Orioles acquire RHP Shane Baz from the Rays for four prospects! – REACTION & ANALYSIS

Orioles acquire RHP Shane Baz from the Rays for four prospects! – REACTION & ANALYSIS

The Orioles have made their first starting pitching edition of the off seasonason as they’ve traded for Shane Bos from the Tampa Bay Rays. We’ll break down everything you need to know from this trade coming up on this live episode of the Locked On Orioles podcast. >> [music] >> You are Locked On Orioles, your daily Baltimore Orioles podcast, part of the Locked On [music] podcast network, your team every day. Hey there, Orioles fans. Today is Friday, December 19th, 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 live episode, we’re breaking down the big trade that went down earlier this afternoon. The Orioles acquiring right-handed starting pitcher Shane Bos in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for four prospects and a draft pick in the 2026 draft. I’ll talk about who Bos has been as a pitcher so far and what he projects to be as he comes with three years of team control for the Orioles. We’ll chat about how much the O’s gave up and who those four prospects are that are going the other way. And finally, a conversation about how Bos fits in with the Orioles rotation and what is up next in terms of moves for this Orioles team this off seasonason. But that’s all coming up on this live episode of the Locked Orioles podcast, which is brought to you by Game Time. Game time. Listen, this is the best place to get tickets. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. So, I did an episode earlier today on Friday discussing the Michael King move. Michael King was resigned by the Padres’s for three years, 75 million. He had been connected to the Orioles. And you can go check it out. I talked about, you know, why the contract that King took, you know, kind of made sense for him and for the Padres’s and why a lot of other teams wouldn’t be really be willing to do that deal with all the optouts. And so I did an episode about, okay, CE is gone, King is gone, there’s three top free agent starters out there, how are the Orioles going to proceed when it comes to adding starting pitching this off seasonason? And while those three are still out there and Ranger Suarez and Frankber Valdez and Tatsuya Imi, I talked about some of the best trade candidates who are out there as well. And I had a list of 13 guys [snorts] and Shane Bos was not on there. Not because he wouldn’t be one of those top 13. and he absolutely would. But even though he had come up in like one trade rumor with the Rays and Astros much earlier this off season, I really didn’t think the Rays were going to deal a guy with three years of control who really only started to get his feet settled in the big leagues in 2025. I I didn’t see him as someone who was so readily available that I should put him on the list and yet here we are. So, the full trade, the Orioles are acquiring Shane Bos in exchange for four prospects that go back to Tampa Bay in this deal. Outfielder Slater de Brun, right-handed pitcher Michael Ferrett, catcher Kaden Boddine, and outfielder Austin Overn. And the Orioles competitive balance round a pick in the upcoming draft, which is 33rd overall in the 2026 draft, is going to the Rays as well. So, let’s begin with who is Shane Bos? What kind of pitcher is he at this point? Well, the first thing that’s nice is he’s only 26 years old. Like, he’s going to step in and be potentially the Orio’s youngest starter next year. I mean, he’s been in the big league since he debuted late in 2021, but he debuted at a very, very young age. Bos was a firstround pick of the Pirates all the way back in 2017 out of high school. And even though he’s been in the big since 2021, he was a super two arbitration guy, which gives him one more year under control. So, he’s not a free agent until after 2028, which gives the Orioles three years of team control of Bos. He’s projected to make about $3.1 million in arbitration in 2026, according to the MLB trade rumors projections. I mean, at most he makes $3 million next year, you know, then six and then 10 maybe. Like, it’s it’s not going to be a lot of money the are going to pay for Bos while he’s under arbitration. Now, he was only in the Pirate system for about a year until August of 2018 when he was dealt to the Tampa Bay Rays as a prospect along with Tyler Glassnau and Austin Meadows for Chris Archer, which has gone down as one of the worst trades in recent baseball history. All three of those guys were awesome for the Rays. Now, since then, none of the three still play for the Rays, but Archer got to Pittsburgh and was pretty much immediately awful. Glass now became an all-star. Bos