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Orioles Claim Elvin Rodriguez

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The Orioles announced Wednesday that they have claimed right-hander Elvin Rodriguez off waivers from the Brewers and optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk. Milwaukee designated Rodriguez for assignment last week. Baltimore now has 39 players on its 40-man roster.

Milwaukee signed Rodriguez, 27, to a split major league contract in the offseason. He’d spent the 2023-24 seasons pitching well enough in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to command a 40-man spot in his return to North American ball, but his time with the Brewers organization has been a struggle. He’s pitched in six big league games (two of them starts) and been tattooed for 18 runs on 23 hits and seven walks in 18 2/3 innings. A whopping seven of those hits were long balls.

Rodriguez has fared far better in Triple-A, where he’s pitched 29 2/3 innings and notched a respectable 4.25 ERA. His 20.3% strikeout rate in Nashville effectively matches his 20.2% mark in the majors, but he’s also logged a tidy 4.9% walk rate in Triple-A. Homers have been an issue there as well, however; he’s yielded another seven round-trippers in those 29 2/3 frames (2.12 HR/9). Rodriguez sits around 94 mph with his four-seamer and pairs that pitch with a cutter, slider, curveball and changeup.

Prior to his time with the Brewers, Rodriguez made his MLB debut with the 2022 Tigers (29 2/3 innings) and pitched even more briefly with the 2023 Rays (3 1/3 innings). He’s allowed more than a run per inning in his 51 2/3 big league frames but has a nice track record in Triple-A and turned in a sparkling 1.80 ERA in 45 innings pitching in Japan. He’s worked both as a starter and reliever but has been used primarily in stints of one to two innings recently. The righty’s last appearance of more than two innings, in either Triple-A or the big leagues, was back on May 7 when he tossed 3 1/3 innings.

Rodriguez is in the second of three minor league option years and will give the Orioles some flexible bullpen depth for the time being. If the O’s wind up trading rental arms like Charlie Morton, Zach Eflin and Tomoyuki Sugano, he could stretch back out as a depth option for the rotation in the season’s second half. He’ll also be a candidate to fill some innings in the ’pen if the O’s trade Gregory Soto, Andrew Kittredge or Seranthony Dominguez — all of whom are potential free agents at season’s end (though Kittredge has a 2026 club option).

Trade Candidate: Charlie Morton

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Charlie Morton’s time with the Orioles couldn’t have begun much worse. He started his first five appearances and lost all of them. His best outing in that stretch was a five-inning start in which he recorded 10 strikeouts but allowed five runs. By the end of April, he’d lost his rotation spot. He carried a 9.45 earned run average with nearly as many walks (21) as strikeouts (26) through 26 2/3 innings.

Morton spent the next three weeks working out of the bullpen. He allowed eight runs (seven earned) over 16 1/3 innings across six appearances. It was better than his early-season production but wasn’t a full-fledged turnaround. Injuries reopened a rotation spot at the end of May.

The 41-year-old Morton has seized the new starting opportunity. He has allowed two or fewer runs in six of his past eight starts. Over that stretch, he carries a 2.76 ERA. Morton has fanned more than a quarter of opponents with a vastly improved 7.5% walk rate. His 12.4% swinging strike percentage during that time is a top 30 mark in MLB. Morton’s fastball has gained some life. The heater averaged 93.7 MPH in April but has climbed to 94.4 MPH since the beginning of June.

Morton’s April struggles still leave him with a 5.18 ERA on the season. Yet he’s coming up on two months of the mid-rotation form he showed throughout his time with the Braves. This version of Morton is the pitcher the Orioles expected when they signed him to a $15MM free agent contract.

It’s an important development with two weeks until the deadline. Morton has quietly reemerged as an intriguing trade chip for a Baltimore team that is nine games below .500. As recently as six weeks ago, he seemed closer to a DFA candidate than a trade asset. He’s now probably the most appealing of Baltimore’s three impending free agent starting pitchers.

Zach Eflin has struggled since his suffering a lat strain in mid-April. He’s on the injured list with a lower back strain, though it seems likely he’ll return to make a start or two before July 31. Tomoyuki Sugano has a 6.62 ERA in seven starts since the beginning of June. Opposing hitters have a .327/.380/.520 slash line in that time. Sugano has a 14% strikeout rate and has allowed 1.72 homers per nine innings on the season. The O’s are going to have a difficult time drumming up interest.

