Not too long ago, the Baltimore Orioles were one of the best young and upcoming teams in MLB with a seemingly bright future ahead of them.
After winning the AL East in 2023, however, things have only gone downhill since, and barring a surge down the stretch, they appear poised to miss the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
As a result, plenty of Orioles players have found themselves in trade rumors ahead of August 3’s deadline, and according to insider Jeff Passan, Baltimore GM Mike Elias is open to making big changes. That includes having discussions about moving several key pieces of their young core, including Adley Rutschman, Jackson Holliday, and Colton Cowser.
“They could move Ward or they could move some more controllable guys. They’ve had conversations about Adley Rutschman, they’ve had conversations about Jackson Holliday, they’ve had conversations about Colton Cowser. This young core that they brought together that they thought was going to take them to the promised land just has not performed to the level expected. And so I anticipate Mike Elias is going to be among the busier general managers this upcoming week,”
The 27-year-old Rutschman is under team control through 2027 and eligible to become a free agent in 2028, while Holliday, 22, and Cowser, 26, are under team control through 2029 and 2030, respectively.
Despite a tremendous start to their rebuild, the Orioles have stalled in a big way in recent years, so it’s understandable that Elias would be willing to listen to offers on any of Rutschman, Holliday, or Cowser.
It would appear Baltimore is building around Samuel Basallo and Gunnar Henderson, although the latter was a part of the original Rutschman-led core group and has seen his numbers fall off substantially after massive 2023 and 2024 seasons.
That all leads to what could potentially be a fascinating trade deadline and offseason to follow in Charm City.
Next: Insider Reveals Potential Deadline for Kirill Marchenko Trade