looked really good as a prospect and had stretches and Meadows was really good for a stretch there. So, no matter what you think about this trade, I can guarantee you this will not be the worst trade that Shane Bos has been involved in in his career because that one was so terrible and detrimental to the Pirates. Now, he ended up climbing the Ray system and debuted late in the 2021 season in September after he had just an incredible minor league season dominating double A and then AAA to get to the big leagues. and he had a 201 RA in his first three career starts in September. And that was good enough for the Rays who got to the playoffs that year to not only put Bos on their playoff roster, but give him a playoff start in the ALDS against the Red Sox. Now, it didn’t go great. He allowed three runs and was pulled after just two and a third innings. And that has been his only career Major League Baseball playoff start to this point. But it shows you something how much they trusted him because he was a legit can’t miss prospect on the Fan Graphs preseason 2022 prospect list. He was the number 11 prospect in baseball. At Baseball America, he was ranked number eight. And at Fan Graphs, Grayson Rodriguez was number four and number six at Baseball America. Those two guys, Grayson and Bos, were kind of from 2021 to 22 the consensus top two pitching prospects in Major League Baseball. You know, Bos was drafted a year earlier out of high school, but it’s funny how the two of them kind of rose the ranks at the same time being top pitching prospects. Now, Bos was older and he he debuted a lot earlier, which makes sense. So, there are some similarities there as we’ll talk about. You know, you got hardth throwing righties with good secondary stuff, huge prospect status, have had some injury issues in their career. And you know, Grayson’s got four years of team control. Bos has three. So, you might be wondering, Connor, why did the Orioles trade away Grayson Rodriguez to get Taylor Ward early this off season just to trade all that to get a Grayson Rodriguez like pitcher back in Shane Bos? Here’s my answer to that one. One, as I talked about, I don’t think the relationship between Grayson and the Orioles was that great at that point, and that forced some of the trade. Two, since August of 2024, Shane Bos has made 41 big league starts. Since August of 2024, Grayson Rodriguez has made zero. Once again, some of the best ability is availability. And even though Bos has had his own injury things, which we’ll talk about, he’s made 41 starts since Grayson made his last one. That is a huge difference, especially for an Orioles team that had so many issues with injuries in 2025. Now, speaking of injuries, there was a speck of injury for Shane Bos that began in 2022. So, he doesn’t make it on the opening day roster because he feels some elbow pain in March. And he gets arthroscopic elbow surgery during spring training in 2022 and was out until June. He did return in mid June, made six starts, pitched for about a month, and then went back on the injured list in mid July of 2022 with an elbow strain. Now, he went the route we’ve seen players go before. We saw Kyle Bradish do it a couple years ago. kind of held off the Tommy Don surgery, got the PRP injection in his elbow, tried to come back, but it didn’t work. And finally, in September of 2022, he and the Rays decided enough is enough, and he went under the knife and got Tommy John surgery. Now, obviously, you get it in September. You’re a starting pitcher. He knew it was going to take him out for the entirety of the 2023 season after making only six starts in 2022. And that’s what it did. Now, it took him a little longer to rehab in 2024 than I than he thought. I think a lot of Rays fans were hoping he’d be ready for opening day that season and he just wasn’t. He returned to the mound in early May to make rehab starts in Triple A and he stayed down there a little longer than they thought. There was some early rust in those rehab starts. The Rays had a solid fiveman rotation going at that point. So, they allowed Bos to stay down in TripleA for a little bit longer. He ended up making 10 starts in AAA Durham before the Rays kind of cleared some rotation space and recalled him in early July. and he was really good down the stretch coming back from injury. Had a 3.06 erra in the 14 starts he made down the stretch in 2024. And he looked kind of back to pre-injjury versions of Shane Bos. And yes, that is a lot of time that he missed right in the big leagues. Six starts in 22, zero in 23, and only 14 in 24. Kind of reminds you of the issues of Grayson Rodriguez. But when you really break it down, Grayson’s had like four different injuries happen