It was a chaotic deadline day around baseball, and the Orioles were at the center of the flurry. Baltimore pulled off five trades in less than 24 hours, and general manager Mike Elias attempted to extract as much value as possible from a roster that isn’t going to make the postseason.
Only one returning player has reached Triple-A. These deals didn’t impact the 2026 roster, and if anything, they subtracted from it. Elias moved right-handers Bryan Baker and Andrew Kittredge, outfielder Ramón Laureano and infielder Ramón Urías on or before deadline day. All four are under team control next year.
The five other players the Orioles traded (first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, outfielder Cedric Mullins, right-handers Charlie Morton and Seranthony Domínguez and left-hander Gregory Soto) are impending free agents.
For your reading pleasure, these are all the trades made ahead of the deadline.
- Tampa Bay Rays receive Baker; Orioles get competitive balance round-B pick (No. 37, Slater de Brun)
- New York Mets receive Soto; Orioles get minor league right-handers Wellington Aracena and Cameron Foster
- Toronto Blue Jays receive Domínguez and cash; Orioles get minor league right-hander Juaron Watts-Brown
- Houston Astros receive Urías and cash; Orioles get minor league right-hander Twine Palmer
- Chicago Cubs receive Kittredge; Orioles get minor league shortstop Wilfri De La Cruz
- Mets receive Mullins; Orioles get minor league right-handers Raimon Gomez, Anthony Nunez and Chandler Marsh
- San Diego Padres receive O’Hearn, Laureano and cash; Orioles get left-hander Boston Bateman, right-handers Tyson Neighbors and Tanner Smith, infielders Brandon Butterworth and Cobb Hightower, and infielder/outfielder Victor Figueroa
- Detroit Tigers receive Morton and cash; Orioles get minor league left-hander Micah Ashman
The true measure of a trade may not be fully appreciated until years later, when prospects debut and become veterans themselves. But here’s how The Baltimore Banner’s Orioles writers grade the work done ahead of the deadline.
Andy Kostka, Orioles beat writer
Best trade: Laureano and O’Hearn to the Padres for six prospects
A wise man in baseball, who used to be a major league manager, once told me to beware of trades that involve far more prospects in return for a player. They tend to be more quantity over quality, he said. Well, I’m going to ignore said wise man and choose this anyway, because that’s how much I like Bateman, the left-hander. The 19-year-old immediately slots in as Baltimore’s sixth-best prospect, per MLB Pipeline, and his fastball-curveball mix could help him project as a starting pitcher at the major league level. Hightower, the middle-infield prospect, has a high-upside bat and settles at No. 21 in the new rankings.
Losing an affordable club option on Laureano is the hardest part of this; O’Hearn could re-sign in Baltimore this winter. But the farm system is stocked, and there shouldn’t be anything stopping Elias from calling up MLB-ready Dylan Beavers in the near future for outfield playing time.
Worst trade: Urías to the Astros
I can talk myself into liking every deal, but this one is hardest. The best part of this trade is the great baseball name the Orioles got in return: Twine Rollin Palmer. He was born to be a ballplayer. Hindsight may shine a different light on this, but the 20-year-old Palmer is a long shot to reach the majors. To acquire him, the Orioles lost a utility infielder under control for 2026. Perhaps Elias deemed Urías as surplus to requirements in 2026, and he might have nontendered him this winter. Urías’ absence also frees up at-bats for Coby Mayo and others, likely. Still, if 2026 is the target, Urías could have been in play to remain.
Overall grade: C
The reality of these sorts of trades is that they always change over time. Remember Trevor Rogers? That, and something else, accounts for my ambivalent grade. None of the acquired players impacts the 2026 roster. Elias will be judged more by his work this offseason to ensure a deadline such as this doesn’t occur again for a while.
Danielle Allentuck, Orioles beat writer
Best trade: Mullins to the Mets for three minor league arms.
Look, I know how much he means to this team and this fan base, but his contract was expiring, he hasn’t put up his best numbers in four years and the Orioles, as they have shown in recent years, probably had no intention of re-signing him. So the ultimate flamethrower in Gomez, who hit 104.5 mph with his fastball, seems like a good addition. Nunez, an intriguing prospect who made the switch from infielder to pitcher, also seems like a win. I believe the Orioles will fix Gomez’s control issues, and Nunez is so early in his transition the Orioles can still mold him.
Worst trade: Kittredge to the Cubs for a 17-year-old
Could De La Cruz end up a star? Maybe! Will it be anytime soon? No. Giving up a dependable reliever with an extra year of team control for a player who hasn’t even played a full season of rookie ball feels like a big gamble. Kittredge’s team option for 2026 is $9 million, and it’s hard to fathom that the Orioles will find someone of his quality at a lower price point.
Overall grade: B+
Elias did what needed to be done, but if he had done his job in the offseason, it wouldn’t have needed to be done at all.
Jon Meoli, Orioles columnist
Best trade: Bryan Baker to the Rays for the draft pick used on de Brun
As long as we’re not talking an elite closer, it’s hard to go wrong trading relievers for anything other than relievers — in a vacuum at least. We aren’t in a vacuum, which is why this and the Kittredge trade (similarly for a tooled-up teenager) can be polarizing, considering the Orioles’ bullpen for 2026 is already a major cause for concern. But the chance at getting a star, however slim, for a reliever is one a team like the Orioles should take. Those are the easiest trades to win long term, particularly this one.
Worst trade: Domínguez to the Blue Jays for Watts-Brown
Let me be crystal clear that getting a real starting pitching prospect for a rental reliever is a good return. I like everything I’ve read about Watts-Brown, and he could very well be the surest bet of any player they added via trade to impact the big club quickly. I also understand the idea of taking a good deal when it’s offered rather than waiting for a better one. I just wonder, if they’d waited a day or two for some other top relievers to go off the market, whether they could have squeezed a little more out of a Domínguez trade. But I guess that being my largest quibble of the week says a lot.
Grade: A-
Strip out the circumstances of why the Orioles are doing this in the first place and there’s not much more you can ask for. They weren’t going to patchwork together a better 2026 club this week, but it was always going to be an opportunity to address structural deficiencies that have hampered the club for the last year. In adding the pitchers they did and otherwise sprinkling interesting hitters into the low minors, they did that. They made the most of a bad situation, and that’s really all you can ask.
