Looking back at how the Orioles moves from the last year have panned out so far

Looking back at how the Orioles moves from the last year have panned out so far

Orioles made a whole bunch of trades at this year’s deadline. Two months later, how have they panned out so far? We’ll take a look at that coming up on this episode of the Locked on Orioles podcast. [Music] You are Locked on Orioles, your daily Baltimore Orioles podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hey there, Orioles fans. Today is Thursday, October 9th, 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, we’re going to look back at the moves the Orioles did or did not make over the past year or so since the beginning of last off season to kind of do a little evaluation. Some of them we have kind of a full year to look at. Otherwise, just a couple of months since the deadline, but I figured a good check-in to reset on kind of uh what Mike Elias’s decisions were like before we get into the next round of big decisions this off seasonason. But that’s all coming up on this episode of the Locked on Orioles podcast, which is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. So, I wanted to begin this look back by taking a look at kind of the moves from more so last off seasonason. Now, not going to really look at like the Gary Sanchez signing or the Charlie Martin signing or Sugato per se. They’re each going to get their own episodes in our player review series starting here, probably as early as as next week here on the podcast to really break down those moves and how those players performed for the Orioles. We’re more so going to look about the other group of moves. So, for last offseason, I want to talk about like the guys that the Orioles didn’t pick up the option on or non-tendered or the the bigger picture roster decisions they made and then we’ll get more nitty-gritty. Talk about each trade the Orioles made at the deadline. But I want to start with the players they did not bring back. And there were a few more like James McCann that I’m not going to really get into like him versus Gary Sanchez. I want to talk more about the first one, which was the Orioles declining the $4 million team option on Danny Koul, which would have been for this season, instead making him a free agent last offseason. Now, we know Koul, right? Incredible 2023 for the Orioles, came over on a cheap deal, was really good in 2024 again until he had an elbow injury in June. Ended up having a surgery to remove bone chips, wasn’t any kind of Tommy John, and was out until September. Now, he came back in midepptember, still got good results, was still on the postseason roster in the wild card round, but his stuff was down, and his velocity was way down as well. And and the Orioles, I think, kind of thought his elbow, especially at age 35, might have been cooked, right? He’s had this surgery. The stuff looks nothing like it was. However, I kind of agreed, but I thought, you know, the the option was for $4 million. I mean, in today’s standards, for a solid middle reliever, that’s still kind of nothing. And especially with David Rubenstein’s first off seasonason, I was like, hey, even if Koul misses the entirety of next year because he has to get Tommy John, it’s $4 million. With Rubenstein at the helm, that’s nothing for this team. And I figured I said, “Hey, I I totally understand where the Orioles are coming from if they think the elbow is cooked. But with how good Danny Kulom had been for a year and a half for this Orioles team, my takeaway was why not just throw him the four million even if you really think he’s done on the off chance that he has a few more good innings for you. And the Orioles, I think, should have taken my perspective there because he ends up signing a one-year $3 million deal to return to the Minnesota Twins. So, he gets a little bit less money than he would have gotten with the Orioles. And I think that shows you he he didn’t sign until February. He only got 3 million. I think a lot of other teams, not just the Orioles, were concerned about Koulom’s elbow. Cuz if you look at the numbers he had put up the previous two years in Baltimore, he would have signed much earlier and for much more than $3 million. So teams were certainly concerned. And it’s also telling that the team that signed him was the Twins. So he pitched for for a while and kind of know him well. Then he throws 31 innings for the Twins to a 1.16 RA with a 25% K rate and a 7% walk rate. He began the season with 21 consecutive scoreless appearances out of the Minnesota bullpen. That is absurd. Now, he did miss about a month with a forearm strain, an injury that’s generally a precursor to more elbow issues. And when you already had elbow surgery, then you have a forearm strain. You’re more and more heading