The Orioles and Rays lined up a mid-July trade on Thursday morning. Baltimore sent setup man Bryan Baker to Tampa Bay for the 37th pick in the draft. That was spurred by the calendar — with the draft on Sunday, the O’s didn’t have time to waste to finalize the deal — but could be the first in a few bullpen trades for Baltimore.
SNY’s Andy Martino writes that rival teams do not expect the Orioles to trade star closer Félix Bautista. The big righty is cheaply controllable via arbitration for the next two seasons. Baker was also controllable, but dealing Bautista would be a much more significant hit to the 2026 bullpen. Bautista’s command was wobbly early in the season as he returned from Tommy John surgery. He has been utterly dominant over the past six weeks, allowing only one run with 24 strikeouts and six walks in 15 innings dating back to the beginning of June.
Even if the Orioles hold Bautista, they have a few relievers who should be available. Martino suggested the O’s will soon seriously consider offers on righties Andrew Kittredge and Seranthony Domínguez and on southpaw Gregory Soto. All three are short-term bullpen pieces. The Orioles remain eight games under .500 despite sweeping a doubleheader against the Mets on Thursday. Fielding offers on rental and/or veteran relievers makes sense.
Seranthony Domínguez ($8MM salary, impending free agent)
Baltimore acquired Domínguez from the Phillies at last summer’s deadline. While the 6’1″ righty had been Philadelphia’s closer earlier in his career, he’d fallen out of favor because of scattershot control. Domínguez struggled to keep the ball in the park after the trade, yet the Orioles exercised an $8MM option to keep him.
That has proven to be a smart decision. The 30-year-old has worked to a 3.13 earned run average through 37 1/3 innings. He has punched out a third of opposing hitters. His 15% swinging strike rate is a top 30 mark in MLB (minimum 30 innings). The command is still a concern — he has walked more than 14% of batters faced — but he has huge stuff. Domínguez averages nearly 98 MPH on his heater and misses bats with both his breaking ball and a splitter. He has been locked in over the past few weeks. Since June 1, he has fired 16 innings with three runs (one earned) while striking out 25 against eight walks.
Gregory Soto ($5.35MM salary, impending free agent)
Like Domínguez, Soto landed with the Orioles in a trade from Philadelphia at last summer’s deadline. The 30-year-old southpaw is a two-time All-Star from his early days as Detroit’s closer. He didn’t meet expectations after the Phils acquired him going into 2023. Soto has tantalized with big stuff, but the results haven’t really matched in recent seasons.
Soto is amidst his best year since Detroit traded him. He has provided the O’s with 33 1/3 innings of 3.78 ERA ball. Soto has struck out 28% of opponents against a slightly elevated 10.4% walk percentage. He has only allowed five runs since the beginning of June, three of which came in one rough appearance against Texas on July 1. A lefty with a 97 MPH fastball who is having a solid season is going to intrigue plenty of contenders.
Andrew Kittredge ($9MM salary, $9MM club option with $1MM buyout for 2026)
Baltimore added the 35-year-old Kittredge on a $10MM free agent deal. His organizational tenure got off to a rough start. Kittredge injured his left knee and required Spring Training debridement surgery. That kept him from making his team debut until May 21. Kittredge has pitched well, posting a 3.57 ERA with a slightly above-average 23.7% strikeout rate. He has only walked 6.5% of opponents.
Kittredge doesn’t light up radar guns the way that Domínguez and Soto can. His fastball sits in the 94-95 MPH range; he leans as frequently on a high-80s slider. Kittredge has nevertheless been a quality leverage piece when healthy. He was an All-Star with the Rays in 2021. After undergoing Tommy John surgery the next year, he returned to toss 70 2/3 innings of 2.80 ERA ball for the Cardinals last season. Kittredge led the National League with 37 holds a year ago. There shouldn’t be any doubt regarding his ability to handle important innings. The club option means the O’s could retain him into next season, but they may prefer to shop him rather than banking on his age-36 campaign.
My O’s aren’t exactly loaded with starting pitching depth or catcher depth. There has been inconsistency for a lot of the position players not to mention a ton of injuries. They’ve been performing way better overall lately but the early hole they dug may be too deep to get out of. I imagine we take it all the way up to as close as the trade deadline as we can while listening for any intriguing offers.
@scruffmcbruff Nice job taking the DH from the Mets today!
Mets should be going after Kittredge and Dominguez but Stearns will instead add a bunch of guys with 10 big league appearances with ERA’s north of 8 and DFA them after one appearance then do it all over again.
Dominguez would fit nicely in that Mets pen. As would anyone else who has an arm
This year isn’t happening. There’s no pitching to take us anywhere in the end. However I do believe the team is going to play over .500 ball for the rest of the way. It isn’t a bad squad even if we parcel out rentals.
