What will the Baltimore Orioles roster look like after their trade deadline sell-off?

What will the Baltimore Orioles roster look like after their trade deadline sell-off?

The Orioles traded away eight players off their major league roster in the past week. So, who comes up to replace all those guys? We’ll talk about that coming up on this episode of the Locked On Orioles podcast. You are Locked On Orioles, your daily Baltimore Orioles podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. Hey there, Orioles fans. Today is Friday, August 1st, 2025, and welcome back in to the Locked On Orioles podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. As always, I’m your host, Connor Nukem. And coming up on today’s episode, with the trade deadline behind us and the Orioles having traded nine total players from their big league roster in the past month or so, the real question is, especially when you trade away six guys on deadline day alone, who’s coming up to fill those roster spots? Cuz the Orioles didn’t trade for anyone who is major league ready right now among the 16 prospects they got back. So, the AAA Norfol roster is going to look a lot different. Which players will fill in on the roster? which players will move into starting roles. We’ll try to take a look at what the Orioles roster is really going to look like for the final two months. That’s coming up on this episode of the Locked On Orioles podcast, which is brought to you by 5Hour Energy Transfusion. Go to 5our Energy.com today and use my promo code locked on to receive 20% off your order. Only valid through September 30th. Order transfusion flavored 5-hour energy shots today. So, the trade deadline is past us. We are into August. It ended at 600 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday evening. And the Orioles traded six players in the time the 24 hours leading up to the deadline. Nine players traded away from the big league roster in total and kind of quote unquote deadline season, although the the Brian Baker trade was well before that. From the bullpen, they traded away four relievers. Brian Baker going to the Rays, Andrew Kitridge to the Cubs, Samaran Dominguez to the Blue Jays, and Gregory Sodto to the Mets. They traded away just one starter. That was Charlie Morton sent to the Tigers. And then among the position players, Raone Lauraniano and Ryan O’Harn both went in a package deal to the Padres’s. Cedric Mullins was also sent to the Mets and Ramona Aras dealt to the Astros. Those are nine big league players, all who played a significant role in this 2025 Orioles team. all going to be in other uniforms today here on Friday, which is going to be especially for some of them like Mullen O’Harn, wild to see them wearing other jerseys. But now it’s time for other players to step up into their roles. And and the one thing the Orioles didn’t do among the 16 prospects they got back in these deadline trades is really get anyone who is big league ready. Like there are guys who are close, there are guys who are already in AAA, there are guys who are going to be in AAA pretty soon from these trades, but no one who you could feel good about just sticking right on the big league roster. And I thought they might get one or two players like that in these deals and they didn’t. So you got to fill these nine roster spots. Really, it’s six roster spots, right? But because the ones for Baker, Dominguez, and Sodto have been filled since those trades happened, you know, weeks ago or or much earlier in the week in Dominguez and Sodto’s case. But either way, those are roster spots that now we know, okay, they got to be filled for the next two months because you didn’t really get big league right now level players. Some guys who will help the Orioles in 2026, but not potentially ready to do that at the moment. So, who will fill in? Where will they come from? How will they fill in? And what will this roster look like for the final two months of the year? That’s what today’s episode is fully about because not just deadline day, but it was also an off day for the Orioles. They travel to Chicago for this weekend. If you do want to hear about every single trade that the Orioles made on, especially on Thursday, the six deals they made within 24 hours, I did a full trade deadline live show. You can watch it right here on the Lock on Orioles YouTube page. Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe. You can also get that show wherever you get your podcasts. It is over an hour long. It’s maybe the longest episode I’ve ever done, but we broke down every single trade they made Thursday in detail. Make sure to go check that one out. Now it’s kind of turning the page and let’s begin with the Orioles starting rotation because the starting rotation was hit I guess the softest of anything and that is a little not surprising but you thought more starters would be dealt. Charlie Morton was the only one traded away. He was sent to the Tigers like a deadline buzzer beater right at six o’clock on Thursday that deal came through. We knew they were going to trade Morton. He was I believe number three on my most likely to get traded list for the Orioles and he was dealt away. But Zack Efflin and Tommyuki Sugano were also out there. Both also rental starters. Sugano had just been really so bad leading up to the deadline that it made sense. Nobody really wanted him. Effin, you know, came back from the back injury, made two okay starts, and I thought he might have a chance. And then Efflin went back on the injured list on Thursday with more lower back pain. Ken Rosenthal did report that even with him going on the IIL on Thursday afternoon, there were still trade discussions with him because it wasn’t an arm injury, wasn’t an injury that’s going to keep him out for significant time. Hopefully just a couple more weeks and then he’s back. But that obvious took another cut into his trade value, which was already cut because of his injuries and bad performance so far this year. So Efflin stays as well, but with Elyn gone on the IIL, he still opens up a roster spot at least for a little while. So Morton’s spot is gone for good and Efflin’s spot is open for a little bit right now as well. What I will say is this is probably the easiest fix for the Orioles in terms of filling those spots because so far it’s two with Morton and Efflin. The first thing to talk about is Kate Povich is making rehab starts. He’s been out for a while with a hip issue. Made another rehab start in Triple A, his fourth one. that was on Tuesday and really does look ready to roll and so I think he’s going to fill one of these spots. He is eligible at any point now to come off the injured list just about the Orioles having space for him and feeling that he’s ready in that start Tuesday. You know, he wasn’t perfect, but it looked like he was ready to return to the majors. The Orioles have announced their Friday and Saturday starters. Trevor Rogers will start today. Toby Yuki Sugano will start tomorrow. Those two are going to start either way no matter what happened to the deadline. But Sunday is still TBD for the starter. Now another potential there is Brandon Young who was reportedly believe officially now recalled to the roster to take Zack Efflin’s spot with him going on the IIL on Thursday. So Young is back. Young last started in game two of the double header on Tuesday, which means he would be on regular rest to start on Sunday. So basically my guess would be either Povich or Young start Sunday. my guess would be Young because he’s already on the roster and Povich is still technically on the injured list. So, it seems like Young will get there. So, you have Roger Sugano Young this weekend. Then Dean Kramer would be on regular rest to start Monday in Philadelphia and then you would need a starter on Tuesday against the Phillies. That is where I think Povich comes in. It’ll be a week since his last rehab start. He should be good to go. You can activate him then and Povich gets into the rotation and then you can go back to Rogers on Wednesday in Philly. You have the off day Thursday and you get things rolling right there. So you have a rotation of Trevor Rogers, Tommy Yukisugano, Dean Kramer, Kay Povich, and Brandon Young. That is my guess for now. Now, you don’t have as much depth as you once did behind that rotation. Again, Elyn’s on the IIL. Albert Suarez is still on the IIL. Chase McDermott has been kind of fully moved to the bullpen in AAA at this point. So, your main top two depth options at the moment at least, were Cameron Weston, who’s been in AAA the whole year, an Orioles pitching prospect. He’s been okay. And Rohansi Contrarus who has been a starter in the big leagues before with the Pirates. O’s brought him over on waiverss this off seasonason. Has kind of been built up back to a starter in Triple A Norfolk. Those are the top two options. But the Orioles did add another option on Thursday. It is technically the only player they added in a trade. It is left-hander Dietrich Ends who was DFAD by the Tigers this week when they were adding players to their roster. The Orioles essentially claimed him on waiver, sent some cash to the Tigers to make it an official quote unquote trade and he will join the Orioles and ends is out of MLB options. So he will be joining the Orioles big league roster. So, while I think Kovichic takes a starting spot in long run next week, Dietrich ends is going to get one of the open roster