and he still hasn’t gotten the Tommy John. Still hasn’t gotten the big surgery that would take him out for a while. Shane Bos, he just got Tommy John. The reason why he was out for so long is because it just took him a little longer to recover and get back than it does for most guys. That’s not as concerning because the entire time it was still the same injury. It’s just his rehab took a little longer and he put off the surgery for a little bit back in 2022. So for me and the fact that he came back this year and was healthy, I wouldn’t really put Shane Bos in like the injury riddled injury concern category. I just put him as a starting pitcher who got Tommy John surgery. And there’s a ton of those that happen in Major League Baseball just because the reality of pitching in baseball at this point. So he comes back in 2025 and finally has his first full big league season. Makes 31 starts for the Rays, throws 166 and a third innings. Now his ERA wasn’t pretty. It was 4.87, but he still had some pretty good strikeout numbers. 25% for a starter. His walk rate was at 9%, maybe a little high, but nothing awful to look at. And it was a career-high 47% ground ball rate, which was nice to see for Shane Bos as well. Now, there was certainly some bad in 2025, right? You do not love to see a 487 RA for a guy who stayed healthy and pitched the entire season. I think there are some reasons for that, right? Like what happened to Shane Bos? He was this top prospect. He was putting up good numbers when you saw him pitch and then the ERA is inflated. Well, first of all, he pitched in a Mickey Mouse ballpark as we saw at Steinbrer Field. The Trop was unusable in 2025. So, the Rays had to play at a a single A ballpark. We saw the Orioles have to play there multiple times this year. Short fences, big- time hitters park, fly balls flying out everywhere for home runs. It was not nice to pitchers. And Shane Bos was one of those guys where the ballpark was not nice to him. He had a 5.90 ERA at home at Steinbrer Field and had a 3.86 ERA on the road. That’s more than a two-run difference. That is a wild home road split. That has a lot to do with the ballpark. And it was it was really the home runs that were some of them cheapies at Steinbrerfield that changed his ERA. his home run rate jumped from under 10% in 2024 to almost 16% in 2025 and it was mostly because of the ballpark. It was a 19% home run to fly ball rate at home and 11% way way more manageable on the road. And you look at you, you know, you kind of dive deeper into some of the numbers. His X-Fip, that is expected fielding independent pitching on the home at home I should say and on the road were virtually the same 389 and 387. XFIP is a stat that is designed to give you kind of an erra like number, but also adapts for, you know, not only what your defense should be doing and the things that a pitcher should control, but specifically focuses on the ballpark factors and the home runs you are giving up. And when you have a 48 erra and a 38 xift, what that tells you is you’re pitching in a really bad pitcher ballpark and a place where a lot of fly balls are kind of unlucky to you where they shouldn’t be turning into home runs. And even the fact that, you know, he had a 385 expected erra, basically a run lower than his actual erra, tells you that the quality of contact he was giving up was not that of a pitcher that had an erra of close to five. It was of a pitcher that had an RA in the threes. It was just some bad luck and a terrible ballpark to pitch in for one year for Shane Bos that led to the ERA being that inflated. But he did also lose a little bit of his stuff as well. I think the one main thing you look at is he kind of lost the feel for his slider coming up as a prospect. That slider was like his go-to swing and miss pitch in 2024. It was his second most used pitch in the big leagues. He threw it 21% of the time. opponents hit just 164 against it. But he just he lost the feel for that slider coming into 2025. He ended up throwing it only 3% of the time. I don’t think he threw a single slider after July 1st this season. Like completely benched it overall and instead added a new cutter, a pitch he had never thrown before, but threw it about 15% of the time this year. Threw his curveball a little bit more. Now his curve ball is really good, but the cutter really wasn’t. opponent slugged 598 against that new cutter this year. That is not good. And the slider used to be his pitch that he got righties out with. And this year, righty slugged 130 points higher against Bos than they did in 2024. And he became a guy who was actually better against lefties. And I think it’s because he didn’t have his main weapon against righties. So