Orioles Rumors: Baltimore slugger could face surprising offseason exit

New York Yankees v Baltimore Orioles | Mitchell Layton/GettyImagesFor two seasons, the Baltimore Orioles’ problem wasn’t a shortage of bats — it was where to stash all of them. That’s the cost of a contending window arriving ahead of schedule: the lineup fills, the arbitration clock ticks louder, and tough decisions stop being hypothetical.

As Baltimore maps the winter, one of those decisions has a familiar name attached. Ryan Mountcastle, a homegrown slugger who helped bridge the franchise from rebuild to relevance, suddenly looks like the piece who no longer fits the puzzle perfectly.

It’s roster math colliding with timing. Baltimore’s infield corner has turned into a turnstile of…