The Orioles have six days left to find new homes for their most enticing trade chips.
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
Hey, the Orioles won a game! Miracles really do happen. The Birds white-knuckled their way through a 4-3 win in Cleveland to avoid a four-game sweep, finishing with a 2-5 road trip to start the second half. Check out Andrea SK’s recap of the action and take advantage of the increasingly rare opportunity to vote in a Most Birdland Player poll.
Even on a day in which they won, the Orioles’ season took another sour turn. Félix Bautista went on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder discomfort, becoming the 15th player — and ninth pitcher — currently on the Orioles’ IL. This 2025 season is almost comically cruel. What did the Orioles ever do to anger the baseball gods like this?
The loss of Bautista, possibly for a lengthy stint, leaves the bullpen in shambles, but it doesn’t figure to change Mike Elias’s approach at the July 31 trade deadline. Veteran relievers Seranthony Domínguez, Gregory Soto, and Andrew Kittredge are on the trade block, and any or all of them could be dealt. And it’s not just the bullpen that could be revamped soon. Every Orioles pending free agent is more than available for interested suitors, including Charlie Morton, Zach Eflin, Cedric Mullins, and especially All-Star Ryan O’Hearn, who seems the most likely O’s player to be dealt in the next six days.
The trade market around MLB is only just beginning to heat up. The Mariners and Diamondbacks swung the first significant deal last night, with Arizona sending first baseman Josh Naylor for the Mariners’ #13 and #16 prospects (as ranked by MLB Pipeline), Brandyn Garcia and Ashton Izzi. That likely takes the M’s off the board as a possible suitor for O’Hearn, a fellow lefty-hitting 1B/DH. But there are plenty more contenders out there who could use a rental player like O’Hearn, or any of the Orioles’ other trade chips.
We could see a flurry of deals come together for the Birds. Whether that happens in the next few days, or not until the very last moments on July 31, remains to be seen. But there should, and likely will, be some significant roster turnover for the O’s by this time next week.
Links
What kind of a job has Mike Elias done for the Orioles? | MAILBAG – BaltimoreBaseball.com
I know a lot of grumpy Camden Chat commenters who would be happy to offer their thoughts about this question.
Jon Meoli: The Orioles can win the MLB trade deadline. Here’s how. – The Baltimore Banner
I’m not optimistic that the Orioles’ trade-deadline spree will yield any particularly great prospects, but Meoli offers some ideas at how the O’s can maximize their return.
O’s bullpen steps up in first big test after Bautista (shoulder) lands on IL – MLB.com
The Birds’ bullpen held on yesterday in large part thanks to Domínguez and Soto, both of whom might be traded in a few days. I’m struggling to picture the Orioles’ late-inning relief options if that happens. Corbin Martin and Colin Selby?
Orioles sign Slater de Brun – School of Roch
After getting a big overslot deal from the Orioles, “Lil Slayyy” now has an extra $4 million to pursue his side hustle as a country music singer.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Three former Orioles have July 25 birthdays: right-hander Doug Drabek (63) and the late left-hander Mickey Scott (b. 1947, d. 2011) and first baseman Whitey Lockman (b. 1926, d. 2009).
On this date in 1999, O’s slugger Albert Belle hit three home runs to almost singlehandedly defeat the Angels, 8-7, at Camden Yards. Belle hit a two-run shot in the first, and with the Orioles trailing 7-3 in the seventh, he blasted a three-run dinger to make it a one-run game. With the Birds down to their last out in the ninth, he tied the game with a solo shot. Belle had a chance to win it in the 11th, but was hit by a pitch, after which he refused to take his base for a solid five minutes. He eventually did, and Cal Ripken delivered a walkoff single.
And on this day in 2019, in another crazy game against the Angels, outfielder Stevie Wilkerson became the first position player in O’s history to earn a save. In a 16-inning marathon in L.A. that ended at 4:30 in the morning Eastern time, Wilkerson entered with a 10-8 lead in the bottom of the 16th and retired all three Angels batters he faced, including Albert Pujols on a game-ending flyout.
Random Orioles game of the day
On July 25, 1979, the Orioles lost to the Mariners, 5-4, at Memorial Stadium. The O’s carried a 3-2 lead into the late innings, thanks to a three-run third in which Al Bumbry drove in a pair on a single and scored on a wild pitch, but relievers Sammy Stewart and Tippy Martinez coughed up three in the seventh to squander it. Even after the loss, the Orioles were an outstanding 66-33, four games ahead in the AL East and on their way to a 102-win season.