The Baltimore Orioles have a massive offseason coming up for multiple reasons.
There’s a good chance they might lose some of their top players in free agency, but something that isn’t being talked about enough might be an even bigger issue.
The Orioles arguably have the best farm system in Major League Baseball, which is always a positive. However, that’s been the same comment for about three to four years now. At some point, Baltimore has to make a final decision on what they’ll do with some of their top prospects.
That doesn’t mean they should trade away some of their youngsters for no reason, as they did at the deadline when they traded for Trevor Rogers. However, if they could find an elite starting pitcher or some offensive help, moving one or two of them in the offseason would be the right decision.
Recently, PJ Potter of FanSided dangled an interesting trade idea.
He wrote about how the Orioles could potentially benefit from the Seattle Mariners’ pitching staff eventually becoming too expensive.
If the Mariners know they can’t afford some of their arms in the near future, there could be a scenario where Baltimore trades some of the prospects they won’t use for one of Seattle’s arms.
“The sad reality for the Mariners within the next few years is that they will not be able to afford all of Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller, George Kirby and Bryan Woo… For now, the M’s don’t have to worry about that, but perhaps they dangle one of their starters in trade talks to make up for the gulf on the offensive end. An intriguing move Seattle can make is to deal a pitcher for Baltimore Orioles infielder Coby Mayo. He’s the Orioles’ No. 1 prospect and, honestly, they really don’t need him. Sending the pitching-needy O’s an arm in exchange for Mayo (and maybe another prospect) could be a worthwhile swap for both sides.”
Any of the four pitchers he listed would be dream additions for the Orioles. If they were to lose Corbin Burnes, not that all four of them are better than him, but they have a potential replacement for a much lower price.
However, while that plan would be excellent, it’s also fair to point out that Baltimore would eventually have to pay them. Considering their price tags could be somewhat high one day, too, re-signing Burnes should be the plan.
If they could do both, that’d be even better.
