Orioles Trade Deadline: Passan points to looming chaos for Orioles roster

Eric Cole

2025 MLB Draft / Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/GettyImages

However things end up happening, it is very obvious that the Baltimore Orioles are going to be at the epicenter of the trade deadline. While losing Felix Bautista to a shoulder injury hurt the chances of a blockbuster move, the Orioles still have so many pending free agents that would probably be worth exploring trades with even if Baltimore was in a better position in the standings.

With where their playoff odds currently sit, the Orioles may end up being much more aggressive than you would think. In fact, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Orioles could look like a new team after the dust settles at the trade deadline.

Jeff Passan thinks no team will change more at the trade deadline than the Orioles

While everyone who pays attention at all knows that the Orioles' roster was going to see some changes in the next week or so, the scale of those changes seemed to be understated a good bit. However, Passan was abundantly clear when he said, "No team will look as different as the Orioles after the deadline. The list of players available is profound."

Assuming current trends hold and even if Bautista stays put, the Orioles stand to lose Ryan O'Hearn, Ramon Laureano, Cedric Mullins, Jorge Mateo, Ryan Mountcastle, (breathes) Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, and Andrew Kittredge among others. That is a lot of roster turnover and that list of potential departures is not exhaustive at all. If the Orioles wanted to really make a push, there could be some merit to making Trevor Rogers available in trades despite his included team control.

All of these changes puts a massive onus on Mike Elias and the front office to get this trade deadline right. Nail it, and the Orioles could set themselves up for the future and be right back in contention in 2026. If they can't capitalize, Elias' job may not be as secure as many would have thought at the start of the season.

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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.