Not only does the pitching not exist this year, but it’s likely not to exist next year either unless Elias gets the green light (or after having gotten the green light, gets over his vanity project and pulls the trigger) and signs one or two top tier FA pitchers. Bradish likely won’t be back to top form until well into next season. Same with Wells. And who knows about G-Rod. There are two big holes to plug in the rotation, especially with Eflin’s impending trade or FA walk.
No team has enough catching depth to withstand the amount of injuries to catchers that the Orioles have had! They HAD depth but then that depth got injured too.
I don’t understand why they are so resistant to bringing up Basallo.
The Orioles are uniquely positioned right now because they already have a solid, arguably well above average core, the good majority of which is controlled for multiple seasons moving forward. They have had an abysmal start to the season, where a multitude of problems seem to have converged at the same time – lack of obtaining a frontline starter, the most injured players in the league are offensive slumping with defensive miscues and base running gaffes, likely due to pressing and being in an unfamiliar position of playing so horribly. The majority of players are younger guys who were used to winning in the minors and for the last two seasons at the major league level. They very obviously still have the opportunity to, and undoubtedly possess the ability to, turn the season around and make a very interesting run. The likelihood may be slim but the possibility does exist.
So naturally, with such a roster, they would not be rebuilding – more like retooling, and mostly from a pitching standpoint. The position player slots are filled for next year already (barring a big trade). The infield is locked with Westburg at 3B, Henderson at SS, Holliday at 2B and several options at 1B/DH and C in Adley, Basallo, Mayo, Mountcastle. The outfield is also potentially set with Cowser in LF, Bradfield in CF and O’Niell in RF. I’d argue that they should exercise the option on Laureano and have him in the mix as well. So they really have a very solid position player roster for next season already. Pitching wise, Greyson, Bradish and Wells should be back at full strength. You have Rodgers and Kremer as well. There are other options in guys like B Young and Povich. They have key pieces in Cano and Bautista in the bullpen. I’d think they would exercise the option on Kittredge if he’s not traded. So they can obviously improve and add, at the very least, a legitimate frontline starter, ideally two. That could slide guys from the rotation competition into the bullpen. Maybe they go after a power bat too. Other than that, they are very well positioned for next season.
Add to that, they now have 7 picks out of the first 100 and close to 20 million in their draft pool funds. That is huge for creating even more depth and minor league system improvement. Ideally they use trades of impending free agents at this deadline to augment their system even more, or potentially adding a piece with next season in mind. They have OHearn, Mullins, Eflin, Sugano, G Soto and Dominguez as outgoing free agents. I could be missing someone too, so it isn’t an exhaustive list. They could also be willing to eat salary or take back a bad contract in order to maximize the return. Bottom line is that they are in a position to make something very impactful out of such a horrific beginning to this season, impacting not just next season but seasons in the future as well.
Sorry for some of the typos – wrote this from my phone and it’s not allowing me back into my comment to edit, the edit option is not there. So, apologies for any you may catch!
I’m not penciling in Bradfield as the starting CF yet. He’s slashing .250 in AA with little to no pop. Kjerstad still has DH potential to me. Beavers will also factor in the mix.
Laureano absolutely needs to be brought back. Oneill can’t be counted on to stay healthy.
I’m not sure how I forgot Heston. I only included Oneil because we know he’s not going to opt out at this point, so he’s on the roster for the next two seasons unless we trade – which would probably mean eating a lot of that money, if there is any interest.
I figure they may have to part with some talent (Beavers etc) to get pitching. To be clear, I am in absolutely no way saying that just Beavers would return impact pitching – it would require a package, obviously.
They are definitely not in as bad of shape as certain coverage makes them out to be. They definitely have a contending roster.
Some good points, but brevity is not your friend.
My goal was to be thorough, not concise! I’m sure I missed some points also! Sometimes it helps being proactively clear on things before certain people come for you on here in their replies!
Excellent, thorough post. And very well-stated points.
You can add fat boy Akin to the list!
Not sure what his being fat has to do with the topic at hand, but I agree. He gives me heartburn everytime he steps on the hill.
This is a team that won the most games in the AL for 2 years and is playing at a 667 clip since June 1. Yes they need to decide whether they are going to make a run at a WC or not, but this is far from a rebuild or burn it down situation.
I don’t think people fully appreciate the impact of the early season injuries to Henderson, Westburg, Cowser, O’Neil, Mountcastle and now Adley. Not to mention the pitching injuries they came into the season with and then losing Rodriquez and Suarez.
This leaves Elias with some really tough decisions.
A large number of people either forget that 2 years period, or choose to ignore or dismiss it.
