Even as Spring Training begins to get underway, the Orioles are continuing to explore trade possibilities involving Coby Mayo and Ryan Mountcastle, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
That news comes in spite of recent news that second baseman Jackson Holliday has undergone hamate surgery, which is expected to sideline him for the start of the season. That news creates a path for the Orioles to roster both Mayo and Mountcastle by moving Jordan Westburg to second base in Holliday’s absence and playing Mayo at the hot corner, where he’s gotten most of his reps throughout his career. Of course, that’s a less than ideal solution given that Mayo’s lackluster defense at third base is what prompted the club to explore the option of using him in a first base/DH role in the first place. Whether Mayo ultimately winds up playing third on Opening Day or not, however, the Orioles will struggle to find roles for both Mountcastle and Mayo throughout the year given the presence of Pete Alonso at first base, Taylor Ward in left field, and the club’s desire to utilize Samuel Basallo at DH when he’s not backing up Adley Rutschman behind the plate.
Rosenthal notes that Mayo would have more value than Mountcastle on the trade market, and that’s certainly the case. Mayo is a former top prospect who has not yet broken through at the big league level, but he posted a decent 95 wRC+ in 85 games last year, including a 109 wRC+ after the All-Star break. Mayo only just celebrated his 24th birthday in December, has six seasons of team control remaining, and is still making the league minimum salary. That should make him a very attractive potential option for clubs interested in adding some right-handed pop in a corner, though the Orioles would surely be looking for a significant return for such a well-regarded young player.
Mountcastle, on the other hand, shouldn’t cost much in trade at all. The six-year MLB veteran will celebrate his 29th birthday later this week, and while he was a career .265/.316/.450 (111 wRC+) hitter entering last year, an injury-marred 2025 campaign left him with an 81 wRC+ in just 89 games last year. He avoided being non-tendered by the Orioles somewhat surprisingly this past winter and is now set to play on a one-year deal that guarantees him $6.787MM and comes with a $7.5MM club option for the 2027 season. That club option creates some upside for an acquiring club, as it would allow them to retain Mountcastle next year if he bounces back to his career norms. Even so, Mountcastle was a below replacement level player last year and is making a salary that’s hardly insignificant. With players like Ty France and Rhys Hoskins still available in free agency for nothing but money, it would be a surprise to see a team give up significant trade capital in order to acquire Mountcastle.
That doesn’t mean there’s zero room for a deal to be made, of course. Perhaps a team like the Guardians, Rangers, or Cubs could benefit from adding some right-handed pop to their first base/DH mix. Alternatively, it’s not hard to imagine a team like the Nationals, Rockies, or White Sox with space to fill on their roster and low expectations for 2026 seeing Mountcastle as an intriguing bounceback candidate who they could give significant runway to in hopes of helping him rebuild value and flipping him either at this summer’s trade deadline or next offseason. Mayo could surely fit all of those teams as well, of course, though at a much higher asking price and with plenty of additional possible suitors. Teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Pirates, and Marlins could all be feasible longer-term fits for Mayo, particularly if they believe him to be capable of handling third base.
Mountcastle I understand more, though at the same time finding some playing time for mayo will be tricky as well with or without mountcastle around.
They should definitely trade Mayo. Hang on to Mountcastle for depth.
Get what you can for Mayo now.
Hang onto Mayo because Alonso’s near future is DH.
Not that near.
2027 or 2028 at the latest. He won’t survive this contract at 1B.
Depth where? Mountcastle is a 1B/DH only. They already tried him everywhere else. The key to his MLB success was always going to be his bat, and he absolutely wrecked AAA pitching. Everyone said he would be a mega star, but I wasn’t so hot on him. There was something in his numbers that people were overlooking. The guy doesn’t walk and he strikes out a lot. So those were two flags for me, but what I am speaking of is BABIP, he was in the .380’s for that, and that just isn’t sustainable in the majors.
I don’t understand why they gave him a contract, he is coming off his worst season with an injury and now he costs around $8 million. Why would you trade for him if you could possibly get him as a cut and sign him for the major league minimum?