down the road of this elbow might not be okay. Then the Twins are tanking. They trade him to the Rangers at the deadline. And down the stretch with Texas, he was not good. 12 innings, seven runs, 11 hits, 12 strikeouts to nine walks, and three homers allowed with Texas. He also missed two weeks in September with some shoulder fatigue when he was at the Rangers. So now it’s elbow, forearm, and shoulder all in a calendar year. His stuff also played down with the Rangers when he came back from the shoulder injury. So, the Orioles, it seems like were kind of right in that his arm is heading in the wrong direction, but we’re also wrong in that just giving him the $4 million wouldn’t be worth it. Because even 31 innings of 1.16 RA, I think is more than worth $4 million, especially when you have an owner as rich as David Rubenstein. So, I think we come to the end and say Koulom may never be that good again and and he may not even get a major league deal next year if he wants to keep pitching. But I think the O’s made the wrong call. Now, now does Danny Koul fix their season? No, he does not. They probably would have traded him at the deadline just like the Twins did, but that’s another prospect you could have gotten that he didn’t have for $4 million. Yeah, that one I think was not a full swing in a miss because they were idyllically right with the arm troubles, but they got out too early for a guy who was not going to be expensive. Next one is Jacob Webb, who the Orioles non-tendered last year, did not take him to arbitration. He would have made about $2 million in 2025. The Orioles decided to not pay him that and let him walk. And it was pretty similar for Webb. Came over on waiverss in 2023. Was awesome. had a good 2024 with the Orioles. Had a 302 erra in 56 and two/3s innings out of the bullpen. But very similarly to Kulom, he had missed time with an elbow issue. Missed about six weeks late in the year with elbow inflammation. Similar to Koulom, he also came back in late September and his stuff and command also looked bad when he came back. And I think the Orioles also thought, hey, you know, his arm is overworked. I mean, they threw him a lot since bringing him in on waiverss in August of 2023 and just felt like the arm was cooked. And similar to Danny Kulo, other teams felt the same. You know, he would have been owed about 2 million. The Orioles non-tender him, sending him to free agency. And he eventually signs a one-year $1.25 million deal with the Rangers. So, again, gets less money and didn’t have a lot of teams that were on him. He missed a month with a back issue this year with Texas, but didn’t have any arm injuries and still got solid results. A 300 ERA in 66 innings. I’ll take that from a reliever. Now, his strikeouts were way down. He had a 4.3 fit. So, there was definitely some good luck involved. His stuff was not the same. The stuff and the VO were both down, but kind of similar to Kulum where it was like, were they right about the arm and the injuries? I think yes. But also, just like with Koul, could the Orioles have used 66 innings of three erra out of that bullpen? Absolutely they could have and then moved on from him after this year. So again, did would Jacob Webb or Danny Kulum would have made the difference in turning this team around? Absolutely not. Still would have been nice to have them. I think the Orioles kind of missed on both of those more small level decisions last year. The bigger level decision really came down to Anthony Santandere or do you go get another outfielder? And it turned out the Orioles decided to get another outfielder and kind of became Anthony Santandere versus Tyler O’Neal. Santandere signed a 5-year $92.5 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Orioles even before that, I mean Santandere signed pretty late. Early in the offseason signed Tyler O’Neal to a three-year $49.5 million deal with the opt out after year one. Now, I did an episode factoring in the contracts and the years and everything and I said even on the exact contracts, I would have slightly preferred Santandere over O’Neal just because of the value he’s brought to the Orioles and the the better health that he has had throughout his career even if I think Toronto vastly overpaid for him. And I I don’t think any other team was close to the money in years number that Toronto ended up offering Santandere to get him there. So, Santandere plays the first two months for the Blue Jays and he was awful. Well, he’s notoriously a slow starter. He’d always been bad in April, but then he starts to heat up. In his first two months, 179, 273, 304 slash, 26% strikeout rate, six homers, and a 63 WRC plus. He was awful for the Blue Jays. And then on May 30th, the Jays play Santandere on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation. Now