It’s an open secret the Baltimore Orioles will be aggressive in their pursuit for pitching ahead of the July 30 trade deadline. The only question that remains is who the team will end up acquiring for what is setting up to be their best shot at a World Series appearance in years.
Acquiring an All-Star-caliber pitcher will cost Orioles GM Mike Elias a hefty return, likely including one of his coveted top position-player prospects. ESPN baseball reporter Buster Olney and play-by-play voice Karl Ravech agree the Orioles should pull the trigger on such a deal.
“They absolutely are in the best position to make a move. They have to make a move for a starting pitcher. They could probably bolster their bullpen as well,” Ravech said on Glenn Clark Radio July 1. “… That doesn’t mean you will, but you certainly bring the greatest hand to the table. And if you want, you put the cards out there and you’re going to win that battle because of what you have the ability to deal.”
Olney is interested to see whether new owner David Rubenstein will be involved at the deadline or defer to the front office’s decision making. Olney referenced Elias’ tenure in Houston, where then-GM Jeff Luhnow initially turned down a deal for Justin Verlander in 2017 because the asking price was too steep, but owner Jim Crane intervened and pushed the deal through.
Former Orioles owner Peter Angelos famously put a stop to deals that would have sent out David Wells and Bobby Bonilla in 1996. However, that was to prevent a rebuild, not bolster a World Series run. Olney doesn’t see Rubenstein having the same relationship with the front office that Angelos did.
“We don’t know yet what the dynamic is between the new Orioles ownership and the front office,” Olney said on GCR June 28. “If they need an extra 10 percent of value, will the owners push it across the line?”
“My instinct is that [Rubenstein is] going to look at Mike and say he’s earned the right to be deferred to,” he added. “But I do think in the end, there are times when making a big, expensive trade is something that makes a modern-day front office queasy, where the owners need to step in and say now’s the time.”
The Orioles have reportedly discussed a trade for White Sox star Garrett Crochet, a hot name on the market league-wide. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound left-hander boasts a 3.02 ERA and leads MLB in strikeouts with 150, but he’s already thrown 107.1 innings — the first time he’s broken 70 in a season at any level of college or professional baseball.
Olney is worried about what this means for him down the stretch.
“First and foremost, it all comes down to what their internal evaluation of Crochet is,” Olney said. “I can be a baseball nerd and give the statistics, but the questions that are being asked in the Orioles front office are … about the durability and the history and [if he can] go to 160 innings.”
Olney sees Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt, a veteran who has thrown nearly 650 innings across the last four seasons, as an “absolutely perfect fit” for Baltimore. Olney also mentioned White Sox pitcher Erick Fedde, who has broken out in 2024 to the tune of a 2.99 ERA in 19 starts.
Ravech thinks part of the reason the Orioles can’t afford to stay put at the deadline is the star play of Gunnar Henderson so far this year. Henderson leads all shortstops in home runs (28) and OPS (.956) this season, earning him his first All-Star nod.
“He’s been compared to players like [Cal Ripken Jr.] from the past, to Corey Seager in the present,” Ravech said. “But there still is that element from those that scouted him and know him well who are going to readily admit he’s far exceeded our expectations.”
Henderson and the plethora of young talent around him are providing the Orioles with a large World Series window. Adding more pitching to round out the roster would make that window even larger, Ravech said.
“This is a picture window. This isn’t a small bathroom window,” Ravech said.
For more from Olney, listen to the full interview here:
For more from Ravech, listen to the full interview here:
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