The Orioles traded six veteran players in less than 24 hours, including Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, and Ramón Laureano. Now what?
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
So. That happened.
The Orioles’ deadline-day wheeling and dealing yesterday was certainly not for the faint of heart. In a span of less than 24 hours, the Birds overhauled nearly a quarter of their roster, pulling off five trades that sent six veteran players to playoff contenders.
The O’s traded nearly every player we expected them to, along with a few that we didn’t. Pending free agents Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, and Charlie Morton were all sent packing. So too were Ramón Urías, who was under team control for next year, and Ramón Laureano and Andrew Kittredge, who each had a team option for 2026.
That’s in addition to the three trades the Orioles made before deadline day, which sent relievers Bryan Baker, Gregory Soto, and Seranthony Domínguez to new homes. If it’s enough to make your head spin, no one could blame you. Check out Camden Chat’s handy-dandy trade tracker for a complete recap of all the deals this month.
The Orioles’ selling spree brought a whopping 16 new prospects of various quality into the Orioles’ organization. Of those, 11 were pitchers, as if Mike Elias were making a pointed response to critics who say the organization is too position player-heavy. None of the acquisitions are top-100 MLB prospects, which isn’t surprising given that the Orioles’ trade chips weren’t elite players, but Elias must be hoping the sheer quantity of players will result in at least a few of them panning out as eventual contributors.
It might be a while before we find out, as none of the Orioles’ trade acquisitions are major league ready just yet (unless you include 34-year-old journeyman lefty Dietrich Enns, whom the Birds acquired in a cash deal with the Tigers). That’s led to some consternation from O’s fans, who expected the Birds’ trade deadline sell-off to net the team a few possible contributors for the remainder of 2025 and certainly 2026.
Elias’s aim, it seems, was to replenish the organization with as many intriguing prospects as he could reasonably get, even if they’re not immediately helpful to the big league club. That strategy could pay off down the road. For the short term, though, the Orioles have quite a bit of roster restructuring to do if they’re going to compete for the playoffs next season, as Elias has stated as a goal. For one thing, they’ll need to rebuild basically their entire bullpen aside from Félix Bautista (and even his health is a question mark). They’ll need to bolster their starting rotation and add some key offensive help. Elias will have the opportunity to do so during the offseason, but it will require him to be more aggressive — and make better decisions — than he did last winter.
Meanwhile, the rest of this season is going to be interesting, to say the least. The O’s have to promptly replace six players on their 26-man roster, which they began last night by recalling Yaramil Hiraldo for a bullpen spot and Jeremiah Jackson as the utility infielder. Most excitingly, they’ve seemingly cleared a path for both Dylan Beavers and Samuel Basallo to get auditions in the majors, though the former might arrive much sooner than the latter.
No matter how you feel about the trades and whether the Orioles are going in the right direction, it’s tough to say goodbye to a lot of the players whose O’s careers have just ended. Thank you, Ryan O’Hearn, for your amazing transformation from waiver-wire fodder to legitimate slugger in three seasons with the Orioles. Thank you, Ramón Urías, for being a true team player and one of the most reliable utility guys in the game. Thank you, Ramón Laureano, for your breakout 2025 performance and your hard-nosed attitude. Thank you, Charlie Morton, for working hard to save your season after fans were calling for your head in April. Thank you, Andrew Kittredge, for, uh, your glorious beard. (I don’t know a lot about Andrew Kittredge.)
And thank you most of all to Cedric Mullins, the longest tenured Oriole, for eight years of dutiful service that included no shortage of jaw-dropping highlights. The 30-30 season. Becoming just the third Oriole in the 100 HR, 100 SB club. And oh, the jaw-dropping catches. Like this flying dive in Fenway. And this sprawling play. And this leap at the wall. This game-saving slide in Pittsburgh. This unforgettable home run robbery in Seattle. Or this unbelievable Spiderman play, maybe his best catch ever, in his final game as an Oriole.
We’re going to miss you, Cedric. Best of luck to you, and all the other traded Orioles, as you head toward the postseason with your new clubs. Back here in Birdland, things are going to feel a lot different from now on.
Links
All the trade news that’s fit to print.
Making sense of a massive Orioles trade deadline sell-off – The Baltimore Banner
Padres double dip, adding Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Laureano from Orioles: Trade grade – The Athletic
Orioles trade grades: How experts evaluate deadline sale – The Baltimore Sun
Orioles: Ryan O’Hearn made an impact in a short time with Baltimore – The Baltimore Banner
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! And a very happy 40th birthday to Adam Jones, the five-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glover, and all-around Orioles fan favorite. Jones will be inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame on Aug. 9, complete with an Adam Jones HOF bobblehead giveaway at Camden Yards. Be there or be square.
Other former Orioles born on Aug. 1 include infielder Tony Muser (78) and right-handers Travis Driskill (54) and the late George Bamberger (b. 1923, d. 2004).
Lots of stuff has happened on this day in Orioles history. In 1993, Glenn Davis — already on the disabled list with a broken jaw — was hit a Jeffrey Hammonds foul ball in the dugout and knocked unconscious. That sentence is the perfect summation of Davis’s ill-fated O’s career.
On this date in 2005, in a particularly regrettable day, Rafael Palmeiro received a 10-game suspension from MLB after testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug stanozolol. The suspension came just weeks after Palmeiro had collected his 3,000th career hit, and essentially ended his MLB career in the ugliest way possible, dashing his hopes of making the Hall of Fame.
The Orioles have also made a bunch of trades on this date in history. In 2016, they reacquired Steve Pearce from the Rays for minor league catcher Jonah Heim, a trade that backfired when Pearce almost immediately got injured and Heim developed into an All-Star (after being traded a few more times).
In 2022, the O’s parted ways with the popular Trey Mancini, sending the homegrown Oriole to Houston in a three-team trade that netted Chayce McDermott and Seth Johnson. Mancini’s production cratered after the trade but he got to win a World Series with the Astros.
And in 2023, the Orioles, needing a reliable starting pitcher for the stretch run, instead acquired Jack Flaherty from the Cardinals. Not Elias’s finest move. Flaherty stumbled to a 6.75 ERA in nine games for the Orioles and got bumped to the bullpen, though he has since revived his career elsewhere.