something has to be figured out with the slider and the cutter, right? He found the new cutter, basically ditched the slider, but the old slider was good. the slider from this year, you know, it had more horizontal movement but less vertical break. It was a differently shaped pitch and you could tell he just couldn’t command it at all. And that’s why by July he just gave up on throwing it at all because it was putting him in such bad spots. So what the Orioles number one plan of attack with Bos this off season should be is figuring out a balance between the slider and the cutter because the cutter got better as the year went on. It was a pretty useful pitch. He had a really good September and that cutter was really really useful for him in that month. So, it’s not a pitch I think he should just give up on after one year, but they either need to find the old slider, the 2024 and before that version, or tweak the cutter and maybe bring a pitch into the middle. Right? You have a cutter here and a slider here. They have similar movement, different velocities. Bring it into the middle and find one pitch that works for you between those two. It’s something Dean Kramer did a couple years ago. He had a sweeper and a cutter. He kind of combined the two into one pitch. Whatever is going to work best for that pitch, he needs it to get righties out. But it’s in there somewhere. And if the O’s can find it, that is going to take Bos to the next level. And the thing is, the stuff is really good outside of the struggles with the slider. He had a 107 stuff plus this year. That was 11th in Major League Baseball this season among qualified starting pitchers. He had the same raw stuff plus number as Paul Sches and Hunter Brown. Like this is a legit dude that is in there. His fast ball sat at 97 miles per hour. That was the best velocity of his career. He can touch 100. He’s got good ride on that four seamer. It comes with a curveball that is just awesome. Like even if the slider struggling, that curveball is incredible. A 125 stuff plus only Frober Valdez’s curveball was better this year among qualified starting pitchers. And you know, it’s not like he throws anything really soft. Everything is hard. It’s the four seamer at 97, the curveball at 85, the cutter at 90, the slider was at 87 when he was throwing it, and then he also will toss in this change up at 89 that he pretty much exclusively will throw to lefties at the pitch to try and get lefties out along with his curveball, but you know, it was a pitch he threw a little bit more this year, and it really hasn’t been half bad. It’s never been a go-to pitch, but it’s a nice thing for him to have in his arsenal. He kind of has all the tools to be a topline pitcher. It’s just that last year was his first full season. He made 31 starts last season. His previous high in the big leagues was 14. Like we’ve never seen Shane Ba because of the long recovery he had from Tommy John surgery. Have a chance to put it all together in a real ballpark, not a minor league ballpark. We’re really going to get to see that for the first time with the Orioles in 2026. And it is quite exciting. But when you get a pitcher who’s that exciting, who has three years of team control left, you got to give up a lot. And that is what the Orioles did. We’ll break down the prospects the O’s gave up in this Bos trade coming up next. But first, this episode of the Lockdown Orioles podcast is brought to you by Game Time. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And now with 48 teams for the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. That’s why the Game Time app is clutch. Finally giving fans a real advantage when it comes to snagging seats. 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Now, we’re going to talk about who those prospects are and if it was too much to give up for Bos. First, I want to thank you for making Lockdown Orioles your first listen of the day, or for today, I guess your second listen, cuz it’s my second episode of the day. And thank you for making Lockdown Podcast Network the number one sports podcast network. Now, you already live your team every day. Now, it’s time to take it up a level and go ad free. Join the Everydayer Club today and get Locked on Orioles with no interruptions, membersonly Discord access, and more. All for just $5 per month or $50 per year. Go to locked-on orals.supcast. supercast.com or check the link down here in the show notes to learn more about joining the Everydayer Club. So, let’s talk about the return for this trade. I think there was a lot of of reaction from O’s fans where it was like, “Yes, I’m happy we got a good starting pitcher in Shane Bos, but I know all the names of those four prospects