The Orioles find themselves in a unique position. Right smack in the middle of their “contention window” they are one of the worst teams in all of baseball.
For almost any other team with a winning percentage of 35% the obvious thing to do would be to sell your veteran players at the deadline and try to reset the farm system to be competitive again in a couple years.
But the Orioles aren’t like most teams with a 35% winning percentage. Prior to this season they had been one of the best teams in baseball over the last 3 seasons, they were supposed to be a good team this year and with the right moves at this deadline/upcoming offseason they could be one of the best teams in the league next season.
The Orioles have a superstar player in Gunnar Henderson who is about to enter arbitration which means they’ll only get three more seasons with him before he either becomes extremely expensive or leaves. They cannot afford for 2025 to be a lost season and 2026 to be a rebuild year. Every decision the Orioles make between now and the beginning of the 2026 season has to be about maximizing the Orioles World Series chances for the 2026, 2027 and 2028 season because whether Gunnar stays or goes if you reach the end of his arbitration years without making a deep playoff run you will have whiffed on the kind of opportunity that a franchise only gets once in a generation.
So what can the Orioles do this season to set themselves up for the most possible success in the next 3 years?
Research
I want the Orioles to win games. I tune into almost every single game and when they win I feel good and when they lose I feel bad, it’s a very simple relationship. However with the Orioles playoff chances already down the drain they need to shift their focus from winning as many games as possible to finding out as much as you can about the players who are going to be on the team next year.
It’s a rare opportunity for a team that believes they are in a championship window to have a chance to play almost an entire season of baseball with no stakes to develop their young players and that is what has unfortunately unfolded for the Orioles in 2025.
So even though it will make the team worse, Coby Mayo needs to be called up and play almost every single day at whatever position you think he’s going to play whether that is 3rd base or 1st base and even if he strikes out 40 times in a row they just need to put him out there.
I know it has not been fun to watch Heston Kjerstad play the field, or hit or run the bases and if we’re being honest he’s not a very handsome guy to look at, but even once Cowser gets back Kjerstad needs to continue to be in the lineup on a daily basis. If the O’s were in the playoff hunt I would be all for sending him back to triple A for the rest of the season to figure out what happened to his swing but that is just not the case and the O’s need to take advantage of the fact that they are playing lower stakes baseball to give guys a long enough runway that if they don’t succeed it isn’t because they didn’t get a chance.
Samuel Basallo should be called up as soon as possible. I’m not a scout so I can’t watch a player and tell you “he’s ready” but the Orioles do employ people who do that so as soon as those people say Basallo is ready he should be up with no concern for service time or ROY eligibility it should be about getting him experience against big league pitchers so that he come into 2026 ready to roll.
There are other names floating around like Enrique Bradfield jr and Dylan Beavers that I don’t feel quite as strongly about but in general the same thing applies, if they are ready for the majors let’s see what they’ve got.
We’re going to get to the trade deadline part of this blog in a little bit but as a spoiler we will be discussing the possibility of trading Eflin, Sugano, and even Morton and if the Orioles do that they would open up a lot of starts for guys that will be on the roster next year. We’ve already seen Cade Povich improve over the course of a year getting regular starts even though it was at times quite painful to watch. It could be really be really beneficial for guys like Brandon Young, Chayce Mcdermott and even Trevor Rogers to get some innings, some confidence and work through some things.
They could even get really funky with it and do things like try Cade Povich as a lefty specialist out of the bullpen instead of Keegan Akin or stretch out Bryan Baker and have him start a few games. I’m just spitballin here.
I’ve mostly talked about young guys but if the Orioles determine that they want to see Dylan Carlson everyday because he could have a future in the Baltimore outfield then let’s see Dylan Carlson everyday.
The point is that every roster decision between now and the end of the season should be about answering the questions: “How does this help us build the 2026 Orioles team”
And while that likely means less playing time for guys like Ramon Laureano and Emmanuel Rivera that doesn’t mean there isn’t a role for them. If you want to see how Samuel Basallo is at first base it is probably better to have Emmanuel Rivera at third than Coby Mayo, if you want to evaluate Brandon Young it probably better to have Ramon Laureano in left than Heston Kjerstad but it has to be about learning about the future of the team.
If we’re in late August, 20 games out of the playoffs, and we run out a lineup with Charlie Morton on the mound, Mountcastle and Rivera on the infield corners and Ramon Laureano in left then I just don’t know what we’re learning from that game.
The Trade Deadline
The Orioles have a crop of veteran players either in their ultimate or penultimate contract year and the trade rumors around guys like Mullins and O’Hearn will continue to crescendo until the trade deadline. We’re going to take a look at all the guys who might get traded and I’ll let you know who I think should and shouldn’t get moved and I’ll say this here so I don’t have to say it over and over again in the blurbs. If a team wants to offer the Orioles something stupid then they should be willing to trade almost anyone.
Ryan O’Hearn
Ryan O’Hearn is the Orioles’ most valuable player this season and one of the best hitters in the entire league. He does get protected from lefties a little but with all the injuries the Orioles have faced he’s been forced to face them more than he had in the past and he’s held up just fine.
This is the third year in a row that O’Hearn has been a plus bat so it’s not like this is a flash in the pan and teams know this so on the trade market he should be able to get the Orioles a very solid return.
