The Baltimore Orioles are probably the most disappointing club in baseball in 2025. This was the 2023 AL East champion and a 2024 AL wild-card team and they were sitting 12 back in the division and seven back of the third wild-card spot when games began Saturday. And then the Orioles got clobbered by the Rays, 11-3, at home, dropping them to 35-47 on the season.
The trade deadline this season is July 31, so we’re just about one month away. The Orioles still have a chance to get hot and climb within striking range of a playoff spot and if that’s the case, they should be doing everything possible to try and get there. If they fall back a few more games, however, the writing is on the proverbial wall that it just isn’t happening this season, in which case perhaps they’ll be sellers at the deadline.
General manager Mike Elias spoke with reporters Saturday and made it clear the O’s are hoping to contend but are preparing for both sides.
“I’m hoping that we aren’t sellers, but we’ve got to realistic, look at the standings, look at how much time’s left before the deadline, how much time is necessary to execute a deadline, because that’s not one or two days,” he said, via MASN.
“The way this works, the conversations start to happen around now and kind of comparing notes with other GMs, and that’s been going on the last few days. People are making their preparations, they understand that we’re not committed to a path yet, but we’re doing preparation in both directions and have an understanding of where that might go. So we want to keep playing, keep giving this team that we think is very talented, but unfortunately has started off with a bad record, as much chance as we can. But we’re gonna have to ultimately make a decision at some point here in July.”
As Elias pointed out, the teams in the middle are in a state of limbo here in the weeks leading up to the deadline and are forced to kind of do homework both ways.
If the Orioles do sell, though, what would that look like? They surely can’t start bailing on their core pieces like Adley Rutschman or Gunnar Henderson just yet, right? Right?
Here are some veteran options that could be on the move if the Orioles do a sell off while holding all their long-term assets.
- Starting pitcher Zach Eflin is making $18 million this season and is a free agent after the year. His numbers are awful this season — 5.95 ERA after he was wrecked on Saturday — but he has enough recent track record that teams would be interested.
- Charlie Morton has posted a 2.68 ERA in his last nine outings (six starts), but he still has a 5.63 ERA on the season and is making $15 million for the year. He’s 41 years old. Still, he’s a free agent after the year, so it might be possible to move him.
- Reliever Seranthony Domínguez is on the final year of his deal and will garner some limited interest. Similar sentiment applies to Gregory Soto.
- Catcher Gary Sánchez is likely on the move again, assuming the Orioles sell.
- Ramón Laureano has a club option for next season and is having a good enough year that he’s an obvious candidate to be moved.
- Would the Orioles deal Ryan O’Hearn and/or Cedric Mullins instead of trying to keep them around? Both are free agents after the season. O’Hearn is having a good season, hitting .294/.382/.472 with 11 homers. Mullins is a career Oriole who went through so many of the bad times, showing up every day and playing hard. He isn’t having a very good season here in 2025 anyway, so it might feel unnecessary to trade him.
Simply, an Orioles sale this season puts a few mildly interesting names into the mix, but doesn’t give us a boatload of big names entering the trade rumor mill.
