Could Baltimore Orioles Consider Trading Star Prospect to AL East Rivals?

The Baltimore Orioles are a team that many people are keeping a close eye on with the MLB trade deadline quickly approaching.

It feels like a matter of when, not if, they start making some trades, but not in the fashion many people figured they would coming into the season.

Expected to be contenders in the American League, the Orioles have fallen woefully short of expectations. Entering play on June 12, they are 27-39, already in the cellar of the AL East, sitting 14 games behind the New York Yankees.

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Their outlook isn’t any better in the wild card race, where they are 8.0 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays, with six teams between them in the standings.

It is far from ideal to waste a year of this talented young core, which is only going to get more expensive in the coming years.

But a mini reset is what is best for the franchise.

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Trading away as many veterans on expiring deals who don’t look to be part of the long-term plan to bring back as many assets as possible should be the No. 1 goal of general manager Mike Elias ahead of the deadline.

Player such as Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins and Zach Eflin should all be made available.

But, Jim Bowden of The Athletic has mentioned a shocking name in a recent piece highlighting trade targets for contending teams to address their most glaring needs.

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The former MLB executive has listed star prospect, catcher Samuel Basallo, as a potential target for their AL East rivals, the Rays.

It would be shocking to see Baltimore include Basallo in any trade negotiations this summer, especially with a division rival, meaning they would have to face off against him multiple times a year for the foreseeable future. 

If they had any interest in moving him, it would have been done over the winter to land a front-end starter to help replace Corbin Burnes atop the rotation.

Also, it is hard to see where the two rivals match up from a trade package perspective.

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All of Tampa Bay’s top seven prospects are positional players. If they were going to unload their star prospect, it would seem logical for them to target pitching help given their positional player depth.

Alas, there is some logic in entertaining trade offers for Basallo because the team already has Adley Ritschman entrenched as the starting catcher.

But Rutschman’s struggles, which have lasted for nearly a calendar year at this point, could have them rethinking what they want to do behind the plate long-term.

Basallo is an excellent insurance and contingency plan for the franchise to have in place in case they decide not to commit to Rutschman long-term.

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