Coming up next
The trade deadline, potential prospect debuts and the second half of season
The run the Orioles embarked on before the All-Star break turned what some expected to be another losing campaign into one of excitement, with a 46-46 record and a path toward more competitive baseball on the horizon.
Baltimore is 30-21 since May 21, the day then-top prospect Adley Rutschman made his major league debut at Camden Yards. He’s expected to be the first of several high-level prospects to join the Orioles this season and beyond but there are questions about the trade deadline and whether the team’s winning ways can be carried through the rest of the summer.
Before the Orioles return from the All-Star break, beat reporters Nathan Ruiz and Andy Kostka and editor Tim Schwartz give their expert opinions about how Baltimore should approach the trade deadline, the team’s most important development so far and which prospect they’re most excited to see debut this summer.
Should the Orioles be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline?
Ruiz: There’s no reason they can’t be both, though this upcoming week, with seven games against the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in the final homestand before the deadline, will go a long way in determining how much they lean in either direction. No matter what happens, this team has established it can contend this year and certainly in 2023. If executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias can find deals that add to next year’s club, such an outcome should be welcomed after years of Baltimore’s player-for-player trades returning young prospects instead of major leaguers.
Kostka: A 10-game winning streak was a much-needed reprieve for many Orioles fans who have endured the mounting losses of rebuilding seasons, and while it pushed Baltimore within reach of a wild-card position, it likely won’t change the calculus of the front office. This season was never meant to be one for competing. That time is close — perhaps as close as next year — but Elias isn’t one to skip steps.
So, despite a .500 record at the All-Star break — a record that leaves the team 3 ½ games out of the final wild-card spot — the Orioles will be sellers once again. But maybe this is the last season of doing so for quite a while.
Elias alluded to it before the MLB draft, even. The surge toward competitiveness was encouraging, but it isn’t the be-all, end-all.
Sellers. Yes, the Orioles have been one of the biggest surprises in baseball, and while it’s not unreasonable to think this level of play is sustainable, building for the future is still the right move. First baseman Trey Mancini might command a quality prospect, and they have some bullpen arms that any contender would be happy to add. This was never the year they planned to compete, and I don’t see Elias changing his strategy and missing an opportunity to add more young talent to fight for the third wildcard spot or a .500 record. Stay the course and look to 2023 and beyond.