry, but the Orioles aren’t sharing any information beyond how he had “successful surgery to repair a fractured left hand, and the procedure “was performed by Dr. Donald Sheridan in Phoenix, AZ,” and that the outfielder “is expected to be ready for spring training.” Anything else must come from Cowser during his next media availability.

Five days after the end of the World Series, which began last night, teams can sign free agents. It could be an active winter for the Orioles, who have two key free agents of their own hitting the market.

They are right-handed pitcher Corbin Burnes and right fielder Anthony Santander. Both are almost certain to get qualifying offers from the Orioles, which would net the team a draft pick if they leave and sign elsewhere.

The consensus opinions seem to be that Burnes is almost certain to leave while the O’s may have at least an outside shot at retaining Santander.

But if that were to come at the price from one prediction this week, I can’t see that happening.

Former big league general manager Jim Bowden predicted who top 45 free agents will be, where they end up and at what price in The Athletic this week (subscription may be required).

During spring training, I asked O's center fielder Cedric Mullins to ponder a possibility. And that was that the 2024 season could be the last together for the trio of Mullins, Austin Hays and Anthony Santander. 

We knew then that Santander would be a free agent at the end of the season. We didn’t know then that Hays would be traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in July. The gang is already broken up.

On Opening Day next year, it’s possible that Mullins will stand alone. Hays is gone and Santander could be next.

“It’s has definitely popped into my head, that this could be the last go around,” Mullins told me during that March 2024 interview. “At the same time, we want this to be the best one if that is the case. We know how the business works. It is what it is. There is always that hope, that possibility that we stick around for the long haul. But if that is the case, let’s go out with a bang," said Mullins.

Winning 10 fewer games and winning none in the postseason is not what Mullins had in mind then.

The offseason halts play for the Orioles but can't stop the mailbag.

This is the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. Same rules apply. You ask and I try to answer. I don't believe in editing, but I believe in love.

Also, my mailbag sweeps other mailbags and yours sweeps the confetti that fell after my latest championship.

Any updates on Tyler Wells for 2025?
None. He was back with the team for the postseason but probably won’t pitch next summer until the second half. The question is how deeply into it. His return from June elbow surgery is supposed to be quicker because he underwent a revision ulnar collateral ligament procedure with UCL repair and internal brace augmentation. It requires less recovery time than the traditional Tommy John surgery. Maybe he gets back before Kyle Bradish, but a first-half return seems really optimistic.

What is the logic/benefit to having multiple hitting and/or pitching coaches? During the season whenever a pitching coach headed for the mound, it was only one of the two. It's not like they sent both out together.
That’s a funny image. The jobs are considered so big now that they require two coaches. Like having co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte working with a player in the cage during a game. Having two pitching coaches to offer instruction to the large groups at spring training. Two who can wade through all of the analytic data and video. A second coach also can focus on advanced preparation for the next opponent. Two voices with one message. The Orioles aren't bringing back co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller. Here's what manager Brandon Hyde said about the co-hitting coach approach during his season-ending press conference: "Yeah, hitting coach is a tough job, because you're never going to have 13 or whatever guys going at the same time. You're going to have three guys going, you're going to have three guys struggling, and you're going to have six guys kind of in between, and it changes every three or four days. So it's a really, really tough job. Hitting is so hard to do. I think our guys do an amazing job of preparing our guys. I think they're unbelievably likable. Guys love to hit with them in the cage. They're incredibly prepared, they're unbelievably positive, and they're living and dying with every single one of our guys’ at-bats. That's all you can ask for."

An Oriole since the December 2016 Rule 5 draft and an Oriole now for parts of eight major league seasons, the 2025 season could open with outfielder Anthony Santander playing for another major league club for the first time.

He’s finally reached the service time to become a free agent and Santander’s chance to cash in on a 44-homer season is almost at hand.

Can the Orioles re-sign him and how far should they go to do just that? No doubt the team would love to have a middle-of-the-order bat back for their 2025 lineup. Not to mention a team leader who seems universally loved within the clubhouse. The fans admire and appreciate Santander greatly as well.

His loss would be big.

As usual, it may come down to years and price. If he gets a three-year deal, say in the $75 million range, would the O’s be in the hunt at those dollars? If the years and dollars go up from there which is possible, maybe very possible, how competitive will they be? Should they be?

The offseason for the Orioles has inched into another day while other playoff teams are having all the fun.