Morton is owed a little more than $6MM the rest of the way. That’ll drop to roughly $4.75MM from the deadline through season’s end. That’s a decent sum for two months, but it’s reasonable if an acquiring team feels he’s back to being a playoff-caliber starter. Baltimore is going to get plenty of calls on All-Star slugger Ryan O’Hearn in the next couple weeks. Morton is pulling alongside Cedric Mullins and relievers Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto in their next tier of rental trade candidates.

Manfred: Longer Break In 2028 For All-Star Game And Olympics Is Possible

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MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke to the media today, ahead of tonight’s All-Star game, addressing various topics relevant to the league. One subject that got a lot of discussion was the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the potential of MLB players participating. Baseball will be an event at the Olympics, with Dodger Stadium being the venue, but it’s still not confirmed if MLB players will be able to play. Manfred suggested it could be possible for the league to have a slightly longer midsummer break to include both the All-Star game and the Olympics, while also not impacting the regular season.

“It is possible to play the All-Star game in its normal spot, have a single break that would be longer but still play 162 games without bleeding into the middle of November,” Manfred said, per Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post. “That is possible.”

MLB players have never participated in the Olympics. Baseball has occasionally been an event in the games, but has been played by minor leaguers or college players. In recent years, it has not been unusual for MLB players to compete in international play. The World Baseball Classic has been running every few years since 2006, even though the COVID-19 pandemic threw the normal schedule off for a bit.

The main difference with the Olympics would be the timing. The WBC is held in March, ahead of the MLB regular season. The ’28 Olympics are scheduled to take place in Los Angeles from July 14th to 30th. Per J.J. Cooper of Baseball America, the baseball field would include six teams, set by qualifying tournaments, who would then play from July 15th to 20th. Per Evan Drellich of The Athletic, the league would prefer that to be a little earlier. The All-Star break is usually the second Tuesday of July, which would be July 11th in 2028. The opening ceremony of the Olympics is scheduled for July 14th.

There are logistical challenges but it’s theoretically possible to line everything up. The fact that the games are taking place in the United States is also convenient, compared to a distant country where travel would be more of a concern.

It has been suggested in the past that perhaps the league could look to skip the All-Star game for one year, with the Olympics taking over as the main midsummer event. Manfred’s comments today point to both taking place, which would raise some interesting questions. Presumably, there could be a lot of overlap in terms of All-Star selections and Olympic rosters. If a player is planning to play in the Olympics and is also selected for the All-Star game, would they simply skip the latter like injured players do? Would some try to do both?

In terms of the scheduling, the details there aren’t clear either. In recent years, the MLB season has sometimes had some teams start the regular season in mid-March in order to play games in other countries such as Japan or South Korea. Starting the regular season earlier for all teams could perhaps allow for a longer midseason break, though that would lead to many weather-related annoyances in certain parts of the country.

Per Cooper, insurance is another potential hurdle. For the WBC, there are insurance policies in place to compensate an MLB team if one of their players is injured. But the WBC is put on by MLB, whereas the Olympics are put on by the International Olympic Committee. As noted by Cooper, it’s unclear if the IOC would be willing to pay the insurance premiums or if MLB would be willing to do so. MLB wouldn’t be directly benefiting from the event, since the IOC receives the proceeds, though the league would obviously hope that the Olympics would help to grow the MLB brand and expand its reach. Cooper mentions the possibility of Olympic committees of individual countries covering the insurance premiums but says this is the least likely scenario.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the logistical challenges could lead to San Francisco hosting the 2028 All-Star game. She says the league and the MLBPA would prefer a West Coast club host that year, in order to be near the Olympics in Los Angeles. She points out that San Diego, Seattle and Arizona have all hosted the All-Star festivities fairly recently, whereas the Giants last hosted back in 2007.

Slusser adds that MLBPA executive director Tony Clark also seemed open to the players agreeing to the Olympic plans, though with some details still to be worked out. “There’s just a lot of conversation that needs to be had sooner rather than later to see how viable this is,” Clark said. “But we’re hopeful that we can figure our way through it for the benefit of the game.”

If it comes to pass that the Giants host in 2028, it will kick things down the road for other clubs that have been waiting their turn. Last year, Manfred acknowledged that the Blue Jays were due, since they haven’t hosted since 1991. However, the Phillies are hosting in 2026, a decision that was made long ago to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It seems likely that the Cubs, who haven’t hosted since 1990, will be hosting in 2027. Putting the 2028 game in San Francisco would mean the Jays and other teams hoping to host would probably have to wait until 2029 at the earliest.

