Orioles’ trade ambitions could be facing irritating market obstacle from AL rival

The Baltimore Orioles have been looking to find a way to trade from their positions of strength in order to address some other areas of their roster and clear up some logjams that have developed over the last couple of years. In recent months, chief among their trade candidates have been Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo who Baltimore has yet to find a trade to their liking.

Despite being a motivated seller and both players having real value, no deal has come. Sure, there is a chance that the Orioles simply value Mayo and/or Mountcastle more than the market does, or they have wanted to save their biggest trade chips for a swap for a frontline starter that never ended up materializing. Those are rational explanations for what the Orioles have done, even if they don't stand up to scrutiny.

One issue that Baltimore may be coming up against on the trade market when it comes to Mountcastle and Mayo is that another AL contender, the Astros, has some very similar players available for trade as well.

Orioles' inability to find the deal(s) they want for Coby Mayo and Ryan Mountcastle may have the Astros to blame

Trade value is determined so much by supply and demand. Normally, defensively limited sluggers like Mountcastle and, to a certain extent, Mayo would only garner a modest return as the league has shifted away from such players. However, it felt like, at least for a moment, like the lack of available bats in free agency that were remotely affordable could drive buyers to Baltimore, and they could cash in.

The problem is that the Astros also have some players available in trades in Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker, and Jake Meyers, among possibly others. This is somewhat an apples-to-oranges comparison, given that Houston's guys are established big leaguers making real money, but that probably doesn't help Baltimore when the types of hitters in question are as similar as they are. Why give up a king's ransom in prospects for Mayo or make a move for Mountcastle when there are better options available and ones that won't require much of a prospect investment on the front end?

That is what the debate must be right now within the few teams that are still looking to upgrade their offenses and have the resources to actually do so. That list is already pretty short at this point in the spring, which doesn't help the "demand" side of supply and demand in the trade market. There are some real arguments to suggest that even though the Orioles desire and are motivated to make a trade, they may not have the most appealing trade chips on the market at this point, and that is a problem.