Orioles somehow struck trade with hated Yankees instead of promoting Samuel Basallo

Eric Cole

Baltimore Orioles v Philadelphia Phillies / Brandon Sloter/GettyImages

The Orioles were out of catchers beyond the recently acquired Jacob Stallings, so calling Basallo up just made too much sense. Adley Rutschman is out with an oblique injury, Maverick Handley and Chadwick Tromp are banged up, and now Sanchez seems likely to be out for a bit.

However, Baltimore instead struck a trade with the division rival Yankees to acquire Alex Jackson who has never shown an ability to stick in the big leagues whatsoever.

Earlier today, the Yankees traded C Alex Jackson to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for international signing bonus pool money and a player to be named later or cash considerations.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 6, 2025

Orioles acquire Alex Jackson from the Yankees, leave Samuel Basallo in the minors again

Clearly something is going on with Baltimore's assessment of Basallo's talent and readiness versus the rest of the world. There is a chance that Basallo truly isn't ready to catch at the big league level, but it is hard to envision him being any worse than Jackson who is the definition of a journeyman and who is hitting .135 in the majors going back to 2021.

Nevertheless, this is the move that Baltimore landed on. They have already added Jackson to the big league roster and put Sanchez on the IL with a knee sprain. Jorge Mateo was moved to the 60-day IL to create roster space for Jackson in the majors. To acquire Jackson, it cost Baltimore valuable international bonus pool money as well as cash or a player to be named later. Given Jackson's performance in recent years, that somehow still feels like an overpay.

This move does feel like a bandaid, which could bode well for the recoveries of some of the Orioles' other catching options. Rutschman's return doesn't to be imminent, but perhaps we could see Handley or Tromp come off the shelf pretty soon. Baltimore fans need to certainly hope so, because a prolonged stint with Jackson and Stallings behind the plate seems pretty painful to watch.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.