Manfred still seems to have a Toronto All-Star game on his radar, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. “Obviously, (the Blue Jays) are kind of perking up to the top of the list based on time,” he continued. “I’d like to be back in Toronto. Rogers has made a really significant investment in terms of improvements in the stadium. TBD at this point, beyond that.” Davidi adds that the Orioles and Red Sox are also interested. Baltimore last hosted in 1993 and Boston in 1999.

Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images

Orioles Outright David Bañuelos

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The Orioles announced Monday that they’ve passed catcher David Bañuelos through waivers and assigned him outright to Triple-A. He had the right to elect free agency but will instead accept his assignment to Norfolk. The 40-man roster count drops to 38.

The 28-year-old was added to the Orioles’ big league roster last week after the team had traded reliever Bryan Baker to the Rays. Bañuelos was already traveling with the O’s on their taxi squad, and he was selected to the roster ahead of a doubleheader versus the Mets.

A short-term stint seemed likely, given that Bañuelos was selected due to his proximity on the taxi squad and a desire to avoid playing a man down in that twin bill. He’d been the third catcher on the roster behind Jacob Stallings and Alex Jackson, though Baltimore gave him a couple of plate appearances during his brief run. Bañuelos has just three MLB plate appearances and is still looking for his first big league hit. He did reach base for the first time in his career when he was hit by a pitch yesterday.

Bañuelos is the consummate glove-first catcher. He’s a career .197/.276/.362 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons but has been praised as a plus defender behind the dish dating back to his days at Long Beach State. He was originally a Mariners draftee but has spent the bulk of his pro career in the Twins’ system after Minnesota acquired him from Seattle in exchange for international bonus space. Bañuelos became a minor league free agent after the 2023 season and has since signed a pair of minor league pacts with the Orioles, who clearly value having his defensive skills on hand in the upper minors. He’s now accepted multiple outright assignments to remain with the O’s, so it seems like a mutually agreeable arrangement.

Orioles Designate Corbin Martin For Assignment

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The Orioles announced this morning that they have recalled left-hander Grant Wolfram to the major league roster. Right-hander Corbin Martin was designated for assignment to make room for Wolfram on the club’s active roster. Baltimore’s 40-man roster now stands at 39 players.

Martin, 29, was a second-round pick by the Astros back in 2017 and received some attention as a top-100 prospect prior to the 2019 season. He underwent Tommy John surgery during the first half that year, and early in his recovery found himself traded to the Diamondbacks on the day of the trade deadline as part of the Zack Greinke blockbuster alongside Josh Rojas, Seth Beer, and JB Bukauskas. Martin didn’t return to a mound until 2021, and once he did so the results left much to be desired. He surrendered a 10.69 ERA in 16 innings of work during his first season with the Diamondbacks at the big league level, and while he showed some signs of improvement during his age-26 season in 2022 he suffered a number of additional injuries.

That includes a lat tear in his shoulder that required surgery and cost him his 2023 campaign. Martin was ultimately designated for assignment by the Snakes in early 2024, and after a brief stint in the Brewers’ minor league system last year he found himself claimed off waivers by the Orioles last May. He pitched at Triple-A for Baltimore’s Norfolk affiliate last year and was eventually removed from the 40-man roster, but remained with the organization and was brought back up to the majors earlier this month. This latest stint in the majors proved to be a brief one, as he remained on the roster for less than two weeks and made just one appearance. The appearance was an impressive one, however, as he struck out two and allowed just one hit in 1 1/3 innings of work against the Rangers.

Going forward, the Orioles will have one week to either work out a trade involving Martin or attempt to pass him through waivers. Should he clear waivers successfully, he would have the opportunity to either accept an outright assignment to the minor leagues or elect free agency in search of a better opportunity elsewhere. It wouldn’t be a shock to see some team take a chance on him now that he’s healthy, though his 5.29 ERA at Triple-A this year still raises some questions about his effectiveness even after his strong return to the majors earlier this month. As for Wolfram, the rookie made his big league debut with the Orioles earlier this year and has a 31.3% strikeout rate in three appearances at the big league level so far this season. With Keegan Akin on the injured list, Wolfram’s return to the bullpen should take some pressure off of fellow lefty Gregory Soto going forward.

