here<\/a>.<\/p>\nElias deserves all the heat in the world for letting things get to this point, but the significant return from Boston stopped me from busting out a failing grade. Trading Rutschman to a division rival with over a year of control is despicable. That being said, injuries have become a bit of a problem for the 28-year-old, and the 2027 season looks murky at best with a lockout looming.<\/p>\n
Orioles Receive: RHP Alex Hoppe, RHP Brock Moore and RHP Harrison KreilingMariners Receive: OF Taylor WardGrade: D+<\/p>\n
Who the heck are these guys? Taylor Ward was marketed as one of the best right-handed bats on the market. In exchange for the future free agent, Baltimore received Hoppe (5.79 ERA in MLB), Kreiling (a 24-year-old pitcher with minimal experience after recovering from Tommy John), and Moore (a 26-year-old with a 5.56 ERA at Double-A. If there\u2019s one thing to take away, it\u2019s that the trio throws hard. MASN\u2019s Brendan Mortensen noted that Hoppe\u2019s fastball velocity ranks in the 93rd percentile and that Moore has a 42.1 K%.<\/p>\n
This deal is an extension of the front office\u2019s decision to give up on former top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez. Baltimore sent their former first-round pick to LA in exchange for less than one year of Ward. Ward never hit dingers, but he did get on base at a steady clip. Rodriguez has nearly an 8.00 ERA over 10 games with LA this season, but he\u2019s under team control until 2030.<\/p>\n
Would you have traded Rodriguez for a struggling reliever and two prospects ranked outside of Seattle\u2019s Top 30 last offseason? To make matters worse, the Mariners are only a half game above Baltimore in the Wild Card race. This move represented the first indication that Baltimore would punt on the season despite sitting less than three games from a playoff spot. There are some parallels to the Cedric Mullins deal from 2025, but Ward was billed as more valuable asset than Mullins.<\/p>\n
Orioles Receive: RHP Michael ForretRays Receive: RHP Tyler WellsGrade: C+<\/p>\n
Context matters here. Last season, the Orioles sent reliever Bryan Baker to Tampa in exchange for the 37th-overall pick. Baltimore selected high school outfielder Slater de Brun, but eventually sent de Brun, recent draft pick Caden Bodine, right-handed pitching prospect Michael Forret, outfield prospect Austin Overn, and the 33rd-overall pick in the 2026 draft to Tampa Bay for Shane Baz. Baltimore proceeded to sign Baz to a five-year contract extension.<\/p>\n
Baz has pitched well (3.86 ERA), but the Orioles have struggled to win the games that he starts. Meanwhile, Tampa quickly developed Baker into an All-Star closer. The Rays know how to get the best out of pitchers, and it feels like they\u2019ll find a way to extract the most value out of Wells.<\/p>\n
The Orioles deserve credit for plucking Wells out of the Rule-5 draft, but they struggled to find a concrete role for the 31-year-old. Wells spent time as a starter, closer, and multi-inning reliever. What\u2019s his best position? The Rays will probably find it.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Orioles get back a piece from the Baz deal. MLB Pipeline ranked Bodine as the Rays third best prospect, while Forret slotted in at number eight. Is this Elias trying to outsmart the Rays after they stole back de Brun? Forret holds real value, but it\u2019s difficult to imagine this front office got the best of Tampa.<\/p>\n
Orioles Receive: OF Jhomnardo ReyesTwins Receive: SP Dean KremerGrade: B<\/p>\n
The Orioles sent Dean Kremer to the Twins after a dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Phillies. At the time, it felt like Baltimore couldn\u2019t afford to have a struggling Kremer taking the ball every fifth day while they chased down a playoff spot. The team would either hand Kremer\u2019s starts to Chris Bassitt, or it might even make a deal to acquire a starting pitcher.<\/p>\n
With added context from today, this was simply another instance of the Orioles swapping big league players for future value. Baltimore dealt away 1.5 years of Kremer in exchange for an 18-year-old outfielder.<\/p>\n
MLB pipeline had Reyes slotted as Minnesota\u2019s 20th best prospect, but the former international signing has been trending upward. The Twins gave the lefty a six-figure bonus in 2025, and he slugged his way through rookie ball before making a recent debut at Low-A. At the end of the day, the Orioles had had enough of Kremer, while Reyes looks like an intriguing piece to monitor for the distant future.<\/p>\n
Orioles Receive: OF Christian FranklinNationals Receive: RHP Joe GlasseyGrade: Incomplete<\/p>\n
It\u2019s incredibly difficult to assign a grade to a deal that involves two unknown prospects. Franklin will be placed on the 40-man roster. The 26-year-old has played all three outfield positions but mostly profiles as a corner outfielder. Will Baltimore give Franklin a look before Heston Kjerstad or Enrique Bradfield Jr.?<\/p>\n
Orioles keep Trevor Rogers<\/p>\n
Leading up to the deadline, Mike Elias suggested that the Orioles would not position themselves as buyers or sellers. The team did plenty of selling, but the closest thing to \u201cbuying\u201d was simply not trading away Trevor Rogers.<\/p>\n
Rogers has insisted that he wants to stay in Baltimore long term, and perhaps the Orioles believe they can make that a reality. The organization handed out extensions to Shane Baz and Kyle Bradish, but Rogers will become a free agent at the end of the season.<\/p>\n
The decision to keep Rogers around could pay off if he signs a new deal with the organization, but Elias could look foolish if he leaves at the end of the season. Rogers will be eligible for a qualifying offer after 2026, but there\u2019s been speculation that a new CBA could eliminate qualifying offer compensation as early as this offseason.<\/p>\n
Orioles extend Yennier Cano<\/p>\n
The Orioles signed Yennier Cano to a two year extension that included a club option for 2029. The move essentially handed Cano guaranteed money during his arbitration years and ensured a team option for 2029.<\/p>\n
Cano was already under team control, but the new deal likely deterred Baltimore from parting with the reliever at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n
The trade grades were sponsored by FanDuel<\/a>, which dropped Baltimore\u2019s odds of making the playoffs to +680 after the trade deadline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orioles all but punted on the 2026 season by shipping away Adley Rutschman, Taylor Ward, and Tyler…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,3357,2538,5,4,125],"class_list":["post-769327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore-orioles-analysis","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-orioles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117034525857188054","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}