spots, you would think, here on Friday and at least at the very least be here until Povich is back next week. And we’ll kind of see beyond that. Now, Dietrich Ends is a 34year-old left-handed pitcher who has been with the Tigers this year. He’d been in Asia for a while. He debuted in the big leagues with Minnesota in 2017. Pitched in a couple of games, then was in the miners for a while. Then resurfaced with the Rays for nine games in 2021. It was actually really, really good. Then he went over to Japan, pitched two seasons as a starter in NPB in 2022. He was awesome. In 2023, he was not very good. And then he went to Korea, pitched for the LG Twins, was teammates with Hanu Kim over there and had a 419 ERA in 30 starts in Korea last year. and the Tigers signed him to a minor league deal this off seasonason to bring him back to the states. He was in AAA for a while to begin this year with Detroit and was putting up just insane numbers as a starting pitcher. Made 14 starts in AAA, 62 in the third innings. Had a 289 erra. I mean the strikeout to walk numbers were tremendous. 27% strikeout rate, just a 6% walk rate. Opponents hit 246 against him in AAA. So the Tigers called him up. He made a couple of starts then got moved to the bullpen. Overall, seven appearances, two starts. 17 and two/3s innings. It’s a 560 RA and a 354 FIP in the big league so far. Again, 17 and two3 innings, 15 Ks, four walks, 23 hits, and two home runs allowed by the left-hander Dietrich Ends. In terms of stuff for him, it is a five pitch mix. It’s a four seamer that sits about 93, which is solid pitch. has, you know, an okay movement profile. Like it’s a it’s a pretty good fourseamer, especially for a 34 year old lefty who’s only throwing 93. It’s a pitch that, you know, just kind of certainly gets the job done for him. Uh he’s got a change up, uses it a lot against righties. It’s been hit pretty well this year. It’s got a 320 batting average against it. He’s also got a cutter. He’ll try to jam into righties. You pitches at 85 is just kind of okay. Curveball does get some swing and miss. Also has a sinker. Doesn’t throw either of those pitches very much. It’s mostly four seam change up and cutter for ends. The stuff overall like stuff models like it. It’s a 111 stuff plus on the fast ball, 114 on the cutter, 100 on the sinker, 111 on the change up. He’s got a 109 stuff plus overall. Like that’s a really good number especially for a 34 year old. And that’s probably the biggest reason why the Orioles picked him up. The other one is again like he started two games in the big leagues and 14 games in TripleA this year. He is starting depth. So I still think in the long run the Orioles go back to Kade Povich, but if the O’s wanted Dietrich Ends to start on Sunday in Chicago, they could absolutely do that as well. He could even I mean he’s going to be on the roster either way, but he could even fall into the rotation for a little bit if the Orioles needed him to. But eventually I do think a guy like Cameron Weston will get a look. He is rule five eligible this off seasonason for the first time. So it’ be good to get a look at him now. And that also means eventually there’s going to be space for Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells whenever the time comes for them to return. Bradish has made two rehab starts so far. Wells has made one. Both coming back from elbow surgery, expecting them back at some point in probably late August. There’s always the chance that Wells is just a reliever when he comes back, but Bradish will be a starter. So, you know, two, three weeks from now, you could have the two of them back in there as well. and the Orioles will they’ll have some flexibility in finding the best ways to get them innings for the remainder of this season. So I would think those five with Young and Povich and and you know ends factoring in and then we’ll see Bradish and Wells at some point. That’ll be a little easier though for the Orioles to figure out. Next up is the bullpen. The Orioles traded a lot of relievers already a lot of moving parts in that bullpen. What in the world is that group going to look like for the remainder of the season? We’ll try to parse that out coming up next. But first, this episode of the Lockdown Orioles podcast is brought to you by 5H hour energy transfusion. It’s time to fuel up and turn it up with 5-hour energy transfusion. It brings the bold grape, ginger, and lime flavor of your favorite golf drink, minus the alcohol, into a quick energizing shot. Whether you’re sinking birdies or just making memories with friends, this is a whole one for your energy game. Let’s be honest, some days on the course or off it, you just need that extra boost to stay sharp and stay energized. Maybe it’s on the big golf course, maybe it’s on the mini golf course, maybe you had a late night of watching the Orioles or trying to stay up for trades. You just need a way to get yourself through your day. 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As I mentioned, the Orioles have traded four relievers off of this team. Sir Anthony Dominguez to the Blue Jays, Gregory Stoodto to the Mets, Andrew Kiters to the Cubs. That all came this week. And then a couple of weeks ago, of course, they did also trade Brian Baker over to the Rays. So that is four relievers down, all guys they trusted in that pen, all high leverage guys. And then of course you also have the fact that Felix Bautista is currently on the injured list. He’s been there for a week with some shoulder issues and inflammation. They’re still kind of waiting for the swelling to go down to get another MRI to see exactly what’s going on in his shoulder, but Bautista is out for the foreseeable future. And there is a chance here that Baltista just out of an abundance of caution and the injury misses the remainder of the season. I mean, I’d say at least a month he’s probably out. I wouldn’t expect to see him back until September. It’s going to be a good chunk without him and maybe the rest of the year as well. So, you can take him off the list, too. That’s maybe your five highest leverage relievers gone out of the bullpen, maybe for the rest of the year. What in the world do you do? Now, on Wednesday’s episode, we did kind of take a crack at this same question because, you know, Dominguez and Sodto were already gone and we were trying to figure out like what in the world is going to go on out there. Corbin Martin had just come in to lock down a save the night before against the Blue Jays. You’re like, who’s going to get all these chances now? With Kitridge gone, it’s like, yeah, all the high leverage guys are out of there right now. Like Keegan Aken is back from the IIL. He is your top lefty. And in theory, you know, Yander Canó is still here. He’s your top righty, but of course had that full meltdown on Wednesday in his last outing is you certainly taken a step back here in 2025. I don’t think you can trust him. Even though he’s your most polished and experienced reliever, I don’t think you’re throwing Canó into the closer role right now. You would think you would from name recognition, but the way he’s pitching, I wouldn’t put him in those spots. I’d be putting him in more lowle leverage spots for a little bit just to get his groove back. So, there probably won’t be a set closer the way this bullpen is put together. But I think Corbin Martin, just because he got the chance on Tuesday, will probably get some more chances. He didn’t look great, but he found a way to put up the zero and get the save. So maybe next time he’ll be more settled in. You’ll have Grant Wolfrom on the roster. He’s shown some good stuff. He’s been up and down, but he’ll be the number two lefty behind Keegan Akin. And so right now in the bullpen, you’ll have your Canó, Keegan Akin, Corbin Martin, Grant Wolf, and then you still have Kate Strad who’s been up and down with Triple A. Elvin Rodriguez just got called up on Wednesday, hasn’t pitched yet. And same thing with Houston Roth. Got called up for the first time on Wednesday and hasn’t pitched yet. Those those two are currently on the roster. Now, you still have Kitridge’s spot to replace. We’ll see what roster move the Orioles make. Yarm Heraldo will be back when he can in a couple of weeks. He’s been very up and down this season, shown some good stuff. But it wouldn’t shock me at all if Matt Bowman is recalled here on Friday just to replace Kitridge for now. It gives you a guy who can go multiple innings and a guy who just has more experience than basically anybody not named Canó or Aken in that pen. I think it’s good to get a more experience like veteran guy, right? He’s in his mid-30s. He’s been on this team for multiple years now. He’s been up and down. I think that would be helpful to have Bowman in the bullpen for a little bit. Not sure if that’s the long-term fix for the rest of the season, but my prediction is Bowman gets added to the open roster spot. But again, Haraldo will be in that mix. You got Scott Luette and Colin Selby both on the injured list right now. If you know Selby will come back, Luette will see if either of them two come back, they’ll jump right back into that bullpen mix too. And I think there will be a lot of chances for Chase McDermott to pitch out of the bullpen. Kind of still for some outlets the consensus top pitching prospect in the system. You know, he’s come up and made a few big league appearances over the last couple of years, but