Lolwut? His BABIP was only that high for his first…35 games. During which he also ran a 21.4K% and 7.9BB%, which are fantastic. So your weird cherry picking doesn’t even make sense. And no one “overlooks” K:BB anyway.
He also barely cracked any Top 100 prospect lists. Literally no evaluators ever said he would be a “mega star.” He’s exactly what one hopes to get out of his tools in a 36th overall pick.
he absolutely wrecked AAA pitching.
==================
No, he didn’t. He had a 130/24 K/W his first trip thru AAA. That’s really bad.
He had a slash of .312/.344/.527 for an OPS of .871 in his first season of AAA ball, which was also a full season where he raked 35 doubles and 25HR at age 22. That’s wrecking AAA pitching, and his career stat line at AAA is .304/.341/. 513.
Your entire post makes very little sense. His BABIP in 2019 in AAA was .370 for the entire season. With his BB/KO ratio, that was never going to be sustainable in the majors is my point. I am not cherry picking anything. He had a 4.3 BB% and a 23.5K%
Yes, the Orioles have always overlooked players that can’t play defense, or don’t walk at all, and strike out a lot in favor of power. Look at their prospects over the years and players they have acquired even to this day and you will see a huge trend of guys that don’t walk and strike out a lot with power potential. There were a couple of exceptions with Nick Markakis and Adley Rutschman.
And you must not pay attention to Baltimore area sports, but the entire media here was convinced this guy was going to be an amazing hitter. The reason why he was not a top prospect is because he had no position, until they finally resigned to sticking him at 1b/DH. “We don’t know where he’ll play, but the bat will play.” At that time I was telling people on forums like this one that he wouldn’t be anything more than a .250 ish hitter on the regular, on a good year he might hit .270, with 20-25HR potential, who wouldn’t walk and would strike out a lot. And this is the BEST I thought he could be. That’s not a terrible player, but not a must have bat at 1B/DH,
You expect to draft a SS that can’t field a lick, is allergic to walks, and strikes out a lot with your 36th overall pick?
True Dat
@roob Because they’re not getting anything for the overpaid Mountcastle
It wasn’t long ago that Mayo was untouchable.
They should send Mayo someplace like Socal burb. He’d go from untouchable to touched by an Angel
Elias – “Mountcastle is available!”
The league – *crickets*
Mountcastle seems like a great guy but he should not have been tendered a contract.
Pay down a couple and he will be useful to someone
Yeah, I didn’t get that, especially since that came after the Pete Alonso move. You already have Mayo, Basallo, and Alonso, and then you add a ANOTHER 1B who can only DH, which is where Alonso, Basallo, Ward, O’Neill, and Adley play on a day off from catching.
You can never have too many first basemen
It reminds me of the Pedro Alvarez days. How many DH/1b did we have on that squad?
Pedro Alvarez DH
Mark Trumbo was in RF
Trey Mancini was in LF
Chris Davis at 1b
Seth Smith was also LF/DH
It was like a softball lineup.
Collect 1b like Red So collect if
At least if you collect INF, they can usually play more than one position. 1B/DH doesn’t mean you’re versatile 🙂 Apparently the Orioles didn’t get the memo.
Don’t forget ancient Vlad Guerrero and Mark Reynolds….
Luke Scott, Robert Andino, Felix Pie, and Derrek Lee.
If the Red Sox can find a way to rid themselves of Yoshida’s contract, Mountcastle would fit in well as a RH DH option for Boston. He should be able to hit 25+ HRs playing in Fenway, upping his double totals as well.
I’m not sure if Baltimore would truly consider trading Mayo within their division, but if they will, he could be a great addition to Boston as well. This would give Boston the long term solution of Mayer, Durbin & Mayo as their 3 IFs of the future. If Casas can’t comeback from his injury, it’s much easier to find a 1st baseman than it is a player on the left side of the IF. They could really lock down their IF for the next 6-8 years if they acquire Mayo and he can live up to his expectations.
I serious doubt Mayo can play the IF, outside of 1b.