remember the shoulder issue was the initial injury that Santandere had like way back in 2016 that allowed the Orioles to pluck him out of the Guardian system in the rule five draft. Now I don’t think it was the same exact injury here, but he was injuryprone early in his career. He stayed healthy more recently. He signs the big deal and immediately sustains a serious injury cuz he missed almost four months. The Blue Jays did not activate him from the injured list until September 23rd. He played four games down the stretch. Got one hit and was placed on the postseason roster, but was not really a part of this Blue Jay team. Like he was in the lineup for game one and out of the lineup game two of the ALDS against the Yankees so far since I’m recording this here on Monday night because of scheduling. So there’s been more games since then. But he wasn’t really a factor for that team. Both Santandere and O’Neal ended up playing exactly 54 games each. That is exactly onethird of the big league season because of course O’Neal was bad he suffered a bunch of injuries but overall as bad as Tyler O’Neal was except for walk rate in which Santandere was a little bit higher Tyler O’Neal was better in essentially every single offensive category this year than Santandere was in the 54 games they each played when they were healthy. So, at this point, you have O’Neal, who played the same amount of time, was better when he was out there. They’re around the same age. O’Neal’s contract probably looks better at this point because it’s two years shorter and over $40 million cheaper. I mean, you worry about both of these guys from an injury and a production standpoint moving forward. So, I really do think the guy who is better and has the shorter and cheaper contract probably puts his team in a better spot. Now, the fact that the Blue Jays won the division and the Orioles won 75 games tells you that the team and franchise itself is in a better position in Toronto. But if you’re just looking at Santandere versus O’Neal, the Orioles probably made the better of the two decisions, but the good decision it seems like would have been neither because both were a complete disaster. Santandere just a bigger disaster than O’Neal’s been so far and because of the bigger and longer contract. We’ll see how they both age over the next two years before O’Neal becomes a free agent. The Orioles, I would say, got this one right in a head-to-head sense, but overall not right because Tyler O’Neal was still pretty bad as well. And and again, you know, Santair’s healthy now, so we’ll see. Maybe he does some awesome stuff and helps lead the Blue Jays to a World Series and then this answer flips. But right now, advantage O’Neal, not by much, because they were both bad. Those are the moves I wanted to go after from the offseason. Now, let’s look at the deadline. Is it fair to talk about deadline trades after two months? From the minor league side and prospects, not really. From the major league side, when you trade for guys at the deadline, it’s a lot of rentals. It’s a lot of guys you only have for two months. That’s what you’re graded on. How did these Orioles do? The nine Orioles on their new teams. We’ll start with the pitchers coming up next. But first, this episode of the Lockdown Orioles podcast is brought to you by Rugiet. Now, you’ve probably heard of Viagra or Seialis. Maybe you’ve even tried them. But if you’re looking for something beyond the usual pill, it’s time to meet Rugiiet Golong. This isn’t just another ED pill. It’s a total gamecher for confidence. Golong combines two doctor trusted medications in one dualaction formula. And the process is simple. Connect with a board-certified doctor 100% online. And if prescribed, your treatment ships discreetly right to your door. So, you’re ready to level up your confidence in the bedroom. Head to rugit.com and use promo code lockedonmlb for 15% off your first order. That’s ruggit.com. Promo code locked on MLB. Make sure to use our code so they know that we sent you. So, now we take a look back at the nine players, nine major league players the Orioles traded away at the deadline. Let’s start with the pitchers and how these trades look. Again, is it fully fair to to do this two months after the deadline? Probably not, but it’s a little more fair on the teams, the non-oral side, the teams that acquired the major league player, especially the guys who are rentals and will probably sign with someone else this offseason. Starting with a rental in Gregory Sodto, left-handed reliever. Orioles trusted him for about a year and a half. was up and down. Command was iffy, but stuff was great. Trade him to the Mets for two right-handed pitching prospects. Wellington arisena and Cameron Foster. Sodto with the Mets was pretty much sodto with the Orioles. 