2 things the Orioles must not do at this years trade deadline

With the trade deadline approaching and the Baltimore Orioles find themselves far on the outside looking in on the playoff picture, the rumors about what the Orioles might do at this deadline have begun to swirl. Their President of Baseball Operations, Mike Elias, said on Saturday that they wanted to go for it (if it made sense). At the same time, there are many people wondering if they'll trade Adley Rutschman as his time under team control comes closer to an end. With how long it's been since the Orioles were competitive and the talent currently on their roster, this trade deadline has the potential to tip them back towards contention or spark an ugly rebuild. With that in mind, there are a few things that the Orioles must not do.

The first thing that they must not do is trade for a bad contract. The Orioles could use some veteran leadership, and there are many teams with older players on contracts that are underwater that would love to unload those players at this year's deadline.

Adding Matt Chapman to the Orioles would make them an old team

The name that seems to come up around the Orioles as a potential target is Matt Chapman. This makes sense because third base defense has been a house of horrors for the Orioles this season, and Chapman is still one of the best defensive third basemen in baseball. Adding Matt Chapman to this year's Orioles team would make them a lot better.

The issue with Chapman is that he is old for a baseball player and his contract is long. He is currently 33 years old, and he is owed $25 million for the next four seasons after this year, taking him through his age 37 season. 33 is an important age for veterans, as that is when most players begin to experience a decline in bat speed and a correlated decline in production.

Chapman's bat speed is still elite, but he is already starting to decline. His OPS has dropped from .790 in 2024 to .770 in 2025 and is currently .692. He's currently having a nice month, but if the Orioles traded for him now, they'd be signing up to pay for the worst years of his career.

Also, if the Orioles added Chapman, they would then have him and Alonso as two expensive players on long-term contracts where even if the results right now are solid, those contracts were signed with the teams knowing that the last year or two would be ugly. Having two of those players on the payroll at once would be really hard to build around even if the Orioles were to spend an unprecedented amount of money for their franchise.

Adley Rutschman is key part of the Orioles that they can't afford to lose

The other thing that the Orioles must avoid doing at this year's deadline is trading Adley Rutschman. Rutschman is a valuable player, which is why so many teams want him, and with a year and a half of team control, there may even be some packages floated to the Orioles that, on paper, would be a win.

The game isn't played on paper, though, and Rutschman is more valuable to the Orioles than his slash line of framing runs communicate. Besides valuable production on the field and intangible qualities he possesses in the clubhouse, Rutschman represents to the fans and to the young players who have come up after him this era of Orioles baseball. If the Orioles were to trade Rutschman, it would basically mean admitting that the rebuild was a failure, and it would send an ugly message to the team's other young players as far as how they'll be viewed and valued by the front office as they approach free agency.

The Orioles would be much better off finding a way to extend Rutschman than looking to extract as much value from him in a trade. They would keep a fan favorite in the building and send a message to their up-and-coming players that the front office values their players as more than just movable assets.

The Orioles need to be creative at this year's deadline and open to some new ideas, but trading Rutschman or adding an expensive aging veteran is one thing that would really sink the long-term outlook on this team.

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