Which Other Draft Picks Are Eligible To Be Traded Before Sunday?

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The Rays made an “early” strike in deadline season yesterday, shipping off their Competitive Balance Round A selection (No. 37 overall) in Sunday’s draft to acquire righty Bryan Baker from the division-rival Orioles. Baker, 30, has had his two worst outings of the season in his final Orioles appearance and last night’s Rays debut — which came just hours after he was “shocked” to learn he was traded and boarded a last-minute flight to meet his new team in Boston — but carried a 2.58 ERA and 33.3% strikeout rate through July 5. He comes to the Rays with three additional seasons of club control, as well.

Following the trade, O’s general manager Mike Elias acknowledged that Thursday’s trade was “earlier than my comfort level” but that the timing of the draft and strength of the return pushed him to make a deal sooner than he’d have preferred (link via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). It’s feasible that other general managers/president of baseball operations feel similar pressure if presented with opportunities to add an extra pick over the next two-plus days.

As a refresher, Competitive Balance picks are the only picks in the annual amateur draft that are eligible to be traded. They can only be traded one time, meaning the pick the Orioles received for Baker — and the picks the Dodgers, Guardians and Red Sox received in trades of Gavin Lux, Josh Naylor and Quinn Priester, respectively — are now locked in place for those clubs. There are still a handful of selections that could be traded, however.

Here’s a rundown of the picks in Competitive Balance Rounds A and B. MLBTR has confirmed via industry sources that the picks held by the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets in Round A are ineligible to be traded, as they’re technically first-round picks that were dropped down into Competitive Balance Round A as penalty for exceeding the luxury tax by more than $40MM. Similarly, the picks held by the Rays and Brewers in Round B are ineligible to be traded due to the fact that they are compensation for failing to sign last year’s picks in Competitive Balance Round B. Picks that are eligible to be traded are in bold; those ineligible to be moved are in strikethrough font. The deadline to trade any of these eligible picks is 4pm ET on Sunday — two hours prior to the start of this year’s amateur draft.

Round A

  • No. 33 overall: Red Sox (acquired from Brewers in exchange for RHP Quinn Priester)
  • No. 34: Tigers
  • No. 35: Mariners
  • No. 36: Twins
  • No. 37: Orioles (acquired from Rays in exchange for RHP Bryan Baker)
  • No. 38: Mets
  • No. 39: Yankees
  • No. 40: Dodgers
  • No. 41: Dodgers (acquired from Reds in exchange for INF/OF Gavin Lux)
  • No. 42: Rays (acquired from A’s in exchange for LHPs Jeffrey Springs, Jacob Lopez)
  • No. 43: Marlins

Round B

  • No. 66 overall: Guardians
  • No. 67: Rays (compensation for unsigned pick in 2024)
  • No. 68: Brewers (compensation for unsigned pick in 2024)
  • No. 69: Orioles
  • No. 70: Guardians (acquired from D-backs in exchange for 1B Josh Naylor)
  • No. 71: Royals
  • No. 72: Cardinals
  • No. 73: Pirates
  • No. 74: Rockies

The Tigers are the only clear buyer with a pick that can be traded, and it’s a prominent one. The Mariners and Cardinals are only one game out of a Wild Card spot in their respective leagues. Seattle is expected to act as a buyer and has been on the hunt for corner infield bats and late-inning bullpen help. The Royals (3.5 games), Twins (4) and Guardians (5) are all within five games of a Wild Card spot.

Fans would largely welcome the advent of additional selections becoming eligible to be traded, but that’s not in the cards for now. MLBPA executive director Bruce Meyer joined Foul Territory earlier this week and told hosts Scott Braun, Erik Kratz and A.J. Pierzynski that the union is in favor of trading draft picks and has unsuccessfully raised the issue in past waves of collective bargaining (video link, draft pick talk coming around the one hour, 12-minute mark).

“This union has consistently been in favor of teams being able to trade draft picks,” said Meyer. “It would help competition. We think it would help small-market teams that have those valuable draft picks. They should have the flexibility to trade them if it’s in the best interest of the team. I think many teams would agree, but the league for whatever reason has, to date, been against allowing clubs the ability to trade Rule 4 [amateur] draft picks. We proposed it last time. It was rejected. I don’t want to commit to much for the next round of bargaining, but I feel pretty confident we’ll propose that again, because we think it’s actually beneficial to competitive balance.”