24 innings, 450 erra. K’s were down, but also the walks were down to 5% so that was a good sign for him. Still the RA was a little inflated. He’s now a free agent. Mets, of course, did not make the postseason. On the flip side, Wellington Arena had a dominant start in Delm Marva when he came over, then was promoted to Aberdine. five good starts in Aberdine with a 235 erra. He walks way too many hitters, but for a 20-year-old right-hander, the stuff looks really, really good from him. Very exciting pitching prospect. Cameron Foster, he went to AAA through 16 innings, had a 338 erra, 33% strikeout rate, 11% walk rate, had big chase numbers, big swing and miss numbers. He’s probably going to get added to the 40man roster this offseason to protect him from the rule five draft. It’s a good fast ball at 96 with Vert. He’s got good stuff numbers. I think Cameron Foster probably pitches in the big leagues for the Orioles out of the bullpen next year at some point. He’s going to be at least a good kind of depth up down reliever to have. Andrew Kitridge trade was sent to the Cubs for 17-year-old infielder Wilfrey Dea Cruz. Kitridge has about a $10 million team option on him for 2026 as well. He does finally look healthy in Chicago. 21 and two/3s innings down the stretch for Kitridge who didn’t pitch for the Orioles a lot cuz he missed a couple of months with that knee surgery he got in spring training came back looked okay then was traded 21 and two/3s innings 3-2 RA but a 39% strikeout rate to a 4% walk rate with the Cubs was just absurd from Kitridge and he actually moved into their closer role when Daniel Palencia got hurt and Kitridge had five saves down the stretch and also closed it out with the save in game three of the wild card series against the Padres’s is to advance the Cubs to the NLDS. And I mean there the way he’s pitched, even though he’s in his mid to late 30s, I think they’re absolutely going to pick up that team option on him and get him back. So the Cubs with him finally looking healthy. Feel pretty good about that deal. Now Dale Cruz is 17 years old. He came over. He did have a 151 WRC plus in 12 games with the Orioles team in the Dominican Summer League before that season ended. So not much. We’ll see if he gets state side next year to see what he can become. But so far, Mets didn’t. They got some out of sodto. Cubs have gotten a lot so far out of Kitrich. Brian Baker traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for the number 39 overall pick in the 2025 draft. A comp pick that the Orioles acquired. Baker with the Rays. Just kind of a little bit of a worse version of Baker with the Orioles. 30 in a third innings, 475 RA, 28% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate. Pretty similar stuff, just a tougher ballpark to pitch in in the minor league park Steinbrer that the Rays were playing in this year. A lot more susceptible to home runs. and Baker did give them up in a Rays uniform, but the Rays upped his change up usage even more, which is his best pitch and it was still great. And he has team control through 2028. So, the Rays have three more seasons of him, but he does not have any minor league options. So, if things start to go poorly, he could absolutely get DFAD. Orioles took teenage outfielder Slater DeBron out of high school with that draft pick. Didn’t play in any minor league games after the draft, but he was a first round talent. This one very much a TBD trade at this point. Sir Anthony Dominguez was traded to the Blue Jays. Remember they were playing a double header and he just switched clubouses for right in a pitching prospect Giron Watts Brown. Dominguez been pretty good with Toronto. 21 innings, three erra, 29% strikeout rate is good. 14% walk rate is actually higher than it was with the Orioles. He’s kind of gone away from his new splitter some which was his differencemaking pitch with the Orioles and has amped up the sweeper usage with the Blue Jays. His stuff is and his stats are pretty much identical, though. And he’s now kind of the setup man for Toronto. He got some big outs in game one. He closed out the blowout win in game two for the Blue Jays out of the bullpen against the Yankees. I mean, again, it’s a lot of walks. He’s going to be a free agent again. I wouldn’t be mind if the Orioles went after him in free agency, but he could help the Blue Jays to a championship. He’s been good in their bullpen. Watts Brown for the Orioles went right to double A. Seven starts, 382 RA, 31% strikeout rate. He cut his walk rate down to 9%. It was much higher with Toronto. That’s really good. He’s got, I mean, between the slider and the curveball. He’s got some unhitable breaking balls. It’s not an amazing fast ball. It’s kind of a dead zone fastball. The Orioles may add