Dear Mike,
Unlike a lot of Orioles fans, I am sticking by you. At the age of 73, I never imagined the Orioles would go 40-plus years without appearing in a World Series. By the way, 1983 was my first year on the radio doing baseball talk. You should have heard me — I was kind of a thing way back then.
I digress. The purpose of my note is to express confidence in most of what you have done. And despite my bitter disappointment in 2025, I do still believe the core of the offense is pretty darn good, especially with the way Tyler O’Neill and Coby Mayo are hitting right now. And I hear this kid Sammy Basallo is pretty damn good.
However, my one area of serious concern is your team’s efforts at developing pitching, though I understand you have had your share of bad luck the last two years with Kyle Bradish, John Means and Grayson Rodriguez all missing significant time due to injuries.
I know this is going to be a real busy week for you and all the focus is on who you can trade away: Yennier Cano, Seranthony Domínguez, Andrew Kittredge, Ryan Mountcastle, Charlie Morton, Cedric Mullins and maybe even Ramón Laureano and Ramón Urías.
But I am more interested here in asking you — no, beseeching you — to talk to the Dodgers and see if they really would consider trading 6-foot-6 right-hander Dustin May. I read that their need for bullpen arms might cause them to consider moving on from May.
May, who turns 28 on Sept. 6, will be a free agent at the end of the season. Drafted in the third round out of high school in 2016, he made it up to the big leagues for a cup of coffee in 2019. Since then he has pitched in parts of 2020, 2021 and 2023 and now has made 17 starts in 2025.
I guess you know the story about the time he has missed due to Tommy John surgery (2021-2022) and a torn flexor tendon in his right arm (2023-2024). While nearing a rehab assignment last year, he had a near-death experience in tearing his esophagus from eating a salad. Had his wife not taken quick action and insisted he go to the ER, he could have lost his life.
May finally made it back to the mound in February. Though he’s been far from perfect in 2025, he has been healthy enough to make 18 appearances (17 starts) and pitch 99 innings. He has a 4.73 ERA and 1.36 WHIP, down from his career marks (3.65 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 290.2 innings). He is making roughly $2.1 million this year.
My suggestion: Offer the Dodgers Dominguez and Kittredge for May, who doesn’t figure into the Dodgers’ October plans. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has pitched well all year. Clayton Kershaw is doing well. Shohei Ohtani is building up. Tyler Glasnow is back. Blake Snell is nearing a return. Do what you need to do to acquire May and then push hard to extend him — say, two years for between $15 million and $17 million total with a third-year option.
With no way of knowing whether Grayson Rodriguez will ever be the man he was supposed to be, this would give you Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Cade Povich, Trevor Rogers and May heading into the offseason. Sure, you need more than that, but May still offers enormous upside.
Who is on the way from your farm system? And have you taken a look at what the free-agent starter market looks like? That’s my point. This would give you some breathing room when you go into the trade market this winter.
Hey, good luck this week. But with all the attention on which players you’ll get rid of, look closely at who you might be able to wrangle away from a contender.
Sincerely,
Stan The Fan
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox