Red Sox Could Soon Land 1st Base Slugger In Trade With Slumping Orioles

However poorly the Boston Red Sox's season may be going, it seems the Baltimore Orioles can always do worse.

Baltimore is now 15-32, an absolute shocker for a team that's made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. They fired manager Brandon Hyde on Saturday, but that didn't stop them from getting blown out in the next two games by the fourth-place Washington Nationals.

If the Orioles have a few more losing weeks, they could become surprise trade deadline sellers, which may shake up the entire landscape of the league over the summer. And that might pay off for the Red Sox in more ways than one.

As Boston continues to search for a long-term solution at first base, one baseball writer is circling the Orioles as a potential trade fit for their division rivals.

On Sunday, Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller named Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle as a potential trade fit for the Red Sox, who lost starter Triston Casas for the season 18 days ago to a torn patellar tendon.

"Even before Casas' season-ending knee injury, it's not like things were going great at that position. Now, however, they've gone from a near-everyday first baseman with a .580 OPS to just a huge unknown from one day to the next," Miller wrote.

"If AL East rivals don't mind trading within the division, Baltimore's Ryan Mountcastle... might be (one of) the best options."

Mountcastle, 28, is off to a slow start to the season, which would make him more expendable from the Orioles' perspective. He does have a 12-game hitting streak going at the moment, but his OPS is only .707 during that streak and .605 on the season overall.

There have been times during his career that Mountcastle looked like a sustainable piece at first base. He hit 33 home runs in 2021 and is only seven away from 100 in his career. He's under contract through next season, so there's also some flexibility there.

But if Mountcastle doesn't step up his offense over the next couple of months, there's no reason for the Red Sox (or any team, really) to make him a priority addition.