And I seriously doubt that Mountcastle is hitting 25 home runs anywhere.
How are you going to get rid of Yoshida’s contract? Pay all of it?
And what the Orioles want more than anything is to give a way richer division rival a ‘great addition’ and ‘long term solution’. Don’t bother sending anything back, unless you need to dump salary of course.
About 2 years too late on Mayo. Mounty only has value to a contender if there’s an injury this spring.
I think Mayo is gonna be just fine. He had a second half ops of .740 at age 23. He crushed minor league pitching, it takes some kids a bit longer to adapt to MLB.
@Pickles
I agree with everything you said. I was just implying that 2 years ago he had a ton of value. Could’ve been a headliner for a TOR or another acquisition. Now his value is much lower.
Yeah, after spending those years blocked by the likes of Ramon Urias.
Jojo romero and nootbar for mayo?
Yes, please do!! I’m a Cardinals fan. I would take Mountcastle as well.
How would they play nootbar? And mayos worth a lot more than a reliever. Mcgreevey or mathews, okay but they are not doing that
You apparently have a pretty inflated view of Mayo, a reliever seems about right imo
Maybe explore trading Adley now too while he still may bring back a decent return? Or are the O’s all in 2026 to win the Series?
O’s arent trading adley his prime looked so good
I guess the draft pick after he turns down the QO after the 2027 season will hafta do!
They are not trading him bc they don’t have a catcher. Basallo is a project.
How could his value get any lower than now ? Gotta keep him
Being a pessimist, I could see him getting injured again, batting 200/300/300 in 2026…Package Rutschman and Mountcastle and get a utility player, mid to back up grade catcher, and LH reliever…that’s my dream.
@Assumes, Your dream is to trade your catcher who as recently as 2 years ago was a face of the franchise? And you want to trade him for 2 bench pieces and a middle reliever? Hang onto Rutsch he could regain his form and be worth far more.
@patriot okay I have it worked out rutschman Mountcastle Kremer to Houston for y Diaz paredes and rp king
You have to get basallo as many ABs as possible, not just let him DH once in a while.
Mountcastle for Yoshida, cash and a minor league flier or two
Not saying I like this but it reminded me of when Boston and the Yankees traded DH’s after 85. Mike Easler, the original hit man for Don Baylor who designation or not was the actual hit man. It and the 85 trade of Eck for Buckner is why the Sox won the pennant in 86.
Yoshida produced more in 188 AB than Mountcastle did in 322 AB. Over the last 3 seasons Yoshida has a 109 OPS+ and Mountcastle a 105 OPS+. Yoshida and cash for Mountcastle is a possibility, but not a good trade for either team.
Yeah Boston has zero use for a backup 1B. They’re already scrambling to find Casas AB’s. But they may do it just to get off Yoshida’s money then DFA Mountcastle.
BTV
Mountcastle -$4.5 million
Mayo $8.5 million
BTV trade values aren’t a good thing to use on their own. (Not always the case though).
Astros
“BTV trade values aren’t a good thing to use on their own. ”
And why do you believe that you be the case?
Just look at the BTV boards. The values stack up, but the trades don’t. Sometimes, the value also doesn’t match up either.
What do you mean “stack up”?
Some trade values seem depressed whereas some seem inflated. What if I tell you Issac Paredes has less value than Jake Meyers.
In would ask you how you decide when you are wrong versus the thing you disagree with being wrong
They seem roughly equal in trade value to me
That’s what BTV says as well
You think trading Paredes for Meyers is equal? I most certainly do not.
That seems accurate actually. Defense matters.
Astros
“You think trading Paredes for Meyers is equal?”
Yes, roughly
Why don’t you think so
Because Meyers needs a .350 BABIP to produce 2 WAR. When he doesn’t do that again this year he’ll be a 1.5 WAR player while Paredes should easily again post 2.5-3. Paredes is more valuable.
FanGraphs projects 2.2 fWAR for Myers (with a .300 BABIP) and 2.2 for Paredes.
Wow they are really hyped about Meyers. What about B-Ref? Also, you can’t use WAR alone.
BTV says one is worth nearly double the other. That is not roughly equal. They are wrong on both as neither have surplus value. Remedial math classes are in order for you.
What about them?
SF
“BTV says one is worth nearly double the other”
What are you looking at?
baseballtradevalues.com/trades/210481
Paredes $13 million
Meyers $15 million
Who?
What are their projections?
“Who”
B-Ref
Remember, “What about B-Ref?”
What can’t I use WAR alone for? And why can’t I use it alone?
WAR is a flawed stat. Also, this chain is getting confusing. Let’s just see what another source says, that’s all.
Paredes and Meyers are both on the same team aren’t they?
Now if Juan and BTV are trying to say that Paredes and Mayo are equal in value, that would be another case of them being completely and totally wrong. Mayo produced no surplus value. None. Even if you projected his 2025 production over 550 PA he still would have produced negative value, not surplus. Paredes produced $17 million in surplus value while playing only 102 games.
SF
“Paredes and Meyers are both on the same team aren’t they?”
Yes. And?
“Now if Juan and BTV are trying to say that Paredes and Mayo are equal in value, that would be another case of them being completely and totally wrong”.
Neither I nor BTV said that.
And where did you get this?
“BTV says one is worth nearly double the other”
In short, what are you blathering about?
And more expensive.
Astros
“WAR is a flawed stat”.
Not really. It’s imperfect, but not flawed
What if, just maybe, your wild guesses are flawed? How would you know?
Just use other stats. What wild guesses?
Like this
“Sometimes, the value also doesn’t match up either.”
You posted the values BTV placed on Mountcastle and Mayo. do you not remember what you posted?
Do you know the meaning of the word if?
They can’t be traded for each other if they are on the same team. Even you should be able to figure that out.
You are truly clueless. You posted the values for Mayo and Mountcastle and then said they were roughly equal in value.
You do realize that those projections come with a 20% MOE, right?
You can’t trade Paredes for Meyers. They are on the same team.
Which shows how ridiculous BTV is. Mountcastle has no surplus value.
SF
“Mountcastle has no surplus value.”
So, you agree with BTV?
How does Mark Vientos have 15.5 trade value too? Is there something about him I don’t know? I’m also wondering how Kutter Crawford has 20 trade value.
I think it is the remaining club control for vientos.
That may explain Meyers too. I don’t know what his club control looks like. If it is same as Paredes then his value is raised because he plays CF well.
Thanks for the explanation. Meyers has 2 years of club control, is making 3.55 million. Paredes has 2, making 9.475 million I think.
Yeah so Meyers is cheap and plays a premium position. Doesn’t need to hit to have tradable value. Paredes NEEDS to hit.
SF
“You posted the values for Mayo and Mountcastle and then said they were roughly equal in value”
No. I didn’t. You are clueless.
I said that Paredes and Meyers were roughly equal value
Astros: “What if I tell you Issac Paredes has less value than Jake Meyers.”
Me: “They seem roughly equal in trade value to me
That’s what BTV says as well”
“You can’t trade Paredes for Meyers. They are on the same team”
No one thinks that you can. Just stated that their trade values are roughly equal.
“You do realize that those projections come with a 20% MOE, right?”
Citation requested.
I do understand that projections do not mean that anyone expects the player to do exactly what they projections say. Only people who don’t understand anything about projections think that.
I’ve addressed your comments, address mine
You said this
“Which shows how ridiculous BTV is. Mountcastle has no surplus value”
I posted this earlier
“BTV
Mountcastle -$4.5 million
Mayo $8.5 million”
What do you think this says?
BTV is generally a pretty good model but this case is a toughie. Mayo is low bc the model doesn’t deal well with rookies who struggle for a while but then do well.
I don’t know why some posters insist BTV is the bible for trade values. I look at it often, just to get rough values. But like you said, it is weak on young players, as are most people.
JB
“I don’t know why some posters insist BTV is the bible for trade values”
I don’t. I think it’s much better than the Bible (or any other religious text)
Here’s why
“How did our model do at the 2025 deadline?
…
Number of trades: 64
Number accepted by the model: 57
Acceptance rate: 88%
Average value variance per deal: 3.5
…
Also, it’s a bit of an improvement on last year, where our acceptance rate was 83% and the average variance was 3.7.”.
What I don’t understand is why people say dumb [stuff] like this
“Some trade values seem depressed whereas some seem inflated. What if I tell you Issac Paredes has less value than Jake Meyers.”
I don’t know how you have the patience to keep explaining stuff like you do to these people.
HH
“I don’t know how you have the patience to keep explaining stuff like you do to these people.”
I’m a teacher
Mistake to have tendered mountcastle in the first place. Would be even wose if they sold low on mayo just to keep mountcastle. Eat 2/3rd his contract and send him to min/col/tex/mia for some optional arms to ride the train back and forth from mlb to triple a.
mayo has an option. mountcastle has some pop when healthy and a gold glove nominee to backup or push alfonso to dh.
Gold glove nominee means nothing. He shouldn’t have been tendered a contract to begin with. Another mistake by Elias.
good to see you’re being such a good steward of Rubenstein’s money
honestly, it’s just cash. if they pay most of his contract for a decent pen piece. good enuf. not the worst thing in the world. who knows maybe he’ll go full Jake Fox in Sarasota and get a case of Iron City thrown in by the Bucs or someone needing some possible pop. i’d love to see Mounty continue to bash the Jays, even in another team.
Mayo is the best option the Pirates have at third base and I’m including people they’ve missed out on this offseason. Better option than Suarez, Paredes, most other options they realistically could have gotten. Okamoto is the only one who would have been better.
This is because of Mayo’s upside, club control, and price. Really hope we get him. I’d offer Harrington and a lower level bat prospect.
Mayo would be the worst defensive 3B in the league
The only stretch in the past 2 decades the Pirates were relevant they had 1 of the worst defensive 3B in the league (Pedro Alvarez); production can overcome defensive issues, conversely defensive prowess cannot makeup lack of productivity
Take a chance on Mayo, trade Nick Gonzales maybe?
Is a run scored worth more than a run saved in terms of team wins?
Mayos error rate is three times that of the worst third baseman in the league.
Terrible offer.
Just what exactly do you think Mayo’s value is? With each passing year the decrease in value gets bigger
If this offseason has taught me anything, it is that fans value their prospects vastly higher than anyone (including their own FO).
I see Orioles fans thinking that Chandler for Mayo is a fair trade.
That’s not getting Mayo.
BTV
Mayo $8.5 million
Chandler $60 million
Harrington and a lower level prospect isn’t worth Mayo, but Bubba Chandler is a massive leap. No, Chandler is worth more than Mayo, but Harrington and a low level prospect is worth less.
That trade value case makes sense (for Chandler). Feel like Mayo’s value is depressed a bit but since I don’t know him very well fine.
The Orioles would definitely be selling low on him right now. The Pirates have faced the same stuff with whether to trade Cruz because his upside is so high. But to move him now wouldn’t return much or at least not enough for what he could be.
It’s tough because trades are nearly always done from the perspective of the receiving fan base as what the player has already done (Mayo’s done almost nothing leading some fans to call him a bust which I think is premature) but the trading team is giving him away for what he could be so there’s nearly always a mismatch.
Same with Harrington though. He was awful last year, which is why all of us Pirates fans would be fine with seeing him go. Yet he could very easily get back on track and recover his value this year.
So while I don’t disagree that one MLB ready player and a lower prospect should be enough to get Mayo, probably not one who got clobbered at AAA and his MLB cup of coffee last year. And it’s not like the Bucs had a lot of real prospects crushing it at Indy last year who don’t also fall in that category of guys who you aren’t moving for a guy like Mayo.
Yeah these Baseball Trade Values stuff just muddy it honestly, too. Harrington apparently has a value of 1.9 to Mayo’s 8.3. I was saying a hitter at a lower level not necessarily a AAA guy, like Stafura.
