Let’s start with the obvious. You know, that Mr. Burns was right. The sun is an absolute freaking menace. We need to do something. It doesn’t matter how much you spray yourself. Use SPF 10,000 if you’d like. None of it matters. That gaseous menace has a knife to your throat at all times and we should have listened to that old codger instead of letting Maggie shoot him.
Also obvious is that no reasonable Orioles fan truly wants to give up on any of the team’s most promising young players or prospects. It’s just that no matter how badly you want the Brewers to accept the backup catcher from the Florida Complex League in exchange for Corbin Burnes, they MIGHT want a little bit more than that.
It’s with that in mind that the word “untouchable” has been quite popular of late. As we stumble through hypothetical deadline deals for the Orioles to bolster their chances of winning the AL East (or should we start talking about even bigger goals now?), we’re trying to figure out which players we’d be willing to part ways with to upgrade the current Major League roster.
Well, come to think of it, we’re actually trying to figure out who the players are that we wouldn’t be willing to part ways with in order to upgrade the current Major League roster.
Untouchable provides no context. To wit, we already established that we don’t WANT to part ways with anyone. Let’s take Connor Norby for example. It’s easy to say that Norby is likely one of the more expendable pieces in the organization because he has reached “big league ready” and yet there doesn’t appear to be much of anywhere for him to play. But that doesn’t mean we’d be on board with them trading Norby for Nationals reliever (and allegedly very real person) Amos Willingham, either. But if the Brewers wanted to do Burnes for Norby straight up, we’d be inclined to be agreeable.
And we have to acknowledge that the other half of the issue with “untouchable” is that the context is “within reason.” We’re inclined to say Gunnar Henderson is untouchable. “But what if the Angels announced a 10-year, $500 million extension with Shohei Ohtani and then offered to trade him to the Orioles in exchange for Gunnar straight up AND they were willing to pick up the entire contract?,” your annoying little brother asks just seconds after you said Henderson was untouchable.
These absurd hypotheticals are clearly undeserving of actual conversation. Henderson is untouchable because there’s nothing that will actually be available at the deadline whose value would match the value of Henderson.
So yeah, Henderson is “untouchable.” Like Adley Rutschman. At some point in the future if these players haven’t been signed long-term, we’ll have to re-consider what their value is. But with significant team control and massive upside, they’re off the table. While we still need to see him pitch better in his return to the bigs, Grayson Rodriguez remains untouchable. The Orioles need pitching help. They can’t address a weakness while creating a weakness. Same for Kyle Bradish. And Félix Bautista. And Tyler Wells. And Dean Kremer. And I understand the comparisons that some might make between Yennier Cano (who has been a bit shaky since a brilliant start) and Jorge López, it’s not an option. They have too little in the bullpen to deal their second-most reliable relief arm. Honestly, any helpful reliever is untouchable because of this, so strike Danny Coulombe too.
Among prospects, Jackson Holliday is untouchable. If a legitimate No. 1 pitcher with three years of team control was on the market (think Dylan Cease a year ago), there might be a world in which you’d consider trading a top overall prospect. But Holliday doesn’t appear to be an average No. 1 overall prospect, and with Cease crashing this season there’s nothing close to that on the market. Forget it.
Typically teams making deals at the deadline aren’t looking for Major League veterans. But the Orioles have a unique set of young, team-controlled talent. Perhaps a team that believes they’re just “retooling” and not fully “rebuilding” could find themselves interested in an Austin Hays or a Cedric Mullins. I struggle with the word “untouchable” for either because it’s hard to project whether A) they’ll continue to be legitimate superstar-caliber players and B) the Orioles will be willing to sign them long-term. I’d still put Mullins in the untouchable category because his skill set (see “range”) is just a bit different than anything else you have until at least Enrique Bradfield Jr. is ready.
Anthony Santander is close. It seems unlikely (if not impossible) that a team would be willing to deal something that would match his value. But with only one more year of team control after this year and the Orioles having not shown commitment as of yet, it’s not impossible to see a team offering something that matches his tangible value. Still, until at least Heston Kjerstad and/or Coby Mayo gets here (or Ryan Mountcastle dramatically turns things around), they desperately need his bat in the middle of their order.
And that’s … it.
Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg aren’t on that list. I’m not trading them for rental pieces. Same for Kjerstad or Mayo or even Samuel Basallo. I don’t really want to deal Norby or Joey Ortiz for a rental, but if it was a truly impact rental (think Eduardo Rodriguez, Marcus Stroman, Lucas Giolito) that’s the high end of what I’d pay. The others would have to land an impact player with control. And there aren’t a ton of those players really believed to be on the market at the moment.
So yeah, Rutschman and Henderson and Holliday and Mullins and Santander and the pitchers and Mr. Splash. That’s the untouchable list.
Photo Credits: Colin Murphy/PressBox and Skyler Prieto