the command’s been an issue. Injuries have been an issue. He had a little bit of a shoulder thing that kept him out for a couple of weeks. He came back in AAA this week and his last two AAA outings have been in short regular relief. They’ve been, you know, starting him this entire time since they got him at the deadline three years ago. But he seems to be on the DL Hall path. Electric stuff, good height as a prospect, too many command issues to survive as a starter, but might look really good if he’s moved to the bullpen. That’s exactly what happened with DL Hall before they traded him to get Corbin Burns. I’m not sure McDermott was going to be in a trade. It’s possible, but the O’s have decided it’s bullpen time. I don’t know how much of that is injury stuff because again, there’s been shoulder and elbow issues this year, but the last two outings have been, you know, one to two inning stints. The fastball vo’s been off. The command is still kind of erratic, but you know, let’s let him settle into the bullpen role. It’s very different for a starter to go out there, but McDermott could be the bullpen X factor down the stretch. Like, I’m not sure if he gets called up now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if in two weeks after he keeps working out of the Norfick bullpen, feels comfortable in that role. Doro’s add him to the pen as a one to two inning guy and really let him eat and see what he can do and see if maybe he’s a go-to reliever for 2026. That is a definite possibility for McDermott. And then you, you know, you’ve got Tyler Wells coming back. And again, I think the O’s are going to build up Wells as a starter on rehab, but there’s a chance he ends up in the bullpen by the end of the year. I think Wells long term is a reliever like in the 2026 roster. I think Tyler Wells is in the bullpen rather than being a starter. So when he comes back, he’s an option. And then you got some other guys in Triple A who will provide you some depth. You know, Vinnie Natoli, Jose Espatada, two guys the Orioles signed in the last couple of weeks uh to minor league deals who have some big league experience out of the bullpen. Levi Stout’s a guy really like his stuff. CL Perez is still down there in Norfol if you did need another lefty. But this also allows Elias the flexibility to work the waiver wire. And that’s really the biggest thing here. Like there’s already been some interesting pitchers to go on waivers. Matt Manning was out there, but the Phillies jumped in and grabbed him via trade before he could really get to waiverss. There’s a couple of interesting Brewers pitchers. Brian Hudson, who had an amazing 2024, kind of fell off this year’s on waiverss. The O’s have space on the roster where they don’t have a lot of set relievers. They have a lot of guys with minor league options that can be easily sent back to AAA that if you do grab a reliever or two on waiverss, you can kind of open up space for them and that is going to be helpful down the stretch less for this team winning and more for next year’s team being able to put together a full and good bullpen to be a winning team again. Right? You can try and find the next Brian Baker, Danny Kulom, CN Al Perez, Jacob Webb, etc. Basically, the way the Orioles have built these bullpens, right? Even the next, it don’t even have to be guys who are that good. You can find the next Joey Crrael types, right? They give you like one year of being good, and that that can be enough. A lot of teams right now, they’re going to DFA some arms because they’re they’re making room for the guys they traded for. It was a wild and busy deadline on Thursday. A lot of moving parts, a lot of roster space that needs to be opened by good teams. They’re going to DFA some interesting players. Eve Rosenbound at the Orioles front office is like the number one waiver wire person. She’s going to be on it. And the O’s are going to bring in a few arms via waiverss to give them a chance to throw and and see what they can get out of him. And and this is what I think the goal is for this bullpen for the rest of the season, right? Even with the kind of Canó struggles and even with now Baltista having another injury question, if we want to think a little bit positively here and say, “Okay, Bautista will at least be good for next year and Canó still has the stuff to at least be a solid middle reliever,” which I still believe is the case. That gives you three guys you at least feel good about heading into next year. Felix Bautista, again, you’re Canó, Keegan Aken. That leaves you five open spots in your bullpen. I think Tyler Wells will have one of them. I’m predicting the Orioles will bring in enough starting pitching that they won’t need Wells as a starter. Maybe they will at some point next year, but I think he’ll start the year in the bullpen. Then at least one free agent signing, an Andrew Kitridge type player. And then three of these all these names I just mentioned, three of them stick and you feel good enough about them to be in the bullpen. Now, in a perfect world, it’s two free agent signings and then you only need two of these guys to stick and that’s possible as well, but this is just to give some wiggle room. Worst case scenario, three of these guys stick. You know, three more are at least good depth to have in AAA that you can call on when you need them next year, and the rest of them kind of go away. If I had to make a prediction right now, I think they make an intriguing free agent signing. And then the three guys that stick are Grant Wolf, Corbin Martin because why not, and Chase McDermott. That’ll be my guesses for the three that that stick in there. They get the free agent signing. Maybe they add another good lefty and you kind of go to it from there. But this these last two months again, it’s going to be difficult to watch this bullpen sometimes. There’s going to be some ugly nights. But hopefully it pays off in the long run where they can find that next batch of guys, add to it in free agency and have a strong bullpen again heading into 2026. But now maybe the hardest one to figure out, right? There’s not as many openings in the lineup. There’s still like this core of players that is together. But I was having the toughest time just figuring out who the O’s are going to call up to replace the hitters that they got rid of. So let’s try to figure that out to finish off the show coming up next. But first, this episode of the Lockdown Orioles podcast is also brought to you by Game Day Hugh. And so is the hat that I’ve got on right now for this episode. For Orioles fans like me, this one hits the mark. Game Day Hugh makes clean, no logo gear with team inspired colorways for every pro and college fan base. It’s all about letting your colors speak for you. No giant logos, just smart, versatile style that works on game day, on the course, or anywhere in between. 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So, there are four openings, four position players on this roster right now. Let’s start with Ramona Reas because his kind of has the easiest one to one role. He was already not a starter, right? You have Westberg, Henderson, Holiday, and then the first base split on the roster. Aras, although he fills in a bunch, he has been kind of the utility bench infielder. That’s more of a onetoone switch. You’re calling up someone to replace that exact role. I would guess either Luis Vasquez or Jeremiah Jackson comes up to be that utility infielder. Either one would probably play less than Aras did just because not probably not as good of a big league player right now, but that is all dependent on how healthy the Orio starters stay. They are healthy right now, but we’ll see what happens moving forward. Now, Vasquez has more time in the big leagues, right? When you know he was up here for a good chunk while Jorge Mateo spent time on the injured list, didn’t play a whole lot. actually pitched almost as much as he hit as the oro’s position player pitcher and I think they like him in that role. But Jeremiah Jackson also, you know, the minor league signing 25-year-old from this year has just broken out onto the scene. Has a 181 W wrc plus in AAA. That has made him quite literally the best hitter in all of AAA baseball in the 2025 season. He was on the roster for one day last week when the Orioles needed a player and then they sent him right back down to AAA. I wouldn’t be surprised if Vasquez gets the spot, but I think I would give it to Jeremiah Jackson and I would play him, you know, twice a week, maybe just find a way to get him into the lineup and just see if this bat is actually for real what you’re seeing in TripleA. Then you can you can make a decision on him. Maybe he is your next Ramona Reas. There’s a chance to give him that look. Now, Ryan Mount Castle is also pretty close to coming back. Actually, as of today, Mount Castle is eligible to be activated off the 60-day injured list with that hamstring issue. He’s been playing in, you know, rehab games in TripleA for about a week plus now. The bat looks good. Exit videos look good. He’s running around well. He’s playing some first base. He I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but he’s pretty much about ready to come off the injured list. Obviously, with Ryan O’Harn traded, that’s a pretty easy one for one swap. You get a first baseman for a first baseman back on the roster. And that one’s fairly easy. We know that’s going to happen. Now, with