The crowd will keep thinning until it’s time for the World Series and we’re down to two. I’m just going by how it’s worked in the past.

I never posted it or gave it much thought. but I blurted out "Guardians and Phillies" when asked for my picks. The Astros were my runner-up in the American League. I was fixated on closers, and Emmanuel Clase and Josh Hader put their teams ahead of the others.

What do I know?

Let’s check out three more decisions for the Orioles that are part of the offseason meeting agenda.

When it comes to the Orioles offense, some of the judgements of it show recency bias, and that is understandable. As the team struggled late in the year the offensive performance and production dropped.

Fewer runs led to fewer wins, pretty easy to understand. In scoring just one run in two games in the playoffs, the offense that came up short often late in the year did so again, this time on the biggest stage.

For the full year, some of the O’s offensive numbers looked good. Those numbers include those from the first half, when the offense ranked second in team OPS and fourth in runs per game. But in the second half the offense ranked 11^th in the major leagues in team OPS and seventh in runs per game.

The first-half OPS was .764 as the Orioles scored 4.94 runs per game. In the second half those numbers were .731 and 4.73.

From Aug. 1 on, when the Orioles went 26-27, they scored 4.4 runs per game (13^th in runs) and the OPS was .702 (15^th).

The final game of a baseball season, and especially in the playoffs, can resemble a high school graduation. You sit next to someone in homeroom for four years and realize you probably won’t ever see each other again.

Paths are more likely to cross in sports, but the Orioles know that their spring training clubhouse won’t look the same. Players will be signed, promoted or acquired in trades. Others will be dealt, released or lost in free agency.

Anthony Santander is a free agent who’s been in the organization since December 2016 and coming off a season with a career-high 44 home runs and 102 RBIs. His. 814 OPS is the highest in a non-pandemic season. He made his first All-Star team. He’s played in 152, 153 and 155 games the past three seasons.

National media suddenly is beginning to notice.

Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are the only players in the majors with more home runs. They know where they’ll be playing in 2025.

The ending can be abrupt and this one was. A season of big expectations for the Orioles ended with another quick out in the playoffs. This time they are done one round sooner than last year.

It all stings in the moment and will probably stay with many in the organization and fanbase for quite a while.

Ten straight postseason losses and swept in four consecutive series counting the one-game Wild Card in 2016. Not good.

In time some of the hurt will fade and fans will look forward to another promising season. For the Orioles, the window to win should be in the early stages of a multi-year run. This should not be their last crack at it.

Last year they gave up too many runs to Texas. This year they scored too few in 1-0 and 2-1 losses to Kansas City.

Cionel Pérez sat frozen on the Orioles’ bench on a 65-degree night at Camden Yards. Most of his teammates who stood at the dugout railing and watched the Royals celebrate on their field had gone inside. Pérez didn’t budge except for the moment when he lowered his head.

Pérez rubbed his hands across his face, but he couldn’t make it all go away.

The Royals did that to the Orioles in the Wild Card round, winning 2-1 to sweep the series. It’s always jolting, the elongated and exhausting stretch from report dates in spring training to the playoffs followed by an abrupt finish. The slamming of brakes can rattle bones.

The Orioles traded for ace Corbin Burnes and got a new ownership group. They won 101 games in 2023 and thought they’d do better. But the second half was “mid,” as the younger generation says, and in the truest sense at .500. Injuries devastated the team, and it doesn’t matter that others had similar experiences throughout baseball. That fact does nothing to minimize the impact on the Orioles, who lost their rotation except for Burnes as well as key members of their bullpen and lineup. It bordered on cruel. Some would say exceeded it.

Media entering the visiting clubhouse at Globe Life Field in Texas last October were met with an eerie silence, players sitting with stunned and pained expressions. It was like walking into a viewing before the funeral. Last night was similar in some areas but mostly teammates circled the room and hugged. That was the only sound created, the smacking of backs.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde took a temperature check of his team this morning. He walked in the clubhouse and the weight room. No one seemed to be sweating yesterday’s loss that pushed them to the brink of elimination in the Wild Card round.

“I think it's totally business as usual,” Hyde said.

“I think guys are in great spirits and ready to get after it today.”

They must or there’s no tomorrow.

“I have all the faith in the world in this team,” said Colton Cowser. “I think yesterday it was just one of those days. I think our guys, we're really confident, really comfortable, and we're looking forward to bouncing back.”