It should be noted that virtually any proposal in collective bargaining comes with some give and take. Meyer’s comments only portray one side of the discussion, and it’s not clear whether anything else was attached to that proposal. Regardless, it’s notable that the union’s lead negotiator has signaled a desire to again broach the subject of draft pick trades when the two sides return to the table to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement.

Which Other Relievers Might The Orioles Shop?

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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.

Orioles Select David Banuelos

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The Orioles announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of catcher David Bañuelos from Triple-A Norfolk. He was already with the club on their taxi squad, Jake Rill of MLB.com points out, making him a natural fit to temporarily fill the roster spot vacated by this morning’s trade of reliever Bryan Baker to the Rays. Baltimore also appointed lefty Grant Wolfram as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader, so they’ll still have a full stock of relievers.

Bañuelos, 28, appeared in one big league game with Baltimore last year but flew out in his only plate appearance. That’s the only major league at-bat of his career. Assuming this is a short-term selection to avoid playing a man down in today’s doubleheader, Bañuelos might not get another opportunity. He’ll be serving as a third catcher alongside Jacob Stallings and Alex Jackson on an injury-ravaged Orioles roster.

Bañuelos has missed a fair bit of time on the injured list himself so far in 2025. He’s tallied only 64 plate appearances with Norfolk, going just 5-for-57 with a homer, seven walks and 21 strikeouts. The resulting .088/.188/.193 batting line is an eyesore, but Bañuelos posted a more solid .225/.360/.352 line in 22 Triple-A games for the O’s last year. He’s a career .197/.276/.362 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons.

Offense has never been a big part of Bañuelos’ game. He’s been touted as a glove-first catcher even dating back to his amateur days at Long Beach State. The Mariners selected him in the fifth round of the 2017 draft, but he’s spent the bulk of his career in the Twins system. The O’s signed him to a minor league deal following the 2023 season, and he’s now in his second year within their system.

Orioles Trade Bryan Baker To Rays

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The Rays are getting some bullpen help, acquiring right-handed reliever Bryan Baker from the Orioles in exchange for a 2025 Competitive Balance (Round A) draft selection, No. 37 overall. Both teams have announced the swap.

Baker adds a power arm with potent bat-missing ability to the Rays’ bullpen. The 30-year-old righty has pitched 38 1/3 innings for the Orioles this season and turned in a 3.52 ERA with an even more encouraging 32.5% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate. Baker sits 96.7 mph with his four-seamer, per Statcast, and he’s sporting a strong 13.1% swinging-strike rate on the season thanks in no small part to a changeup that’s graded out brilliantly thus far. Opponents are hitting just .154 and slugging a putrid .205 against Baker’s changeup.

This year’s numbers are skewed a bit by Baker’s outing just two days ago, when the Mets jumped him for four runs. He didn’t record an out and was tagged for a pair of home runs. Baker’s ERA ballooned from 2.58 all the way to its current 3.52 mark.

Baker has had some home run troubles (1.88 HR/9), but he’s also seen a fluky 20% of the fly-balls he’s allowed turn into home runs — well north of the 11.4% league average and nearly triple his career mark entering the season. Metrics like xFIP (2.78) and SIERA (2.37) — which normalize HR/FB to account for potential small-sample spikes like this — feel Baker has been vastly better than his earned run average would indicate. The Rays, presumably, are confident that the home run troubles will prove anomalous while Baker maintains his ability to miss bats and limit free passes.

In parts of four seasons with the O’s, Baker has a 3.73 ERA over the course of 176 1/3 innings. He currently boasts career-best marks in strikeout rate, walk rate, fastball velocity, swinging-strike rate and opponents’ chase rate. On top of that, he’s not yet into his arbitration years, having only amassed two-plus years of service time prior to 2025. He’ll cross the three-year mark this season and be eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason. Tampa Bay can control him through the 2028 campaign.

Adding another reliever is typically a goal for all contending clubs, but it’s quite prudent for a Rays club that currently has Manuel Rodriguez (2.08 ERA in 30 1/3 innings) and Hunter Bigge (2.51 ERA dating back to last summer’s MLB debut) on the injured list at present. As noted just yesterday in our Trade Deadline Outlook on the Rays, Tampa Bay tends to prioritize under-the-radar pickups of just this sort of controllable reliever, as opposed to making plays for more obvious trade candidates with dwindling club control.