that went back. These are guys the Orioles just drafted really high. That’s a really high draft pick itself that they just gave up. Is that too much to get a guy like Shane Boss who does have three years of control, which is always going to up the price, but has never had like a really great even full big league 30 plus start season. That’s that you could say it’s it’s too much to give up. So, let’s talk about it, right? The Orioles gave up four prospects. Starting with 18-year-old left-handed hitting outfielder Slater de Brunt, 37th overall pick by the Orioles in the 2025 draft. Got him with a compensation pick. didn’t play in the Miners last year after the draft, but tons of upside to dream on. Bat speed also tons of upside as a rapper, it might seem as well. 22-year-old switchhitting catcher Kaden Boddine was also in this deal. He was the 30th overall pick in the 2025 draft. Fan graphs had him as the number 11 prospect in the Orio system. They didn’t have Slater ranked. I may have just checked at a weird time. He’s definitely a top 20 prospect in the O system. Boddine, great defensive catcher out of Coastal Carolina. Great hit tool. little questions about like the power and the full offensive upside, but he played 11 games in Delm Marva after the draft. Looked really good, but again, it was only 11 games. Then there is 22-year-old left-handed hitting outfielder Austin Overn. Third round pick out of USC in the 2024 draft for the Orioles. Fan graphs had him ranked number 20 in the Orioles system. Big speed, big power, fantastic defensive outfielders, absolutely true center fielder, and did have a 112 WRC plus in the 30 games he played when he got promoted to DA at the end of the season. There is some questions on the hit tool, you know, is it a lot of power but a lot of strikeout. He’s an interesting profile who I think I would almost guarantee Austin Overurn will play in the big league someday just because the other tools he has. It’s just kind of a an Enrique Bradfield light where it’s different kind of tools, but it’s like the defense and the speed will get him to the bigs. The question is, can the other stuff around it turn him into a starter or just more of like a fourth or fifth outfield type? And the one that might hurt the most is 21-year-old right-handed pitcher Michael Ferrett. Now, he was just a 14th round pick back in 2023. Fangrass has him 27th in the Orioles system, but Baseball America has him ranked eighth. Michael Ferrett was the only of these four that on John Mioli’s Baseball America Orioles prospect list that came out last week. Fret was the only one ranked in the top 10 who was included in this trade. It’s a low 90s fast with a sinker, death ball, curveball, sweeper, couple of different change ups, wide mix. did miss about a month this year with a back injury, but when he pitched, he had a 151 erra in Aberdeene, then got called up to make three starts in DA and had a sub two erra in those three starts or those Yeah, those three starts to finish off his season. He looks like a really, really interesting pitching prospect for the Orioles. And then they also gave up a draft pick. The 33rd overall pick coming up in the 2026 MLB draft was a competitive balance a round pick. Those comp picks are the only ones that are eligible to be traded at this point in Major League Baseball. So, the Orioles did deal one. And it definitely feels like giving up a lot when you first look, right? You have two really high picks, two first round picks from the 2025 draft that you can dream on. I mean, it’s funny. The pick that they took Slater de Brun with was the pick they got from the Rays in the Brian Baker trade at the deadline. They picked Debrun and they trade him right back to Tampa Bay, which is a little amusing part of this. Austin Overn has shown some really really loud and interesting tools. Although I don’t think he had the season some thought he would have in 2025. And Ferret again he’s the highest ranked baseball America. He might be the best of them all. I mean he could easily be the Orioles fourth best pitching prospect behind Trey Gibson, Luis Deleó, and Estvon Mahia. And I mean you could make an argument that he’s he’s third or second. Like I don’t think he’s above Trey Gibson, but you could argue him over guys like Deleon and Mahia in this oral system with how good he’s been. So, you’re giving up a potential future pitcher, but like this is the cost of pitching in Major League Baseball. Everyone is asking for pitching and this is what it costs to get a guy. And the Orioles clearly have identified the issues with Shane Bos, but also how good he could be and thought this is worth it to make this deal. This is a guy who we think has number one or number