Thursday was one of the busiest days of MLB’s offseason as teams and arbitration-eligible players had until 1 p.m. to agree to contracts for the 2025 season to avoid a potential hearing.

As one of MLB’s youngest teams, the Orioles had 11 such players who were due pay raises, including some in line for large bumps as they entered their first arbitration year.

Starting pitcher Dean Kremer was one of those players, and the right-hander and the Orioles avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $2.95 million salary for the 2025 campaign, a source with direct knowledge of the agreement confirmed to The Baltimore Sun. Kremer, 29, earned only $756,600 as a pre-arbitration player in 2024.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was center fielder Cedric Mullins, who was entering his final year of arbitration before hitting free agency next winter.

The speedster and the Orioles avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $8.725 million contract for the 2025 campaign, a source with direct knowledge of the deal confirmed. That resulted in a nearly $2.5 million pay bump for Mullins after he earned $6.3 million last year.

Ryan Mountcastle also avoided arbitration by agreeing to make $6.787 million with awards incentives in 2025, a source with direct knowledge of the agreement confirmed, for a $2.6 million raise over his previous salary.As of Thursday evening, the Orioles agreed to terms with all but one of their arbitration-eligible players, including Adley Rutschman ($5.5 million), Trevor Rogers ($2.6 million), Kyle Bradish ($2.35 million), Gregory Soto ($5.35 million), Ramón Urías ($3.15 million) and Keegan Akin ($1.475 million), according to a source with direct knowledge of the deals, along with Kremer, Mullins and Mountcastle. Tyler Wells also reportedly settled on a figure of $2.075 million. The Baltimore Banner was first to report his deal.

Utilityman Jorge Mateo did not come to an agreement and exchanged figures with the club, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation.

Last year, the Orioles had 18 arbitration-eligible players, the most of any MLB team. Arbitration is a pay raise system for players who have established themselves as big leaguers but have yet to spend enough time in the major leagues to become free agents. Eligible players have at least three years of MLB service time but fewer than the six necessary to hit free agency.

Those 18 players’ combined salaries totaled approximately $68 million to make up more than two-thirds of the team’s total payroll, which ranked 26th of 30 MLB teams for the Orioles’ sixth straight year in the bottom five. This year, the Orioles began the preseason with 13 such players, among the most in MLB. They nontendered reliever Jacob Webb, a righty who was one of manager Brandon Hyde’s most-trusted bullpen arms, and agreed to a $1 million contract with corner infielder Emmanuel Rivera in November.

The total amount given to the 11 arbitration-eligible players Baltimore has come to terms with is $41.9 million, not including what Mateo could receive. That’s about $1.2 million less than what MLB Trade Rumors projected for those 11 players. It also marked a nearly $17.1 million raise for those players combined but is much less than 2024’s total because Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander hit free agency this winter and Austin Hays was traded at last year’s deadline.

Most of the Orioles’ highest-paid players last season were arbitration-eligible, including Burnes, Santander, Hays and Mullins. That will be different in 2025, as the top of Baltimore’s payroll are players the club acquired in the past year: Zach Eflin ($18 million), Tyler O’Neill ($16.5 million), Charlie Morton ($15 million) and Tomoyuki Sugano ($13 million).

Most Orioles will end Thursday with agreements for 2025, but some, like Mateo, could move on in the arbitration process, which can be contentious for teams and players if they go to a hearing. Any players who didn’t come to terms by Thursday’s deadline will have to exchange proposed salary figures with the club for their 2025 salary. If the team and player remain at an impasse, a panel of arbitrators will pick one of the two suggested salary figures — and no other possible value — during a hearing in late January or February.

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.

Contact Matt Weyrich at mweyrich@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/ByMattWeyrich.