The Orioles’ trade for starting pitcher Shane Baz is drawing a lot of reaction from those inside baseball and those who cover it. Here is a sample:
Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander via MLB.com:
“That’s not necessarily the direction we were looking to go, because of how highly we think of Shane. But we had teams coming after him aggressively, and there is a point where, if a certain threshold is reached, you can’t help but have to consider it. Love the person, love the human and someone that we feel very, very strongly [that] the best is right in front of him.I think that Baltimore agrees, and that speaks to why the transaction [came in] at the acquisition price that it did. It’s in your division, it’s in front of you and we think Shane is about to take a really big step forward, and that part is difficult. But just the return, we were able to get what we thought was a premium because we were willing to be patient and accept a proposal from them that was focused on players a lot further away from their major league club. Those are the kind of things that … they’re difficult, but we’ve got to do them.”
“The Orioles just swung their biggest and best move since they traded for Corbin Burnes after the 2023 season. They used the same playbook for this trade: leveraging their prospect surplus to acquire a top-end starter for the upcoming season. Unlike Burnes, Baz comes to Baltimore with three years of team control remaining, at least under the current collective bargaining agreement, and Baz could be the Orioles’ No. 1 starter over that span.
Baz’s biggest issue in 2025, by far, was Steinbrenner Field: He gave up 18 of his 26 homers allowed while playing at “home” in that homer-friendly minor-league ballpark. He also gave up an improbable six homers on sliders, even though he threw only 82 sliders all season, which evokes the old saw about telling the doctor, “It hurts when I do this,” so the doctor says, “Well, don’t do that!” Get Baz out of Tampa, junk the slider or change it to a different style, and he’ll probably shave a run off his ERA right there.
In 2025, Baz averaged 97 mph on his four-seamer with some riding life, pitching with it primarily at the top of the zone, while showing a plus curveball and average cutter. He moved to a kick-change over the summer, away from a changeup that was almost dead straight, and it looks like it will become at least a 55 pitch (on the 20-80 scouting scale) if the command improves over time. He’s on the upswing, for sure, and after years of injuries, including a torn UCL that led to Tommy John surgery, he has made 55 starts in a row over two years. I’m all in.
The Orioles’ top three starters now are Baz, Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers, and their rotation now at least has the upside to be among the best in baseball, assuming all three are healthy and the adjustments the Orioles made with Rogers hold up over a full year.”
“Orioles fans have had “Frontline Starter” on their Christmas list since the departure of Corbin Burnes, and though Friday’s acquisition of Shane Baz is perhaps the gift equivalent of asking for a Ferrari and getting an Acura, it adds a proven element to the middle of an Orioles rotation that still feels like it will be anchored by Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers.
[Baz has] the stuff of a good team’s third or fourth starter, with on-field results to this point sliding him more toward the no. 4 designation. Pitching with this mix for a second big league season, and for an org that has a positive track record of pitching development — the Rays do too, of course, but so do the Marlins and the yet Orioles coaxed more out of Trevor Rogers — might reveal slightly better results. I think we can reasonably say that the Orioles now have three impact or playoff-caliber starters in Bradish, Rogers, and Baz, and then a deep group of backend types behind them.
Baz is entering his first season of arbitration and RosterResource has his projected salary figure at $3.1 million. Even if he simply repeats his 2025 output, that’s a huge surplus value boon for the Orioles, who’ll be paying $3 million for a pitcher who would make roughly $20-25 million on the open market. That, plus the three seasons of team control remaining before Baz hits free agency after the 2028 campaign, helps explain why the trade return here was so massive.”
J.J. Cooper, Baseball America:
“Righthander Michael Forret, who ranked eighth in the Orioles’ system, was the headliner in the deal. The Rays also acquired outfielder Slater de Brun (No. 12), catcher Caden Bodine (No. 16) and outfielder Austin Overn (No. 17).
Forret has five pitches with at least average potential, topped by a plus changeup and a plus sweeper. His low-90s four-seam fastball and sinker are solid because of his command, but his “deathball” curve and sweeper dominate hitters.
De Brun was a supplemental first-round pick in 2025, and his $4 million signing bonus was tied for the 20th largest in the class. He was viewed as the top prep outfielder in the 2025 draft, with excellent speed, defense and hitting ability. He is a plus-plus runner who should be a plus defender in center with an above-average arm, which are all attributes the Rays covet.
Bodine was considered one of the best receivers in the 2025 draft, and he’s a plus hitter with exceptional bat-to-ball skills. He’s extremely difficult to strike out and almost never whiffed on pitches in the zone in his final year at Coastal Carolina with a 94% in-zone contact rate. Bodine’s power and arm strength are his two big concerns.
Overn was a football-baseball player at Southern California early in his college career before focusing purely on baseball beginning in 2024. As such, he’s behind his college peers developmentally, but his excellent athleticism stands out. He’s a plus-plus runner and plus-plus center field defender.”
Ken Rosenthal on Foul Territory:
“We’ve all crushed the Orioles for years, but this offseason has been a dramatic departure for them. And it’s not just Alonso, it’s not just Taylor Ward or Ryan Helsley, now it’s Shane Baz, and they’ve added Andrew Kittredge and others as well. This has been the most aggressive we have seen Mike Elias, and they are probably not done yet. I would not be surprised if they went out and maybe signed or traded for another starting pitcher. Right now, they’re looking much better. Trevor Rogers of course emerged last season as a potential ace. Kyle Bradish, now a year removed from the surgery, he will be better positioned to make a significant contribution. And Baz, as you mentioned, at least a [No. 3 starter], maybe even better. … I see them wanting to show that last year is a year that they learned from in terms of the front office. A year that they decided, OK, what we did in the offseason of ’24 – ’25 wasn’t nearly good enough. This is a much more representative, aggressive team we’re seeing. … They’re interesting right now and I don’t expect that they’re done yet.”
“Qualified starters who ranked among the top 20 in both strikeout rate and groundball rate last season:
Paul Skenes
Garrett Crochet
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Hunter Brown
Logan Webb
Sonny Gray
Gavin Williams
Shane Baz”