Mullins and Lauraniano both being traded out of the outfield, this is where the tough decision comes. Now, Dylan Carlson is already on the roster. He’s going to stay there. He becomes kind of your backup center field option. And the biggest question is, okay, who plays center? It’s going to be Colton Cowser. I am fairly certain Cowser is going to move over from left to center and pretty much be the everyday center fielder for this Orioles team. When he does get a day off or so, Dylan Carlson will be the guy who plays center. He’s I really like Dylan Carlson. I think he might stick around on this team, but he can certainly play center field, handle the bat, okay, as a switch hitter, but Cowser is going to get that everyday role. righties, lefties, I don’t think it’ll matter. I think Cowser, and not even for this year, potentially for for 2026, Cowser might be your everyday center fielder. He’s going to slot over there. So, you have two open spots. I would absolutely call up Dylan Beavers. I mean, he’s got a 150 WRC plus in TripleA. He’s one of your top hitting prospects, former top draft pick, gone through all the swing changes. It’s all coming together. He absolutely deserves a shot. There wasn’t a lot of room. Now there is room. I think it’s the easiest move in the world. I hope there’s a roster alert here on Friday. Dylan Beavers has had his contract selected. He’s rule five eligible this offseason anyway. So, you’re no doubt going to add him to the 40man roster in November at the latest. Why not just add him now and give him two months to find out what you have with him going into 2026? I think it’s a no-brainer to get Beavers up here. The interesting thing is the other spot because in theory in theory the other spot would be an opening to bring H Kirststad back to the big leagues, right? He’s been down in Triple A for you know about a month to six weeks and he was really bad in the big leagues but you thought like that reset down there would work. His line in Triple A is somehow twice as bad as his line was in the big league seemingly in 112 plate appearances in Norfol. Kurstad slashing 192 240 327 with a 28% strikeout rate and a 28 WRC plus. That’s right. He’s been 72% worse than a league average AAA hitter. Now, when guys go down for AAA resets, you don’t always want to take everything from the stat line because they’re always working on something. They’re always go, you know, it’s a swing change, it’s an approach change. Clearly, the O’s are, they got to be doing something with Hston Kerstat. So, you take all those stats with a serious grain of salt because there’s different things he’s thinking about than just get a hit, get a hit, get a hit when he’s up there because he’s working through mechanical things. But that’s still really bad for a guy who you would think has enough talent to be a little bit better when he’s working through things. So he hasn’t really earned the callup, but this is another chance to give him leeway. Unfortunately, P hasn’t played in aa game since July 25th. That since what, Saturday? And the Orioles placed him on the 7-day AAA injured list with what they’re calling just general fatigue and are hoping he can bounce back with a little bit of time off. So, even if he comes back soon, like Kerstad’s not ready to be recalled here on Friday and and join the roster and fill that open roster spot. I do think we will see Kirstad again in the major leagues at some point down the stretch, mostly because O’Harn and Mullen Floriano were all traded. That’s enough leeway to give Kursad a little bit of space once he’s healthy, but it’s not going to be right now. So, I mean, maybe this is the opening for a Jud Fabian potentially like that. That’s maybe, you know, 67th overall pick back in 2022. Made it to AAA last year was terrible. Back to Triple A this year, much better. Still hitting for a low average, but he’s walking. He’s hitting homers. He’s got a 107 WRC plus. He’s playing a great defensive center field. He just came off the injured list. He had a wrist issue. He was just activated on Wednesday and started in the game and went one for four. So, I don’t know if the O’s, you know, two days after bringing him off the IIL and a wrist issue want to bring him right to the big leagues. They might want to let him settle back into Norfol for a couple weeks. So, maybe he’s an option, but maybe not because the wrist thing he’s been dealing with, even though he is back. Jordan Adams, if you remember this, back in June, was on the roster for like a week when Cedric Mullins was out and he was just there to basically be the backup center fielder. He was like a defensive replacement and pinch runner late in games. He’s now all the way down in double A, but you