Baker has regularly worked in high-leverage spots for Baltimore this season. He’s tallied a pair of saves and 10 holds on the year already. He’ll now join a late-inning mix for the Rays, pairing with Garrett Cleavinger, Edwin Uceta and (once healthy) Rodriguez as a setup option for excellent closer Pete Fairbanks.

For the Orioles, they’ll add more firepower to what’s already a large draft pool. Draft picks awarded in Major League Baseball’s Competitive Balance lottery are the only picks eligible to be traded and may only be traded one time, so Baltimore will hang onto this pick and carry it into Sunday’s draft.

The Orioles, who gained compensatory picks at the end of the first round when Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander signed elsewhere after declining qualifying offers, now have four of the first 37 selections in this year’s draft. In addition to that pair of comp picks, Baltimore also has a pick in Competitive Balance Round B (between the second and third rounds of the draft). That gives them a staggering seven picks in the first 93 selections of this year’s draft and a massive bonus pool worth more than $19MM — the largest of any team in MLB.

The O’s are selling Baker at close to peak value, but they won’t get any short-term help that could impact the team this year or next. Baltimore is 10 games under .500 and seven back of a Wild Card spot in the American League, so it’s not necessarily a shock to see them begin to sell off some big league pieces for future value. The question is whether this will end up as a one-off for now, with the O’s staying the course until closer to the deadline in hopes of a late surge back into the Wild Card chase, or whether this is the beginning of a larger sale.

Presumably, if the O’s ultimately end up trading off a larger slate of veteran players, they’ll begin to prioritize young talent that’s closer to MLB readiness. The O’s have rental players like Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, Seranthony Dominguez, Tomoyuki Sugano, Gregory Soto, Charlie Morton and Zach Eflin, plus older veterans with reasonably priced 2026 club options like Andrew Kittredge and Ramon Laureano. General manager Mike Elias could field offers on that group while still keeping the core of Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, Adley Rutschman, Jackson Holliday and Grayson Rodriguez together in hopes of retooling for another run at contention in 2026. In that scenario, adding some young big leaguers or on-the-cusp prospects in Triple-A would be a sensible goal.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that Baker was being traded to the Rays. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the return.

Gary Sánchez Likely To Miss 8-10 Weeks

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Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino informed members of the media today that catcher Gary Sánchez is likely to miss eight to ten weeks due to his right knee sprain. Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to relay the timeline and the specific diagnosis, which is a sprain of the catcher’s right posterior cruciate ligament.

It’s yet another unwelcome development in a season that’s been full of them for the Orioles. Sánchez’s .231/.297/.418 batting line (101 wRC+) is “only” a touch better than league average, but he’d been riding a blazing .295/.348/.574 hot streak with five homers over his past 66 plate appearances. That torrid stretch dovetailed with IL placements for Adley Rutschman, Maverick Handley and Chadwick Tromp. Sánchez now becomes the Orioles’ fourth catcher on the injured list.

It’s brutal timing for both the Orioles and Sánchez. With so many other catching injuries on the roster, he’d been thrust into the starting role and was making the most of it — all with free agency just a few months away on the horizon. Sánchez might’ve positioned himself as a trade candidate for the O’s if they end up going the seller’s route, and if not, he was shaping up to be a key piece of their turnaround.

With Sánchez shelved for the foreseeable future, the O’s will turn to a pair of recent acquisitions, Jacob Stallings and Alex Jackson, to handle catching duties. Stallings signed a minor league deal a couple weeks back after being released by the Rockies. Jackson was just acquired from the Yankees in exchange for international bonus pool space. Both catchers will be tasked with not only trying to get going at the plate after some substantial struggles in the majors but learning a new pitching staff and building rapport on the fly.

The 35-year-old Stallings hit just .151/.225/.194 in 103 plate appearances before the Rockies released him, though he did turn in a strong .263/.357/.453 line as recently as last season in Colorado. Jackson, a former No. 6 overall draft pick and top prospect, was sitting on league-average numbers in Triple-A with the Yankees but has been unable to produce in myriad big league auditions over the years. The 29-year-old has tallied 340 MLB plate appearances but managed only a .131/.224/.232 batting line with an eye-popping 41.8% strikeout rate in that time.

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