But it also has Mlodzinski at 16.3 and Keller at 12.2. No way would I say Mlod is of more value than Keller and I am really high on Mlod.
Keller’s making a lot more money than Mlod and one less year on his contract. That being said, I’d be shocked if other GMs are making offers that consider Keller that low in value.
I’m sure every front office has their own version of this sort of thing, but at the end of the day it’s just giving you a ballpark estimate.
Sammy Stafura just made ZiPS top 100 today (#53). He and Zander Meuth look about right on BTV.
wrt Mlod and Keller, Mlod has more _surplus value_ than Keller because Keller isn’t cheap.
Maybe Mayo could headline a ‘haul’
You actually think that the pirates would trade bubba chandlers for mayo straight up??? The air must be thin in texas
pirates should pick up former o – ramon urias. great defense and ok bat. should be cheap.
I also wouldn’t mind him. I still prefer Mayo but if they’re asking for more than one MLB ready bat or pitcher, I think that’d be too expensive.
@paosfan Cheap because he isn’t very good
Elias doesn’t want to make the mistake of spending big money for a top of the rotation pitcher who doesn’t work out.
But he will spend $3.4M for Jorge Mateo, $6.8M for Mountcastle, $13M for Sugano, $15M for Morton, $5M for Gibson, $8.5M for Sanchez, $16.5M for O’Neill – all of whom combined are negative value for over $65M over the last 14 months. That’s two top of the rotation arms.
Maybe they’ll promote him again.
“Elias doesn’t want”..I found your post/point interesting. I think an MLB GM could survive missing on several(bad) 1 year deals, but would never survive inking two top of rotation arms to market rate deals and then have both flame out or falter badly.
Mlb fan
We don’t know that because Elias hasn’t done it.
Had Burnes been off his game in 2024 or hurt, Elias defenders would’ve swooped in with “see! We only did 1 year! Elias is smart.”
Elias offered more per year for Burns last offseason but one less year. he wanted to play at home more.
Paos – I keep hearing that but I have never seen a dollar amount.
I heard “club record” but that could have been 161.1M…like 50M too few.
I still support Elias decisions in most of those results. Those aren’t the players I would have signed but that’s the right strategy. Lookin way better Burnes who shunned Baltimore
He loves paying up for mediocrity, especially if the player he signed can be used to block one of his prospects from coming up.
Pirates wee interested in mayo 2 years ago. Could be ther savior at 3rd base
He is so so bad at third. Believe me, you will curse the trade at some point this season after his 23rd error, and beg them to DH him.
Also, his offensive skillset is all right handed pull power, snd Pittsburgh is the last park you want to rely on that. Pirates aren’t a good fit.
It depends if you want offense or good defense.The guy they got is good defensively.They trade Ke’bryan, who was good defensively.But If they want a good offensive guy.Such as the Red Sox did with Devers,Mayo ,should hit well.
O’s need to bring back Ramon Urias.
alexander has more flexibility and is on a full 40 man roster that they traded some worthy prospects for. i like Ramon but don’t see it happening. not enough at bats and too expensive.
pirates should take a flyer on him.
No they don’t.
I mean, it’s possible now that the Angeloses are gone, but I highly doubt they’re moving a highly regarded prospect within the division… and then watching him then beat them repeatedly with a different club with more resources for the next 5+ years. Intra-division trades happen in the AL East, but they seem like they happen less there than other divisions (outside of the Rays, who just want who they want), and they’re usually for role players, not guys that have a good chance at breaking out at some point and have tons of cheap team control left.
I wouldn’t get your hopes up, Sox and Yankees fans.
How are Mayo and Mountcastle defensively ? I still don’t like Polanco on the Mets playing 1b, maybe trade Senga for 1 of them ? And let Polanco DH
At 1B? Both adequate, though Mayo is brand new to it.
mountcastle was nominated for a gold glove. didn’t win but defense is there.
Mountcastle looked great in 24, that fell off in 25 (about avg). Mayo? Meh.
