BALTIMORE -- At the beginning of the 2025 season, the Orioles wouldn’t have anticipated moving a player with multiple years of team control capable of helping the team win now ahead of the July 31 Trade Deadline. The expectation was Baltimore would again operate as buyers.
But nothing has gone as planned for the 2025 O’s.
That again became evident Thursday, when the Orioles traded right-hander Bryan Baker to the Rays in exchange for the No. 37 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft (a Competitive Balance Round A selection). It marked the beginning of Deadline season for Baltimore, which could move more key players ahead of July 31.
TRADE DETAILS
Rays get: RHP Bryan Baker
Orioles get: Competitive Balance Round A Draft pick (37th overall)
When asked whether the trade was a sign the Orioles would be making similar moves with an eye beyond 2025, general manager Mike Elias called it “a step in that direction.”
“I mean, there’s no way around that,” Elias said. “The timing of the Draft, and when you have Draft picks involved in the trades, kind of frontloads these decisions, and it’s earlier than my comfort level. But we thought it was a really good return and a good trade for everyone, so we did it.”
The MLB Draft begins Sunday in Atlanta, where Baltimore will have four of the first 37 picks and seven of the first 93. The O’s also now have a bonus pool of $19,144,500, the largest any MLB team has had since the bonus-pool era began in 2012.
Baker had an up-and-down four-year tenure in Baltimore, but the 30-year-old righty seized a role as a primary setup man this season. In 42 outings, he had a 3.52 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP with 49 strikeouts over 38 1/3 innings.
Those numbers looked better before Tuesday, when Baker allowed four earned runs (on a pair of two-run homers by Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso) without recording an out in the eighth inning of the Orioles’ 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Mets. Prior to that appearance, Baker owned a 2.58 ERA and hadn’t allowed a run in 13 of his previous 15 outings.
Baltimore’s bullpen will not be as strong without Baker, who was packing his belongings in the O’s clubhouse prior to Thursday’s split doubleheader vs. the Mets. Many teammates came up to hug Baker -- who is under team control through the end of the 2028 season – and wished him well as he prepared to travel to Boston to join the Rays.
“Shock, for sure,” Baker said of his reaction to the trade. “It’s been everything. They gave me my opportunity to get established in the big leagues, and obviously, getting close to everybody in this room and developing on the field and off the field. It’s been four of the best years of my life, for sure.”
Elias never called his club a “seller” during his session with the media following the trade. He said the Orioles weren’t shopping Baker -- nor are they necessarily looking to move other players with multiple years of team control -- and the Rays were a “motivated partner.”
Baltimore swept a split doubleheader to record a series victory over the Mets at Camden Yards on Thursday. Gunnar Henderson belted a go-ahead pinch-hit two-run homer in the eighth inning of a 3-1 win in Game 1 for the O’s, who then notched a 7-3 win in Game 2 for their first doubleheader sweep since June 25, 2016.
However, the O’s are still 42-50 and face an uphill battle the rest of the way. The only previous MLB teams to reach the postseason after winning 42 or fewer of their first 92 games were the 1984 Royals (84-78) and the 1973 Mets (82-79), each of whom was 41-51 at that point.
“The hole that we dug in the standings at the beginning has just put us in a tough spot,” Elias said. “Obviously, we want to win as many games as possible here going into the All-Star break and going into the Deadline, but as opportunities come along prior to the Trade Deadline, the job of the front office is to weigh them.
“We wish that the team was in a better spot in the standings. I’ve talked about it. There’s a lot of reasons for it, a lot of responsibility to go around, but we’ve got to look at the present moment and opportunities as they come, and that’s what happened this morning.”
It will be the job of interim manager Tony Mansolino -- who took over when Brandon Hyde was dismissed on May 17 following a 15-28 start -- to keep players’ focus on the field during a time in which players on expiring contracts (All-Star designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn, center fielder Cedric Mullins and others) could all be trade chips.
“Any time you lose a good player, I don't think that's exciting,” Mansolino said. “But I also think that in the business of baseball, people kind of understand the ebbs and flows of how the business kind of operates.”
On paper, a trade in which a team loses a controllable player and gains a Draft pick could signal that the club is looking many years down the line. That’s not the case for Elias.
Are the Orioles still intent on contending in 2026 and not undergoing another lengthy rebuild?
Elias put it bluntly: “Yes.”