Orioles should make this dominant reliever a trade target regardless of 2025 plans

When you ask Baltimore Orioles fans what the team should do at the trade deadline, you will get a wide range of answers. Some fans think that as long as the Orioles have a chance at a playoff spot, the front office needs to keep the band together and upgrade where possible. For others, the growing reality that Baltimore dug too deep a hole for themselves in the first half and 2025 is essentially a lost cause. However, there are moves that are good regardless of whether the Orioles are buyers or sellers and adding controllable and quality bullpen help is one example.

To be a quality move either way, it either has to be getting rid of a player that isn't going to hurt the team in the short-term OR needs to be a trade for a player that can help the Orioles in 2026 and beyond. The important thing is that the outcome of the 2025 season doesn't theoretically matter.

One such move that the Orioles absolutely need to consider is a trade for the Twins' Jhoan Duran who could help anchor Baltimore's bullpen for years to come.

Orioles trading for Jhoan Duran could be the best of both worlds

For fans that still hold out hope for this season, the Orioles trading for Duran has a lot of appeal. Assuming a world where Baltimore also kept Felix Bautista, adding Duran would give the Orioles two absolute stud power arms at the back of their bullpen. Bringing Duran in would also allow Baltimore to manage Bautista's workload down the stretch a bit which is a nice bonus given that Bautista is in his first season coming back from surgery.

If the Orioles are sellers, things get a little messier, but trading Duran could easily still work. If Baltimore sells, but keeps Bautista, all the same arguments about giving them a strong bullpen for years still apply as both players are under team control through the 2027 season via arbitration. If the Orioles decide to trade Bautista, Duran immediately slots in as his replacement that doesn't come with the same injury concerns that Bautista has at the moment.

What such a move would come down to is the Orioles' willingness to pay what is likely to be a significant asking price for Duran. The fit makes a lot of sense, but we have little evidence aside from the Corbin Burnes trade that Mike Elias is willing to use the team's prospect capital to help the big league roster via trades. One hopes that that changes at this year's trade deadline one way or another.

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