more of a sinker to his plate to fix that, but it’s some good stuff. We’ll see if he sticks as a starter. This seems to be a win-win trade so far. And then the final pitcher dealt was Charlie Morton, who the Orioles sent over to the Tigers right at the final hour of the deadline for left-handed pitching prospect Micah Ashman. Now Morton with Detroit, at first it was good. Three of his first four starts with the Tigers were really, really good after the trade. He kind of continued what he was doing in Baltimore because remember with the Orioles had a terrible first six weeks. They move into the bullpen. He kind of resets himself, comes back and ends up being a good starter for a while for the Orioles and somehow they were able to trade him and actually get a minor leager back. But after those four starts, Morton was just a disaster down the stretch and tried to kind of destroy the season of both the Orioles and the Tigers. At one point, Charlie Morton ended up with a 701 erra in his nine starts with the Tigers. And those last five were abysmal. 26% K rate was good, but a 13% walk rate. Just kind of lost his command again. The early season, Morton came back and the Tigers, you know, he was in the the rotation. I figured they just move him to the bullpen, try and do the same thing the Orioles did when they moved him to the pen and fixed him. You know, the Tigers bullpen isn’t great. Probably could have used him out of the bullpen in the postseason. He’s been a good postseason pitcher in his career, but surprisingly they just DF8 him on September 21st. They just set him free. He was claimed by the Braves who gave him one final start in Atlanta. You know, the team that drafted him, the team he won a World Series with on the final day of the season. Threw an inning and a third scoreless. Got a really cool standing ovation coming off the mound. Seems like retirement is probably next for the 41-year-old Charlie Morton, but man oh man was that bad down the stretch. Now, it’s not like the Orioles got a lot for him. They just got Micah Ashman, but Ashman was very intriguing as a left-handed reliever in Buoie. Yes, he did have a 48 erra in 15 innings, but how about a 38% strikeout rate to a 7% walk rate? That is absurd numbers. To strike out almost two in every five batters and still barely walk anyone is insane. His 1.02 02 FIP was the lowest of any Orioles pitcher in the minor league system this year. The slider looks really, really good. Ashman’s most likely going to be in TripleA Norfick in the bullpen next year. Like, watch out for him to be an intriguing lefty. I think the Orioles absolutely won that trade so far, getting rid of Morton and getting a legitimate arm into their system. So, those were the pitchers the Orioles traded away, five of them. They also dealt away four hitters and got a ton of prospects in those deals as well. So, we’ll talk about those to finish off the show coming up next. But first, this episode of the Locked Orioles podcast is also brought to you by Game Time. There’s nothing like catching a baseball game live. 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So, to finish things up, we take a look at the hitters that the Orioles traded away at the deadline and how it’s gone so far. Starting with Raone Aras, who was traded to the Astros for right-handed pitching prospect Twine Palmer. Now, Aras does have one more year before he’s a free agent, controlled through 2026, but he went to Houston. He was basically a league average hitter with the Orioles this year. He was much worse with the Astros. 35 games, had 101 played appearances, hit just 223, had a 28% strikeout rate. We’ve never seen a strike out that much, posted just a 76 WRC plus, 24% worse than league average as a Houston Astro. And even with all the injuries the Astros sustained, Aras never truly even became an everyday player for them. He didn’t play for 10 days at one point in September when the Astros were struggling. He still has one year of control left, but like if the Astros don’t see a future there, they could absolutely non-tender Ramona Reas and make him a free agent a year early. The O’s could just sign him back to be a utility guy. Like that’s not out of the question at all at this point. So the Orio could have kind of gotten Twine Palmer for almost nothing. Now was Twine Palmer good? He didn’t look that good. in Del Marva five starts had a 915 erra with a four fifth but still low strikeout rate high walk rate didn’t look great we’ll see Ramona probably didn’t have a lot of value but hey if the O’s get a reus back which is a possibility ends up kind of being a wash Cedric Mullins was sent to the Mets for three right-handed pitching prospects Raymon Gomez Anthony Nunees and Chandler Marsh as bad as Aras was with Houston Mullins was somehow worse