two upside in our rotation. You know, it’s not just for one year. We’re getting him for three seasons, which is super super valuable, which is always going to up what it costs to get a player. Is that cheap? It’s not just team control. It is cheap team control, right? It’s going to cost, I mean, no more than $20 million total probably over the three years that they have them. The Orioles, the reports are that there was a bidding war for Bahas. The Orioles weren’t the only team on him and the O’s kind of won. Now, here’s the reality of this trade. You are giving up a lot. These are some players who could be good, but let’s just sit here and think about this. Clearly, the Orioles have shown us this off seasonason with the Grayson Rodriguez for Taylor Ward, with the paying for Pete Alonzo, with the going to get Ryan Helley. They are trying to turn this around in 2026. They are not going to sit back and allow them to be a possibility. That’s as another disappointing year because at that point, Mike Elias’s job is going to be on the line. David Rubenstein is willing to pay. Mike Elias is it’s it’s a different way than he’s ever operated at the helm of the Orioles. are operating completely differently this off season and yes they want to be good not just in 2026 but in the years beyond Elias still that is still important to him but for the first time since he took over in November of 2018 he is looking at this to say next year is more important [clears throat] than the five years beyond it he’s always at most given them equal importance I think there’s a fire under him and he’s saying look we need to be good next year and these moves he has made are more short-term than long term, which the Orioles have made so many long-term moves. I think it’s healthy for this team and this organization to make moves that are going to be better in the short term. And that’s what this is. You’re giving up four prospects in a draft pick who could absolutely be something down down the road down the stretch. But Shane Bos helps you right now. None of these four prospects, and you could include whoever would have been selected with the 33rd overall pick they traded away, none of those five players, I guarantee you, were going to get to the big leagues in 2026. Zero chance, zero, that any of those five players are major leaguers in 2026. Maybe someone like Austin Overn could have debuted at some point like in the second half of 2027. Maybe. I’ll give you that. But I would argue that there’s a better chance that none of them play in the majors in either 26 or 27. So if you’re the Orioles, this is how you look at it. We gave away guys who won’t help us in the next two years for a guy who absolutely will help us win in the next two years and actually in the next three years because he has so much team control. When you are coming off such an awful, awful season, you got to let go of what Slater de Brun could be in 2029 or what Michael Ferrett could be in 2028. Now, it’s different if they’re prospects who could legitimately help you next year. That’s a different conversation. But none of these guys, none of them are helping the 2026 Orioles. Grayson Rodriguez, to be honest with you, is a different category. But be honest with yourself and look in the mirror. Was Grayson Rodriguez gonna help the 2026 Orioles? Who knows? He could get Tommy John surgery tomorrow. Taylor Ward will absolutely help the 2026 Orioles. Is Pete Alonzo going to be still good in 2029 when he’s under contract? I’m not really sure, but Pete Alonzo makes the 2026 Orioles a whole lot better. So, that’s where we are. I honestly, and here’s the thing, the the high level of this is if the Orioles win the World Series next year, I don’t care what the 2029 Orioles look like. I really don’t because that World Series would sustain me for at least a decade and potentially more. And I think a lot of you out there feel the same way. And it’s not like Michael is completely getting rid of the future. He only traded one top 10 prospect to Baseball America. He got a pitcher that has three years of team control, not just one. He’s still looking a little bit beyond 26. But the importance of next year is honestly refreshing and exciting and something we haven’t seen from Mike Elias. It’s another instance of the Orioles operating differently and being aggressive. And honestly, it’s awesome. So, let’s talk about it. How does Shane Bos fit in with the 2026 Orioles? And what does this mean for the rest of the offseason? Because even with another big move, I do not think that the Orioles are done. But first, this episode of the Lockown Orioles podcast is also brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. 