Craig Albernaz addresses Orioles trade rumor that is taking over spring training

After the Baltimore Orioles signed Pete Alonso, the natural follow-up question was, what does this mean for Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo? Pete Alonso is not the kind of player that the manager can only pencil in for about 100 games; in his entire career, he's missed 24 total games and none in the last two seasons. The guy is here to play every day, and nearly all of that playing time will be at first base; of Alonso's 993 career starts, 933 of them have been at first.

That leaves very little room for the backup first baseman to get playing time. Because of injuries around the infield, Mayo has, at least for the time being, transitioned to third base, so the rumors around him being traded have subsided. However, Mountcastle is still very much a first baseman, so the rumors around him continue to circulate.

Craig Albernaz addressed the trade rumors circulating around the Orioles, but the reason for those rumors remains

Trade rumors are tough on players. As much as they talk about "blocking everything out," they still go online and see media members, who they often know personally, and fans, who are supposed to like them, all trying to figure out ways to boot them from the team. It can be demoralizing, and if the team doesn't come out and deny the rumors or at least provide some pushback, it can spiral. Which is why Craig Albernaz felt the need to address the rumors hovering around his team.

On Monday, he gave the following quote: “It’s noise, right, and a lot of that noise is people making assumptions and trying to play GM who are not the GM, which is a real thing.”

It's an interesting way to address the rumors. Albernaz is correct that all the rumors around Mountcastle and, to a lesser extent, Mayo come from assumptions. The Orioles have made no indication they want to move on from these players. They could have non-tendered Mountcastle, and they chose not to. Outside of one Ken Rosenthal article, which was incredibly vague, there have been no real rumors that the Orioles have tried to trade either of their extra first basemen.  

However, the assumptions underlying these rumors are very logical. It doesn't require a bunch of mental gymnastics to arrive at the conclusion that there just isn't much room for Mountcastle on the 2026 Orioles. Pete Alonso is going to play first base every day; he might play 10 or so games at DH. The DH position is going to be mostly filled by whichever of the Orioles catchers isn't behind the plate, and if it's not one of them, then whichever of the Orioles outfielders isn't in the field would like to get some ABs there as well, not to mention that when Jordan Westburg returns, he'll also need ABs at DH.

The most generous division of playing time for Mountcastle would be to be the short side of the platoon partner for Samuel Basallo, but when you have a limited amount of roster spots and already a bunch of players who don't provide much defensive value, it's hard to stomach using a roster spot on a righty platoon DH.

However, it seems like the Orioles are going to do just that. If Mountcastle is going to be on the team, they'll need him to be focused and ready to make the most of the playing time he gets. Albernaz standing up for him in the face of these rumors can only help.