with the Mets 143 played appearances he slashed 82 284 281. That’s a 66 WRC plus. And he did not play very good defense in center field either in New York. The Mets fans did not like him. He never really got hot. Never went on one of those Mullins heaters. He was honestly really bad. He definitely hurt his free agent stock. Like I don’t see anybody giving Cedric Mullins more than a one-year deal. I mean, I still think he’ll get a major league deal because he’s he can play center field and he can hit a little bit, but like I don’t know if Mullins is getting more than a one-year deal. Would he come back to Baltimore? I mean, if he’s willing to take a one-year deal, I think I would resign Cedric Mullins if he’s willing. But man, oh man, was he bad. I mean, he was so bad that they just took him out of the lineup once they got Jose Ciri back and Tyrone Taylor came back too in center field. Mullen started just one of the Mets final seven games of the season as they completely collapsed. Mullins wasn’t helping at all. It was a tough scene. I don’t think the Mets are resigning him. I’m really interested to see what his free agency looks like, but it was I mean, he was still solid with the Orioles before the trade. It was a disaster down the stretch for Mullins. Now, what the Orioles got back, Rammon Gomez, 24y old righty who was in high A with the Mets. Gomez threw the hardest pitch in the Miners last year. Threw a fast ball at 104 miles an hour. He was also injured. Came over to the Orioles, did not pitch at all in the O system. We’ll keep our eye on that on what the injury was. Anthony Nunees though, he was pretty good. Pitched one game in Buoie, then the Orioles promoted him to AAA. 15 and two/3s innings, 345 RA, 32% K rate, 11% walk rate for Norfolk. Got huge whiff rates, huge trace rates. Uh prospects has great stuff plus on all five pitches Nunees throws. It was an awesome slider. It’s like a good cutter. The I watched him pitch a couple times in Norfol. It was really nasty. He’s rule five eligible. He’s almost a lock for the Orioles to add to the 40man roster this off season. I will unless he’s trained for someone else like Nunes I guarantee pitches for the Orioles out of the bullpen at some point next year. He’s a really intriguing arm. And then there is Chandler Marsh who nobody really knew a lot about when he came over in the trade. 23-year-old in Aberdine, but he put up good numbers. 10 innings, only two runs, six hits, 11ks to three walks. So hey, just another depth arm in this system. And then there was the big trade the Orioles made. Raone Lauraniano and Ryan O’Harn sent to the Padres’s for six prospects. Now O’Harn went over. He was the impending free agent in his walk year. Had a 112 WRC plus. He was a 135 in Baltimore before the trade. His walks went down. His strikeouts went up. He was simply not as good. Now, some of that was because the Padres’s played him against left-handed pitchers a lot more than the Orioles did. And while it was nice for O’Harn to get that experience before hitting free agency, he didn’t exactly do that well against the lefties, some of that contributed to the higher strikeout rate. The worst part was the underlying metrics. O’Harn, who always hit the ball hard, was able to not strike out a lot, put contact on the ball. That’s why he was such a productive hitter. He had a 48% hard hit rate in Baltimore. That’s a really good number. That number dropped to 28% in San Diego. That is a precipitous drop. He was just not the same hitter for the Padres’s. Now again, I’m open to bringing Ryan O’Harn back for the right price, but those two months in San Diego hopefully were just a slump because that that is concerning that the metrics went down as much as they did with the K rates up and the walks down, it was still above average for the Padres’s, but not the hitter they thought they were getting. Raone Laurato on the flip side, he ended up being the hitter they thought they were getting. Now, his production did drop a little bit. He went from a 145 WRC plus with the Orioles to a 127 with the Padres’s, but was still one of their best hitters down the stretch. was hitting the ball hard still, was carrying the Padres’s offense at times, even with Tatis and Machado, etc. on that team. Unfortunately, Lauriano fractured his right index finger in the final week of the season, missed the rest of the year, and also missed the wild card series. It’s probably going to be out for the NLDS plus if the Padres’s advanced, but of course, they lost in three games to the Cubs in that wild card series. He’s got a cheap team option for 2026. The Padres’s are almost certainly going to pick that up because he was so good for the O’s and so good for the Padres’s down the stretch. So, San Diego kind of went one and a half for two, I guess, in getting O’Harn and Lauraniano, but the O’s got six prospects back. 20-year-old left-handed pitcher Boston Baitman. Two great starts in Delm Marva. Then got promoted. Wasn’t very good in Aberdine. Three starts, seven runs over 11 innings, 13 Ks to 11 walks. The stuff is there. The slider and change up are great. He’s just 6’8 with these long levers. He’s 20 years old. He came out of high school. It’s hard to kind of hone in the command. If the Orioles can get those mechanics down, he’s going to be a really good pitcher, but there’s still some work to do there. 