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Kyle Bradish number one, Trevor Rogers number two, Shane Bos number three, Dean Kramer number four, and then you basically have your choice between Kade Povich, Tyler Wells, and I guess you could throw Brandon Young in the mix there as well, and Albert Suarez for number five. I’d say most likely Kate Povich is your fivestar, and Tyler Wells becomes a good reliever for you in your bullpen, and maybe Suarez goes into the bullpen as well. I would say this is a formidable rotation. It is probably better than the rotation that the Orioles began 2025 with, especially with Grayson Rodriguez being out. But I would also argue, as I’ve said all offseason, the Orioles need two starting pitchers this offseason. Shane Bos is one. They need another one. They need to at the very least get someone better than the Wells/Povich that pushes them to the bullpen and gives the Orioles even a more formidable rotation. Now, Ken Rosenthal has already reported today since the trade that the Orioles are still looking for another starting pitcher. And I believe that I I think all the reporting is true. They’re still in on the top three free agents in Valdez and Ranger Suarez and Tatsuga. Where I would throw Shane Bos in right now is into the group of trade guys I talked about on today’s earlier episode here on Friday about Michael King. Make sure to also go back and check that one out if you have not already. But I talked about my wish list for starting pitchers that I’ve done this off seasonason. I’m going to throw up on the screen the uh spreadsheet I’ve put together that I’ve been using for available starting pitchers this off seasonason. Top left there is the free agent top of the rotation guys. On the right is the free agent mid rotation starters and then bottom left is the starters available via trade. Now you might be seeing Connor, you don’t even have Shane Bos in that top 13. I don’t because I mentioned before I didn’t really see Shane Bos getting traded but here we are. So as I talked about earlier today if the Oros get any of I Suarez or Valdez or any of the top four trade guys so Freddy Peralta Joe Ryan Sandy Alcantra or Pablo Lopez if they get any of those guys those are all the guys who I’m like that is 100% great to be the best starting pitcher you acquire this off season totally acceptable. The next list of trade guys was Nick Paveta, Chris Bouvich, Mackenzie Gore, and Edward Cabrera. I said, for all four of those guys, you could argue to me that it’s okay if that’s the best starting pitcher the Orioles acquire this off season, as long as the second starter they get is also good. I’m gonna throw Shane Bos into that same category with Paveta, Bubich, Gore, and Cabrera where you could make a case to me at the end of the offseason if the Orioles add another starter that it was okay that Shane Bos is your best starter. For example, if the Orioles also trade for Chris Bubich or if they also trade for Nick Paveta, I think that’s an acceptable offseason because you got two of the guys where it’s like, are they really number ones and number twos? Not really, but at worst they’re number threes and that makes your rotation a whole lot better and you bank on Bradish and Rogers. If the Orioles also signed Chris Basset or Zack Gallon, you know, from the mid-tier free agents to go along with Bos, you could make an argument that that’s acceptable, and I would say Bos is better than Gallon and Basset, but those guys are good enough, reliable enough, they post enough that that is a good offseason to have. However, it would take an argument. The guys who wouldn’t take an argument is again a Freddy Peralta, a Fran Valdez, a Ranger Suarez. If you are now pairing a trade for Shane Boss who has questions but also huge upside with three years of team control on this team. If you are pairing that with a guy like Fravaldez, this becomes maybe like the dream off season for the Orioles happening right in front of our eyes. Best case scenario is they just pony up the money, right? Bos is only going to make $3 million next year. The payroll is still only about $140 million. It’s still 20 million short of last year. And I think the Orioles are very willing to go beyond last year’s payroll. It’s still way short of getting into any like luxury tax threshold areas. If they gave Framber Valdez 30 to $35 million per year, they’d still be fine payroll-wise. And David Rubenstein continues to say there is no set number for a limit on what they’ll pay. So honestly, if it’s going to take six years and 200 million to get Valdez, if it’s going to take eight years and two something to get Tatsuya, just do it. Especially for Fromber. Like I am still worried about the character stuff, but just do it