The Baltimore Orioles have been one of the stories of the MLB season for all the wrong reasons. A team that had World Series aspirations — with the sixth-best preseason odds to win it all — now holds the third-worst record in the American League.
Baltimore fired manager Brandon Hyde before Memorial Day. The Orioles’ pitching staff has a collective ERA of 4.92 entering play on June 17. This year has been the worst-case scenario for the Orioles, but they can still position themselves for success in the future.
Former Reds and Nationals general manager Jim Bowden believes the 2025 season is effectively over for the Orioles despite the recent uptick in performance. However, Bowden says the club has the assets to regain its status as a title contender.
“This Baltimore team is not going to the playoffs. This pitching staff is not good enough to take this team to the playoffs,” Bowden said on Glenn Clark Radio June 5. “That being said, I look at a team that can very easily, with some really shrewd trades at the deadline and … getting [its] feet wet in free agency, can turn around next year and be a world champion-caliber team.”
Bowden likes the Orioles’ young core of position players, which had established the team as at least a playoff contender in the last two years, but says the franchise needs to do a better job of surrounding those players with talent.
Colton Cowser, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, Adley Rutschman and Jordan Westburg are all under 28 years old.
“This is going to be a seller’s market because the bad teams in baseball have very little to trade,” Bowden said. “And yet you look at the Orioles and you could deal, if you wanted to, Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins, Ryan Mountcastle, Zach Eflin, Charlie Morton, [Tomoyuki] Sugano.”
The most attractive of these options are pending free agents O’Hearn, Mullins, Eflin and Sugano. O’Hearn would provide value for a team in search of a left-handed hitter. Mullins is a sure-handed defender who would appeal to any team in need of a center fielder. Eflin and Sugano are solid starting pitchers.
Trading any combination of these pieces could be transformational for Baltimore, according to Bowden.
“You could turn around and get 12, 14 pieces, then go into the offseason, which is going to have a lot of free agent starting pitching, go get two of those, and all of a sudden, you could be the team to beat in 2026,” Bowden said. “So to fall in love with a winning streak here or there, to try to dream and think that you’re getting there this year, I think it’s a mistake because I don’t think you have the starting pitching to get you there.”
Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez and Ranger Suárez headline the starting pitching free agency class after the 2025 season. Bowden says that Baltimore doesn’t necessarily have to address pitching solely in free agency, though.
He proposed the idea of trading Mullins and O’Hearn to a team needing an offensive boost, such as the Seattle Mariners, in return for a young starting pitcher.
“I would focus on deals that could get me there in [2026] and beyond, and if it gets me there in [2025] great,” Bowden said. “I’m not saying to sell and give up on this team. I’m saying keep building this team.”
Deadline trades geared toward retooling the roster in the short term are especially possible if they involve pending free agents. O’Hearn, Mullins, Eflin and Sugano could all walk in free agency, but Bowden says the Orioles could trade them at the deadline and then explore signing them in free agency.
“If you can get two pitching prospects for [Eflin], and then in the offseason in free agency, bring him back, now I’ve got Eflin and two pitching prospects,” Bowden said.
Bowden believes that signing free agents should be the final step in the process of building a competitive team, the move that puts the team over the hump.
“You’re supposed to build with the draft and trades, and then you spend the money to put you over the top at the very end,” Bowden said. “So you’ve got to make sure the Orioles are in the place that when you get to free agency in October and November, that free agent is going to put you over the top. … And that’s why Mike Elias needs to show everybody what he can do in the trade market. He has the pieces to win this trade deadline.”
For more from Bowden, listen to the full interview here:
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