22-year-old right-handed reliever Tyson Neighbors went to Buoie was unbelievable. One run in 15 to third innings, 19 strikeouts to five walks, fastball, slider, curveball combination, just unreal. He made like the second team all minor league baseball team this year. I think Neighbors almost certainly will begin the year in TripleA Norfol. The stuff is incredible. I think he debuts in the Orioles bullpen. And I think long-term, like maybe 2027 and beyond, he could be a closer for this Orioles team. Like once Felix Bautista is gone, circle Tyson Neighbors as the future closer for this Orioles team. That stuff is just ridiculous that he’s got coming out of the bullpen. 23-year-old righty Tanner Smith made four appearances in Delm Marva, got promoted to Aberdine. I never actually watched him pitch this year, so I don’t know much about Tanner Smith, but I do know the stats. Five and a third scoreless, three hits, 11ks, no walks when he went to Aberdine. You’ll absolutely take those numbers. 23-year-old right-handed hitting shortstop Brandon Butterworth came over. He went right to double A after the trade. First time in DA. He was okay. 34 games, 215, 322, 355, you know, 92 WRC plus slightly below league average DA hitter. Good walk rate, low strikeout rate, contact hitter, puts the ball in play, doesn’t strike out, got a good batter’s eye. He’s fun to watch play shorts stop as well. Plays around the infield. We’ll see him back in double A in 2026. I’m not really sure on the prospect status of Butterworth at this point. Let’s let’s see a full season out of him in the oral system. Then there was 20-year-old right-handed hitting shortstop Cobb High Tower. Basically a league average hitter in about 100 played appearances in Delm Marva. He runs well. He stole seven bases. I didn’t see much from him otherwise. Kind of another guy where let’s see a full season in the system and see what he can do. And finally, 21-year-old left-handed hitting first baseman, Victor Figueroa. Had just an 88 WRC plus in Aberdine. Did not hit a home run in Aberdine despite his whole thing as being a power hitter. Hit 188 with a 29% strikeout rate for the Ironbirds. He’ll be back in what now will be high a Frederick next year. He’s got to show more to get to double A. But Figueroa was very clearly the sixth best prospect out of the six minor leaguers the Orioles acquired in this deal. Not sure there’s much of a future there, but we will see. But I think overall a generally positive end to those two months of the season for the six Orioles prospects the O’s got in that deal and for all of the what 15 I believe prospects the Orioles got at the deadline this year. It was kind of a mixed bag for the players the Orioles traded away when they went to their new teams. Maybe some of them could even be back in Baltimore in 2026. Too early though to judge these trades fully. We got to see some of these prospects maybe get traded for others, maybe get to the big leagues, then you can fully evaluate. But I figured it was worth it doing kind of a first look at all of these deals. That’ll do it for today’s episode. Thank you so so much for tuning in. Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe to Lock Orals YouTube channel wherever you listen. If you could follow the show, subscribe, leave a fivestar rating and a review, Spotify, Apple Podcast, really helps us out. And if you have any Orioles thoughts, questions about the show, want to give me some feedback, certainly love to hear it. You can email me [email protected]. I’ll be back tomorrow for one more episode this week. Just going to get some Orioles news and notes, kind of round things up from the week. And hey, maybe there’ll be a managerial hiring by then to talk about. If not though, playing Orioles baseball coming up on tomorrow’s episode. 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 made a lot of roster decisions last offseason, and then a lot of trades at this year’s deadline. Host Connor Newcomb does a deep dive into how each move has worked out so far, including trades of Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, and Bryan Baker, and choosing Tyler O’Neill over Anthony Santander.

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