Sure sounds like the Orioles want to let one of best sluggers walk in free agency

The 2024 Baltimore Orioles loved hitting home runs. Maybe too much, according to their manager and general manager. The O's hit 235 long balls, the second-most in baseball behind just the New York Yankees, who play at a middle-school ballpark, so that barely even counts. But Baltimore's offense relied more heavily on the longball than most other teams in baseball, and the team is now sitting at home because that longball evaded it during the two most important games of the year.

With Baltimore's top brass hoping to rely less on the home run next season, fans are reading the tea leaves and suspecting that Anthony Santander's tenure as an Oriole could be finished. Santander mashed a career-high 44 home runs in 2024, finishing with 102 RBIs and an OPS of .814 and an OPS+ of 134, also both career-highs for a full season. He's a pure slugger — his batting average of .235 shows that he's out there to hit homers and XBH, not to merely get on base.

And now, as his contract expires, Santander could be a victim of a changing philosophy in Baltimore.

“It was a lot more of a challenge to score runs, and we relied on the homer,” said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde.

He's right. Baltimore did lean on the longball for a large part of the season, and Santander is a player who epitomizes that approach. But would letting Santander walk fix that problem? Would getting rid of one of the best home run-hitters on the team make the Orioles more balanced on offense, or would it just cause the team to hit fewer home runs?

The Baltimore Orioles bowed out early in the 2024 playoffs thanks to offensive struggles

Sure, not paying Santander a lot of money would give the Orioles the opportunity to sign players who bring more diversity to the offense, but we've seen MLB front offices in the past try to fix a problem by getting rid of players who they believed were part of the problem... then not signing players who could theoretically help fix the problem. Look at the Seattle Mariners of this season; they traded Geno Suarez and Jarred Kelenic because they struck out a lot... then still struck out more than any other team in 2024. Addition by subtraction doesn't usually work in baseball.

Baltimore's offense looked dreadful in its Wild Card series against Kansas City. The O's scored one run in two games — a Cedric Mullens home run — and lost both games to the Royals, who are now taking on the Yankees in the ALDS.

Is the problem that Baltimore relied too much on home runs, or is the problem that no one could seem to hit them at the right time? Either way, the O's lineup might look different next season, if Mike Elias and Brandon Hyde are serious about relying less on home runs and more on timely hitting and simply getting on base.