They are definitely playing some inspired ball lately. I don’t necessarily think that the Baker trade was foreshadowing their set approach for the deadline as much as it was to gain the draft pool and pick. I think Elias will probably hold out until a week after the break or so to determine a concrete path for the deadline.
tuck – why not take it back to May 30 and say 23-14?
Some of it is schedule, but some of this is a bit above .500 team (per my preseason expectations, not how they were playing in April and May) finally having things go their way and playing a bit better than expected through the stretch.
Swept CWS (3-0) – they’d better
Swept SEA (3-0) – this was impressive – only gave up 6 runs
Lost to A’s (1-2) – bad
Lost to DET (1-2) – to be expected
Swept LAA (3-0) – good against a meh team
Lost to TBR (1-2) – probably could have gone either way (they blew that one game)
Lost to NYY (1-2) – to be expected
Lost to TEX (1-2) – one loss could easily have gone the other way
Won vs TBR (2-1) – good
Lost to TEX (1-2) – not as good
Swept ATL (3-0) – caught them at a bad time, which was great
Won vs NYM (2-1) – impressive
Looking back at that I would have expected say 20-17 in that stretch. They got 3 additional wins and that’s with absolutely blowing that 12-8 loss in Tampa included….that was a game where they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Part of this is FINALLY hitting with RISP as they’ve been one of the best in baseball with RISP over that stretch. Now their RISP performance has caught up with their overall on the season. Plus they are hitting LHP a little better. Not great, but better.
Some of it is health as you said. I don’t think you can count on Rodriguez as a starter TBH any longer, nor get the 2 top starters at the deadline that they could over the winter. Also, bullpen is fried. Sell at the deadline (except Bautista, sign multi-year). Get 2 top-level starters, Bradish comes back, Rodriguez, Wells, Suarez to pen plus others, Kremer is a 4/5, pitching staff is miles better next year.
Hitting just needs redirection. Already seen what they can do but many seem to be going in the wrong direction. Need work on patience, confidence, and approach – total hackfest at times.
All relievers except Bautista should be trade considerations. Bautista should be signed to a multi year deal. There is one thing the Orioles can do and that’s fill a bullpen.
Rodriguez cannot handle the strain of being a SP and would translate to another good reliever. Wells with a personal high of 110 IP in a season but with some stuff is another. The Orioles need to obtain 2+ top tier starters this winter in addition to returning Bradish, plus Kremer as a 4/5.
The young talent is there with Henderson, Holliday, Westburg, Cowser, Rutschman. See what Basallo, Beavers, Bradfield have. Change in approach/instruction is needed as most of the offense has regressed. They have or can obtain other complementary pieces (Laureano, etc) to fill it out. The offense is finally playing up to form only lately.
They gave away too many games early in 2025 to be in it. That’s the danger of starting slowly. They never were serious in the offseason about acquiring what pitching it needed to contend anyway. Don’t make that mistake again.
For whatever reason, the Orioles seem incapable or simply unwilling to extend any of their core, and once the TD passes and FO’s plate is cleared, they should pivot to that and make it their number one priority. They MUST extend a few of those guys — be it Gunnar, Cowser, Westburg, Adley.
It’s $ and unfortunately the Rubenstein group hasn’t yet shown it is tremendously different with long term commitments from Angelos. I don’t think they can extend the whole young core – outside of the Yankees and Dodgers not sure too many teams can – but a couple of them they will need to in order to build a foundation for say, 2028-2033. Ideally, extend the ones who you don’t have another prospect ready to go in 2028.
The O’s can win when they get good starting pitching. Charlie Morton has won the O’s some baseball games. In his seven starts since June 1st, he is 4-0 with a 2.74 ERA over 36.1 innings. 43 K’s to 12 BB while only allowing one home run.
Dean Kremer also turned it around. He got bombed in March / April but went 5-3, posting a 3.00 ERA over 66.1 innings in May / June – his K/BB was far improved in June. He could be good for the Orioles down the stretch.
Unfortunately, Zach Eflin and Tommy Sugar had awful month’s, both were likely to be traded. Both could be good buy low candidates, but their June numbers and the money on their deals likely makes both near negative value on the trade market.
Brandon Young had a good start last time out for the O’s, promising development for ’26, but they still need a lot of help in the SP department.
Need to keep chipping away at wild card race and get within 4 games out by late July. Otherwise, sell off bullpen except Félix and other position players on expiring contacts. Sad to say with so much optimism going into season, but injuries were team’s downfall. O’Nieil has been major disappointment with his injury history and lack of production. Wish we could unload him somehow. Laureano much better and should be a keeper with a reasonable contract extension in 2026. Still hopeful, but Elias has big decisions to make. Let’s lock up the core long term.