The Baltimore Orioles may find themselves in a very different position at this year’s trade deadline than where they were last year, but their overall objective is the same. The ultimate goal is to surround the young core with pieces that will support a run of contention, even if it means saying good-bye to short-term assets in the process.
So far, the club’s process has been somewhat of a mixed bag, and a deal from last year’s deadline stands out as a clear failure that continues to haunt the club. When Baltimore acquired lefty starter Trevor Rogers for outfielder Kyle Stowers and third baseman Connor Norby, they thought they were swapping some of their excess position player talent on the margins for a 27-year-old pitcher who was on the upswing and could help the rotation grow.
Instead, Rogers imploded down the stretch, logging just 19 innings with a 7.11 ERA before an injury and a litany of setbacks prematurely ended his season and delayed the start of his 2025 campaign by several months. Meanwhile, Kyle Stowers has blossomed in Miami, earning an All-Star nod and torched the O’s with a three-homer performance in the final game before the All-Star break.
The Orioles need to avoid further mistakes at the 2025 trade deadline if they hope to maximize their young core
The idea behind swapping Stowers for Rogers was to shift a now-27-year-old asset that was seen as a surplus for another 27-year-old who filled a greater need, at least on paper. Things have not quite worked out as planned, though Rogers’ hot streak to start his season has slowly begun to shift that narrative.
Now, as the club finds itself in the position of selling rather than buying at the trade deadline, it must tread carefully to ensure they do not squander valuable assets yet again. The sell-off will likely include not only impending free agents such as Cedric Mullins, but also controllable ones such as Felix Bautista.
This is where the Orioles need to make sure the missteps of the past, exemplified by the Stowers deal, are not repeated. When it comes to their best trade chips, they need to ensure they receive maximum value in return.
If they continue to fail to leverage their controllable yet extraneous assets effectively, they’ll quickly find that the core they have worked so hard to build will wither away and a golden opportunity will be wasted.
For Mike Elias and company, they need to do much better this deadline than in years past, and if they fail, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a regime change sooner rather than later in Baltimore.