Out of all the guys the Orioles could potentially trade, O’Hearn is the one I am most against moving. O’Hearn had his big breakout with the O’s, he appreciates and loves being an Oriole and he’s very organically become a team leader. First base/DH types usually get less than you’d think both in trades and in free agency so I think the Orioles should pass on trading O’Hearn and try signing him to a 3-4 year deal that lines up with the Orioles young core being in arbitration.
He’s worth more to the O’s than he’d be to another team.
Cedric Mullins
Cedric Mullins has been the heart of the Orioles for years and has been neck and neck with O’Hearn for most valuable Oriole this season. If I was in charge of the Orioles I wouldn’t want to trade Cedric Mullins but I can see why someone could argue for it. Mullins is a streaky hitter, who gets hurt and his main tool on both offense and defense is speed which doesn’t always age well into your thirties.
One thing I’ll say and this applies for O’Hearn and Eflin and any veteran the Orioles might trade and that is; if you are going to trade away all your veteran players you need to be willing to bring in some veteran players in free agency because young teams built entirely of young players really struggle. Good vets can make all the difference so if the Orioles plan to move on from guys like Mullins and O’Hearn they need to make sure they have a plan to fill that player leadership void.
That being said, if I am trading Mullins I need to win the deal by a lot, I need the team I am trading with to be very desperate. Remember with guys like Mullins and O’Hearn even if you don’t plan on re-signing them you can put the qualifying offer on them and get a pick when they sign elsewhere so if I’m Mike Elias I’m sitting at the negotiating table perfectly willing to walk away if a team won’t meet my price.
Zach Eflin
Eflin has been a very good Oriole and I don’t think the O’s will miss any of the guys they traded for him but with Eflin in the last year of his contract it makes sense to look into flipping him to recoup some of the value you sent out for him. In a perfect world he comes back and signs with us in the offseason like Jack Flaherty did with the Tigers.
Eflin has pitched in the playoffs for multiple teams and while he’s a bit over tasked as the staff ace on the Orioles I don’t think there are many playoff teams with 3 starters better than Zach Eflin so he could end up being the Orioles biggest chip at this deadline.
Tomoyuki Sugano
It would bring me great sadness if Tommy Sugar only lasted a half season as an Oriole. He’s been fun to watch successfully navigate big league lineups while throwing pitches that the nerds would tell you have no business being in the big leagues.
I’m not sure what Sugano’s value would be on the market as pitchers are usually acquired at the deadline by teams who want them to pitch in the playoffs and I think playoff starter Tomoyuki Sugano seems like a bit of a stretch but team’s can never have too much pitching.
I’d be interested in bringing Sugano back next year assuming he wasn’t grossed out by the Orioles performance this season.
Ryan Mountcastle
Mounty is the first guy I’m mentioning who isn’t in the final year of his deal but I think he’s still very available at this deadline. I have been a fan of Ryan Mountcastle since he came up and I’ve always wanted to believe that he could make a leap and be one of the better first basemen in the league but he’s been on the decline for the past few seasons and it feels less and less likely he’s going to make that leap in an Orioles uniform.
There’s got to be at least a couple teams that look at the bat speed and the talent and think that they can fix him. I can understand not wanting to sell low on Mounty but the extra year of control should be able to offset the poor slashline. If a team wants to offer you an interesting pitching prospect for Mounty’s bat then I’d pull the trigger.
Ramon Urias
I think Urias is a perfect bench compliment for the Orioles going forward so I’m not going into this trade deadline looking to move him but solid infield defense paired with a league average bat can get pretty valuable if there are contending teams dealing with injuries near the trade deadline so the Orioles could get the opportunity to trade a bench bat for the price of a starting third baseman and that’s not something that they should pass up.
Jorge Mateo
This might sound a little rude but if a team wants to trade any sort of prospect for Jorge Mateo I’d do it. Speed is valuable in the playoffs so you could get an interesting relief pitching prospect in exchange for Mateo and with what his role is on the Orioles right now that would be well worth it.
Charlie Morton
Charlie Morton will not be back on the Orioles next year. He’s pitched a little better recently and he has connections in Atlanta and Houston, both teams that are going to be trying to make the playoffs and could use some pitching depth. The Orioles might have to eat most of the money on the contract but they could steal a prospect of some kind from a team that just needs innings.
Gregory Soto and Seranthony Dominguez
Between now and the trade deadline the Orioles should be trying to get these guys into games exclusively in situations where they are best set up to succeed. Low leverage situations with a platoon advantage etc etc. The goal is get their numbers looking better so that a team in need of bullpen help will be willing to roll the dice on them. As of right now I’d take anything, I’m not particularly interested in re-signing either of these guys.
Gary Sanchez
I don’t know if anyone is interested in Gary but the Orioles should try to trade him before they call up Basallo and if they can’t then they should just DFA him.
Ramon Laureano and Emmanuel Rivera
2 solid role players with relatively little trade value. I would make them available in trades but not spend too much time shopping them around. If a team wants to send cash and PTBNL for either of these guys go for it, if not they are fine guys to have around.
If the Orioles can successfully navigate this trade deadline and offseason they should be able to enter the 2026 season as playoff contenders again.
I’ll cover the players the Orioles should be looking to acquire in part 3.
The Dishwasher 
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