The Baltimore Orioles have emerged as surprise challengers for an American League Wild Card berth and a payroll increase may be on the horizon.
"Our plan for this offseason has always been to significantly escalate the payroll," general manager Mike Elias said. "I think a lot of that's going to come through our own guys going into arbitration, but also we plan to explore free agency much more aggressively. We plan to maybe make some buy trades for some guys that are either on contracts or kind of in the tail-end of their arbitration."
"The success…has only cemented those plans. I’m really looking forward to the offseason and kind of a winter meetings environment where we're buying. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun for our group and for the organization."
The Orioles' Opening Day payroll was just $43.8 million, the lowest total for any Major League club's active roster.