Cost-Effective Moves the Baltimore Orioles Can Make This Offseason

The free-agency period commences immediately following the conclusion of the World Series Wednesday night, and teams like the Baltimore Orioles will need to make crucial decisions regarding their personnel.

For the Orioles, they will have a total of 14 players heading to arbitration, and their 2014 salary total of $107,406,623 will rise considerably.

The Orioles have already made moves by picking up the 2015 options on reliever Darren O'Day and starter Wei-Yin Chen and declining catcher Nick Hundley's option.

These were some easy moves to make considering each player's impact to the club, but much harder decisions will come shortly for the Orioles.

Here is a look into some cost-effective moves we could see the Orioles pulling off this offseason.

Non-Tender Tommy Hunter

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

While Tommy Hunter ended the season with respectable numbers of a 2.97 ERA and a 1.104 WHIP, he doesn't possess the tools to get guys out regularly in the back of the bullpen.

Hunter finished the season with a strikeout-per-nine ratio of just 6.7, and being that he was paid $3 million in 2014, the salary that he will be awarded through arbitration will not be reflective of his overall skill.

Allowing Hunter to leave opens up room for reliever Brad Brach to step into the vacated bullpen spot.

Brach, who had a career year, ended the season with a 3.18 ERA, 1.171 WHIP and a strikeout-per-nine ratio of 7.8, more than one higher than Hunter's.

Brach earned just $509,500 in 2014, and according to Spotrac.com, Brach will be heading to arbitration this offseason.

We shouldn't expect to see a huge spike in salary through arbitration, which makes the move of letting Hunter walk and filling in with Brach easy on the wallet.

Sign Delmon Young to a Short-Term Contract

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

Following perhaps his best season in four years, former first-round pick Delmon Young is set to become a free agent, as his one-year, $1 million minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles has ended.

Young, who hit for a triple-slash line of .302/.337/.442 during the 2014 regular season, was an extremely valuable asset for the Orioles off the bench.

The Orioles would be wise to re-sign Young to a multiyear, affordable deal given the insecurity over the future of first baseman Chris Davis and whether he can return close to his 2013 form.

There's also the question of whether Steve Pearce can reproduce numbers from a breakout season that included a batting average of .293 and 21 homers in just 383 plate appearances. A postseason in which he hit for just a .148 batting average has raised concern over if the regular season was indeed a fluke.

With all of these unanswered questions and uncertainty, the Orioles will need a guy like Young as an emergency option in case things don't go as planned in 2015.

Non-Tender Chris Davis

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Although extremely unlikely given he is just a year removed from a historic 53-homer season with the Birds, Chris Davis may be a cap casualty for Baltimore in this offseason.

Fans expected to see some regression from the lefty masher in 2014, but few could have predicted the epic collapse that Davis showed this season.

Hitting below the Mendoza Line (.196 BA) and striking out 173 times left a sour taste in the mouths of many considering he only hit 26 long balls.

Sure, Davis struck out 26 more times in 2013, but the trade-off was an extra 27 round-trippers.

After testing positive for amphetamines—specifically Adderall—Davis was suspended 25 games at the end of the season, and that suspension will carry over into Opening Day of 2015.

Given the fact that Davis earned $10,350,000 in 2014 and is set to earn even more next season, the risk of him failing another drug test and possibly missing 50 games or more may be the biggest issue the Orioles brass will need to weigh.

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

Salary figures courtesy of Spotrac.com.