Then there may be one: The trio of veteran O's outfielders is shrinking

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.

Now he is probably pondering the chances that the O’s bring him back via arbitration. MLBTradeRumors.com projected his 2025 salary via arbitration would be $8.7 million.

A non-tender here would be a huge surprise. It’s not expected.

Mullins’ offense, when he produced the only 30-30 year (doubles and homers) in club history in 2021 showed an OPS of .878 and OPS+ of 137.

His OPS+ the last two years was 101 in 2023 and 107 in 2024. For the last three years combined, 2022 through 2024, Mullins produced a .718 OPS and 105 OPS+.

He’s become a slightly above average hitter with good speed and a defender the team seems to love in center with some metrics that don’t love him as much.

Mullins is not known as vocal leader. But I still see him as someone teammates greatly respect and often look toward, based on his calm demeanor and vast experience. They can count on him.

Over 147 games in 2024, Mullins produced numbers very similar to his 2023 season. In ’24 he batted .234/.305/.405/.710 with 16 doubles, three triples, 18 homers, 32 steals and 69 runs.

Mullins, who turned 30 Oct. 1, produced an OPS of .766 versus righty pitching, .506 against lefties and .704 when batting with runners in scoring position.

His average exit velocity dropped from 88.9 in 2023 to 87.1 mph. And he ranked in the bottom 20 percent of the majors in expected slugging, barrel percentage, hard-hit percentage and average exit velocity. He was not often squaring up baseballs.

But he did have a hot finish to his year. In 23 September games, Mullins batted .286/.368/.488/.857 with five homers, 13 RBIs and seven steals in seven tries. His solo homer in the fifth inning of Game 2 against Kansas City, scored the O’s only run in two playoff games.

Also achieved by Mullins this past season:

* Earned his MLB-leading seventh career Play of the Week award for his diving catch on April 15 vs. Minnesota.

* Connected on his first career walk-off home run on April 17 vs. Minnesota, a two-run shot off Griffin Jax.

* Became the ninth Oriole in team history with three separate seasons of 20+ stolen bases and the first since Corey Patterson (2006, 2007, 2010).

* He swiped 32 bases, his second most in a season in his career behind his 34 in 2022.

* His 125 career stolen bases rank seventh all time in Orioles history; Luis Aparicio and Mark Belanger are next on the list tied for fifth all time with 166 stolen bases apiece.

* And he has recorded 15 multi-stolen base efforts since 2021, tied for the sixth-most in MLB in that span.

Hays has left the club and Santander could be next. How strong is Mullin's hold on a 2025 roster spot?