know, the Orioles have already called him up once. So maybe you just see Adams for a few days and then you go to Fabian and then you go to Kursad. That is, I guess, possible. You could reward Vime Machine, you know, was a minor league signing in the offseason, hitting 290 with a 118 WRC plus in AAA. hit another home run on Thursday. He’s got 15 of them. Maybe you give him a little leeway to run. Taran Vavra could come back, right? He’s been back and forth. What I think the Orioles will do is just maybe bring back Taran Vavra because it’s like a it’s a known quantity, right? You can just go get Vavra and say, “All right, you might sit on the bench, you might not. You might play, you might not. It whatever.” It’s it kind of is what it is with Taran Va at this point. But VA is also in double A right now. Now, some of that could be because of, you know, the Bay Socks being at home and being closer to Baltimore and the Tides not, but he was just sent down to DoubleA. So, I’m thinking is that because the Orioles just sent him down there like three days ago, they were planning on it being Taran Vra to make sure he’s closer to Baltimore when they need to call him up because the Bay Socks are at home this week. So, that would be my guess. They could just roster both Luis Vasquez and Jeremiah Jackson, but I think my prediction would be Vavra at least for the moment. So my prediction is Jeremiah Jackson, Ryan Mount Castle, Dylan Beavers, and Teran Vavra come back to the roster. So that leaves you with, you know, against lefties, you’re probably looking at Holiday at second, Westber at third, Henderson at short, Adley a catcher, O’Neal in right, Mal Castle at first, Cowser in center, Mayo dhing Carlson in left, and then against righties more often, same start to the lineup. Holiday Westber, Henderson, Rutman, then Cows are in center, O’Neal and right, Mount Castle at first. Then you that’s where you probably play Beavers in left and Mayo dhing is probably your lineups there. So your usual bench is Alex Jackson, Jeremiah Jackson gets in there a little bit. Alex Jackson, the backup catcher, plays on the day games. Dylan Carlson jumps in a little bit and then I wouldn’t see a lot of starts for Teran Vra if he is on the roster. Maybe more holding a spot for a Fabian on a cursed dad to come back and and play a little bit more. That is my predictions. We’ll learn on Friday because the Orioles, they have a baseball game to play. So either way, we are going to find out who is joining this roster because it’s not only a baseball game, they’re playing the earliest baseball game of anyone after the deadline because the Orioles are going to the Windy City to take on one of the best teams in the National League, the Chicago Cubs, where they just traded Andrew Kitrid. So he might get to face his old friends here today. And it is the classic Wrigley Friday day game to start this series. a 2:20 p.m. Eastern time start on a Friday. Third time this week, you get to watch some baseball at work. I know I’ll be doing that. It’s on Massen 2. Trevor Rogers takes the bump with his 149 erra. He goes up against the 23-year-old rookie right-hander Cade Horton, who’s been really good this year. 367 RA in 13 starts. And he’s got back-to-back scoreless starts he’s coming off of. He’s throwing the ball really, really well. Then on Saturday, it’s another 220 start. This one’s on Mass and 2 and on Fox Sports One. Sugano goes for the Orioles and another young right hander, another rookie in Ben Brown will take the ball. He’s got a 622 erra on the season. Hard throwing righty. And then finally on Sunday again it is TBD for the Orioles. It’s it’s going to be one of Young Povich or Dietrich End starting that game. We will see. But Matthew Boyd is going for the Cubs. Veteran lefty who I wanted the Orioles to sign this off seasonason. They didn’t. He’s got a 247 RA in 21 starts. He’s an all-star. O’s kind of missed out on that one. And then I will be back on Monday recapping everything that happens in the threeame series at Wrigley between the Orioles and the Cubs this weekend and get you any further updates on roster moves, traded prospects, injuries, all that good stuff is coming up on Monday’s episode. But until then, I’m Connor Nukem and this has been the Lockdown Orioles podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

The Baltimore Orioles roster is about to look a lot different after all of the players they traded this week. Host Connor Newcomb dives every spot on the roster, and discusses why players like Brandon Young, Corbin Martin, Chayce McDermott, Coby Mayo, and others will be seeing some more playing time in the final two months of the season.

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