Really would prefer they keep both. Holiday and Westburg already dealing with injuries. I dont like the backup catcher being at 1st or dh everyday. Alonso at 1st. Mounty the backup at 1st and rotate in at dh. Mayo the backup at 3rd and rotate in at dh. Basallo plays when Adley rest with occasional dh duties to get him at bats. It will work itself out, always does. I still think Mounty has something
Can’t. You only get 4 bench players including the DH. One is Basallo, one is the backup middle infielder, one is a backup OF. There’s only one slot left.
I can’t believe that no one has made a “hold the Mayo” joke yet. Come on, people!
Hell man, that surprised me as well. It took quite a while to cover the spread.
That’s because they are condimentally ret*rded.
Should have traded them last year, the shine is wearing off of Mayo.
if his september adjustments continue, he was on fire… they should… hold the mayo lol @monkey’s uncle. there you go.
Yeah, but August was oof
Thank you… but I have to say that if your Mayo is ever shiny, you probably should get rid of it as quickly as possible.
Please Blue Jays no more Baltimore rejects, we already have one of those.
First, the guy only played in 50 something games because of injury, so keep kicking him while he’s down. Additionally, this is definitely not the take the Toronto fans had when he was signed last offseason. My guess is he will be a great player this season and you’ll likely walk back such a foolish take.
Don’t you mean NEXT year? Hard for Tony Taters to have a good season while missing 6 months after shoulder surgery.
Wow, I didn’t know that but just read about it since seeing your comment. Yeah, not really a great thing to miss most of the first season and all of the second season on a 5 year deal. Hopefully he’ll bounce back and do well in the last 3 years. I don’t blame the guy who commented about about being bummed but hopefully he comes back next season and the fans will be happier.
Jose Bautista was a Baltimore reject too so you never know
So was Gausman, in a certain sense.
Absolutely, in every sense. The Orioles had high hopes for Gausman, unlike with Bautista. Both players were let go by multiple teams before they found their stuff. I think Santander will have a hard time getting back to his old form whenever he’s healthy again, but I hope he does. I’m a big Santander fan. The Orioles dodged a couple of bullets when they couldn’t bring back either Santander or Corbin Burnes, though I think Burnes has a good chance of still being elite when he returns.
Santander was arguably the best rule 5 pick ever for the Orioles. I hope he recovers and gets back to form.
We absolutely dodged one with Burnes but I agree with you, I think he returns to his typical front of the rotation contributor.
A bit late for that. I guess now that camp is open, Elias figured out that his pitching staff won’t cut it and wants to dump people that he should have traded or non-tendered long before this in an effort to get the pitching he should have been more aggressive pursuing in free agency.
Trading Mayo for the sake of space would be a huge mistake. His September performance showed his potential to match his minor league stats. He’s a potential 40 homer bat, and has a chance to be elite at first base. Plus he’s athletic enough to play some RF – where I’d rather see him than one more year of ONeil.
Trade Mounty – for nothing most likely, DH Pete and rotate ABs with Coby, Basallo and Adley. Then give him some run in the OF when (not if) ONeil goes on IL.
Alonso will not put up with DH. He has a long history on that subject and I’m 100% certain it came up in negotiations.
I believe Mountcastle was tendered before Alonso was signed because the team was preparing to use Mayo to trade for a front line starting pitcher. It’s not a horrible CYA move and I’m sure they can work something out to reduce the logjam. Mountcastle is a gold glove caliber fielder at 1B and before he got hurt these last two years, knew how to hit. He’ll get the Os next to nothing on the trade market but is a solid bench piece. Mayo, plus others was likely to be used to pry away P. Lopez, Ryan, or Alcantara but, after trading for Baz and re-signing Eflin, Elias felt better about letting the deals come to him.
Mayo has an error rate that is somewhere around triple that of the worst full time MLB 3bs. Please, please stop talking about him at third. That ship sailed, arrived, turned around, and returned to port.
