MLB Insider's list of Orioles trade targets shows just how desperate the Orioles are for starting pitching

The MLB trade deadline is just a handful of weeks away, and almost every day there are new rumors about what each team might do at the upcoming deadline. On Sunday, Bob Nightengale included a bullet point at the end of his regular article, sharing that sources had told him that the Orioles were talking to teams around the league about moving multiple prospects at this deadline to get the starting pitching that the team needs. On Monday, Jim Bowden's trade deadline buzz article confirmed that the Orioles are aggressively pursuing starting pitching.

The Orioles are in a position where they objectively should be considered sellers at this deadline, and yet, on back-to-back days, two different MLB insiders are floating and confirming rumors that they are looking to buy. Clearly, the Orioles are determined to buy their way back into the playoff race.

It's going to be difficult for the Orioles to buy an impact starter at this deadline

It's going to be a difficult task. Becuase of how the standings have shaken out, many of the teams that people assumed would be sellers are signaling their intention not to sell and even to buy. With a limited supply of deadline sellers, prices for rental arms are going to be high, and prices for controllable arms are going to be even higher.

One of the interesting things about Bowden's article was the list of pitchers he expected the Orioles to pursue. This list wasn't presented as being sourced, so it's not official that this is the definitive list of Orioles trade deadline targets. Several of the familiar names that the Orioles have been tied to, like Joe Ryan and Sandy Alcantara, made the list, but Bowden surprisingly had the Orioles being interested in the highest-price pure rental, Tarik Skubal, as well as the other rental arms that will be hot commodities, such as Freddy Peralta, Sonny Gray, and Robbie Ray.

The Orioles trading for a rental while being 4-8 games under .500, as they have been for the majority of the season now, would be an act of pure desperation and almost certainly a costly mistake.

The Orioles are only 3.5 games back of the final wild card spot. With 71 games left in the regular season, that is not an impossible hill to climb, but in order to climb that hill, they'd have to climb over four other teams. Again, not an impossible task, but with how the Orioles have looked so far this season, it's going to be a difficult one.

This Orioles team is talented enough that it feels like if they got the right reinforcements, they could be one of the better teams in the AL post All-Star break. However, their performance in the first half of the season has put them in a position where even if they are a great team for the rest of the season, they could still be boxed out of the playoffs just becuase of how deep a hole they've dug themselves and how many teams they are looking up at in the standings.

If the Orioles are going to move prospects at this deadline, they need to be able to answer this one question: Are we ok sending out these prospects if we don't make the playoffs this year?

When it comes to trading prospects for pitchers with multiple years of control, that question can be answered in the affirmative. Once the pitchers involved in the trade become rentals, it's harder to justify pulling the trigger.

Unfortunately, starting pitchers with multiple years of control are hard to come by. Looking at the names of controllable starters that Bowden named in his article, there are names to be excited about, like Joe Ryan, Sandy Alcantara, Reid Detmers, and Jose Soriano. However, the teams those pitchers play for are all signaling that they don't intend to sell. Once those pitchers are off the market, there's not an obvious target for the Orioles to pursue.

It may just be the case that the Orioles are backed into a corner where, if they want to supplement their rotation, it is through a rental that could be expensive, not enough to get them to the playoffs, and would be gone after just a few months. If the Orioles do end up acquiring a rental starter at the deadline and then still miss the playoffs, they'll create a worst-of-both-worlds scenario where the 2026 season is a failure, and they have even less ammo to fix the team in 2027.

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