Baltimore Orioles: What is Trey Mancini’s place in the rebuild?

Trey Mancini is playing great baseball for the Baltimore Orioles this season. Should the O’s lock him up long-term or try and capitalize on his trade value now? Josh Sroka is back to give his thoughts on this topic.

This could turn into a recurring post and is a question we can ask in reference to many players on the Baltimore Orioles roster.  Is this person a part of the future, a trade candidate, or a place holder? What value should we expect and look for in this player?

I want to start with a big name, Trey Mancini. Is he part of the future, a trade candidate, or a place holder?

First, let’s look at Trey Mancini, the future Oriole. We all know the Baltimore Orioles are desperate to have a face of the organization. Chris Davis’ bad 2018 knocked him from consideration, Cedric Mullins has been sent down to AAA Norfolk after a poor start to the season, and Dylan Bundy continues to struggle. That really only leaves Trey Mancini. I don’t mean to dismiss Mancini by listing those other players ahead of him, but I want to make the point that we do not have a plethora of players for advertising and promoting the Orioles.

Mancini is having an outstanding year on the field and has stepped up as a leader in the clubhouse (Popeye’s chicken, anyone?) and in the community (read about his relationship with Mo). All of those attributes make him a lock for the face of the organization, but to be the face you need to stick around. Can Mancini stick around after the rebuild?

At 27, Mancini will not be a free agent until 2023, which should allow him to make it through the rebuild. A small extension buying out some later years could lock him down completely. However, how does he fit in with this organization? Is he an outfielder? There are a lot of outfield prospects behind him. Is he a first baseman? The Orioles appear to be grooming Ryan Mountcastle for this position. Is Trey a future DH? His bat can carry but do you really want to groom someone for the DH position?

Is he a trade candidate? If Trey Mancini is not part of the future in Baltimore, does he have value to another team? He is versatile, having played left field, right field, first base, and a fine DH, and is currently batting .337 with six home runs in 2019 (raising his career average to .274). As I mentioned above, he is not a free agent until 2023, meaning many years of team control for whoever gets him.

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The flexibility in the field, the good bat, and the team control make him a great candidate for a team that thinks they need just a little boost to get them ahead. As Orioles fans, we have been in this position before where you trade a reliable veteran for a future boost. This could work out well for both Mancini and the Orioles.

Finally, is Trey Mancini a place holder? The short answer is no, see the two options above. He is too good not to be playing baseball in five years. However, the question is, will it be here in Baltimore or somewhere else.

So, now that I laid out the three options for Mancini, what do I think the answer is?  I think this is the year that the Baltimore Orioles trade Trey Mancini.  His stock will never be higher than it is now.  There are good outfield options on the horizon (Yusniel Diaz, DJ Stewart, Ryan McKenna, etc) and Ryan Mountcastle is the future first basemen.  Let’s hope Mancini has a killer year, because the better he performs, the bigger the return the Orioles can get from him in July.

What do you think, Birdland? Should the Baltimore Orioles capitalize and trade Mancini?