Trading Mountcastle for anything makes sense. I dont think trading Mayo today makes any sense at all. There was a time when Mayo in a deal for a front of the rotation SP made sense. But that ship probably has sailed. There could be a lot of value in a 1,2,3 SP but adding Baz and Bassitt, retaining Eflin, expecting something from Bradish Rogers Wells, with Kremer and Povich also, adding an SP now does not fit as much today. Deadline though certainly a possibility.
With Holliday injured and Westburg being far from an Iron Man play every day guy, I feel like Mayo’s value to the Os is maybe at its peak since he took his first at bat. Maybe the D is an issue, but the bat really came on late last year and think he has a ton of upside and now is the perfect opportunity to see if he can grasp it.
The idea of Ward blocking him as a 175K low average 1 year aging guy whose power could diminish in the blink of an eye seems like something that should not even be mentioned. Any production out of Ward is a bonus but think that move was more about wanting to say goodbye to Grayson and the lack of quality FA OFs. Even if it meant Mayo only gets 300 ABs this year, think they can wait Ward out and try to see if Mayo can fit in the OF next year. Totally conceivable to let Mayo get time over Ward this year too if Ward is not lighting it up, which feels very possible.
The only way I see trading Mayo now feeling right is if it was for a needle mover OF like a Duran. Or a lights out top tier bullpen setup guy.
Mountcastle to Washington makes sense as a tradeable piece later in the season
Veteran first basemen have zero trade value unless they’re fantastic hitters. Rhys Hoskins might not even get a major league job. Nathaniel Lowe didn’t.
I don’t see the Nats as being interested in a fill in righty 1B that’s not on the 2028-30 timeline they seem to be targeting.. If they were looking at a short-term signing to maybe flip at the deadline, rather than spending $6.8 million that Mountcastle will be getting, they could have given an MLB contract to Ty France and not dealt anyone. Os would have had to add a prospect – Mountcastle’s 2027 option is only valuable to the Nats if they flip him. I’m not saying Mountcastle isn’t better than Chaparro or any of the Nats internal options, but he just doesn’t fit their apparent plan.
About time.
Mayo at 3rd is like Alec Bohm. He is a little awkward and robotic, but like Bohm will improve each year. Bohm is now a very respectable 3rd baseman
Can mountcastle play left? If so I grab him to play left with marsh in Philadelphia.
He cannot.
Well that ends that thought and I continue to be upset with the Phillies limited outfield options. Thank you good citizen!
My guess is that Mayo has less trade value that many Orioles fans think but more than a lot of non-Orioles fans believe.
Always.
Of course, but I think Mayo is an extreme case of this phenomenon.
I constantly see non-Orioles on here saying he has no trade value right now, which is obviously ridiculous.
this is right
Tigers could use Mayo at 3B to spell Keith and DH to spell Carp (who had a decent year in the OF). If he hits, shift Carp to the OF (where he wants to play anyway) and let Mayo DH. I agree Mayo’s star has faded a bit from last year but he’d still fetch then useful pieces.
Love to see Nats get Mayo but only trade candidate they have is Abrams and they will pull that for only him. They have high hopes on getting a Gore-like haul.
I wonder if Jarlin Susana would get the job done. The torn lat and the reliever risk might have dimmed his value. I think there’s a split on how he’s viewed. If Elias is like Longenhagen was pre-injury, then he’d jump for that kind of arm. FG was very high on hiim, but I don’t think they were the only evaluators to view him as a top 100. A torn lat is not UCL, rotator cuff, or thoracic outlet. If Toboni is in the reliever camp and Elias is views him as a starter, there’s a chance.
Baltimore will not trade Mayo to NYY or Boston, not a player with such high potential and that much control within the division. It would have to be a very unique situation where they would receive a player with just as much, if not more upside and control remaining. Neither side would be willing to do that within the division.
Dear Peter Bendix;
You can still make a push for Coby Mayo. It makes all the sense in the world, even after signing Morel. Don’t miss this opportunity.
Regards,
Marlins fans.
KC gets Mountcastle
BAL gets Schreiber.
Does that work for anyone?
I think the only way KC makes that trade is if Baltimore pays most of Mountcastle’s salary, if not all of it.