because you’ve gotten Bos. Little riskier in different ways, but he showed that he can post. You go and get Fromber, who’s like the stable, going to give you six strong innings every single day with ace upside. You have put together a dream off seasonason, and you still have pieces to trade because the Orioles made this deal without moving Kobe Mayo. We thought for sure after the signing of Pete Alonzo that any trade the Orioles made for a starting pitcher this offseason would include Kobe Mayo because there’s just no future for him left on this team it seems and that just didn’t seem to be a guy that matched up with what the Rays wanted. So they still have Mayo. So if they wanted to make a deal for a Petta or someone like that they could still do it with Kobe Mayo or another option is maybe gets you a really good reliever and something else in a trade like maybe you match up with the Cardinals. There was reports today that the Orioles are interested in Cardinals lefty reliever Jojo Romero only has one year left but was in a really good lefty reliever kind of setup man for the past couple of years. Maybe Kobe Mayo for Jojo Romero in a prospect is a deal worth doing and and instead of getting a starter he gets you a really good reliever who finishes off your team. Like if you went and signed Framber you traded for Jojo Romero. Let’s run it back. Like that that is an awesome pitching staff you put together. Maybe the offense looks a little weird and where guys fit in, but like prices are going to be steep on trades. We saw it from this deal, but the Orioles seem willing to do it. And on the flip side, they have the money to spend to go get the free agents and that is what’s kind of awesome and makes it still exciting. I I know the Orioles are not done because again, coming into the offseason, they’re going to acquire two starting pitchers. The question is, will that next starter be better than Shane Boss? If it is, if it’s one of Suarez or Valdez or Amay or they trade for, you know, a Freddy Peralta. I mean, they’ve set themselves up now where this could be awesome. And if their other move is, you know, Lucas Gilo, that’s going to be a little disappointing. It’ll make them better, but it’ll be disappointing. But I think everything they’ve done this off season tells me that they’re not focused on Nick Martinez to be their last acquisition or Tyler Mali to be their last acquisition. They’re focused on Framber Valdez or Ranger Suarez or Freddy Peralta to really slam that nail in with the Orioles hammer that is this new version of Mike Elias. anything. I’m excited now. Just wait till they make a move like that. Whatever move might be made moving forward, I will have it all covered right here on the Lockdown Orioles podcast. Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe to the Lockdown Orioles YouTube channel. We are very close to 10,000 subscribers. If we do that by the new year, going to do a giveaway for subscribers only, so you don’t want to miss that one. If you’re listening after the fact, Apple Podcast, Spotify, make sure to follow the show, subscribe, leave a fivestar rating, and a review. That really helps us out as well. And you can always email me to reach out, ask questions, talk some ball. It’s locked ongmail.com. And the holidays are coming up. We are back to three. Somehow got in five episodes this week even though it wasn’t the plan. Unless there’s a lot bigger news. Going to be back to three episodes next week because of the holidays. Most likely a Monday, Tuesday, Friday posting schedule. But that also opens up the fact that it is the holiday season and you need a lastminute holiday gift or maybe someone keeps asking what you want. You can make it easy. You can ask for the everyday club. Add free episodes of Locked on Orioles exclusive Discord server access and more subscriptions can be gifted through locked orals.supcast.com. That link is in the show notes as well. I will be back on Monday. We’ll continue to break down this Shane Bos move. maybe look a little more at the prospects, other trades historically that have looked like this, what Bos can do to get better in 2026. All that is coming up on Monday, unless of course the O’s make another move over the weekend, in which I’ll be back with you right here, right then. 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 have one of their two needed starting pitchers, as they acquired RHP Shane Baz in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. Host Connor Newcomb goes LIVE to give you the scouting report on Baz, discuss how he’ll fit into the Orioles rotation, and break down the four prospects the O’s sent back to Tampa in the deal.

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