Grading the Orioles' performance at the MLB trade deadline

The Orioles’ made a flurry of moves at the trade deadline, although none of them were as major as quite a few people predicted. The Orioles traded away a few well-known names, and also traded away quite a few of their top-30 prospects.

Here's the full list of players coming into and out of the organization:

Traded away: OF Austin Hays, OF Kyle Stowers, INF Connor Norby, RHP Moises Chace, INF Mac Horvath, RHP Seth Johnson, LHP Trey McGough, IF Billy Cook, OF Matthew Etzel, and RHP Jackson Baumeister

Acquired: RHP Seranthony Dominguez, OF Cristian Pache, LHP Zach Eflin, LHP Trevor Rogers, OF/DH Eloy Jimenez, OF Austin Slater, IF Livan Soto, LHP Gregory Soto, and RHP Patrick Reilly.

How did the Orioles do at the trade deadline?

Overall, the Orioles made a large number of moves, especially within the closing hours of the 6:00 PM EST trade deadline on July 30th. Did these moves help the team? Or did the subtraction of certain players hurt more than it will truly help the team?

Losing Austin Hays, who is one of the only remaining players from the total rebuild of the team certainly is a major loss, both on the field and in the locker room. However, adding Seranthony Dominguez, who as of August 1st has had 3 scoreless outings with the Orioles, could prove to be a major move to help one of the weaker parts of this roster.

The addition of Zach Eflin is another huge addition to one of the parts of this Orioles’ team that has been decimated by injury, that being the starting rotation. While he hasn’t been performing up to his normal standard, any kind of help that Eflin could provide to the rotation could be the extra push they need to get them to the World Series.

The final “major” addition from the trade deadline was that of Eloy Jimenez from the Chicago White Sox. Eloy will slot in as a right handed bat/corner outfielder. Eloy’s biggest downfall as of late has been his inability to stay healthy, which is an issue the Orioles have been also dealing with throughout this season. With any luck, Eloy can bring back the power he had during his rookie season in 2019. The Orioles’ do have a track record of having outfielders turn their seasons around, ala Aaron Hicks in 2023.

Overall, the Orioles had a decent trade deadline. I have seen everywhere from an A to a B- in terms of ranking their 2024 trade deadline acquisitions. However, I feel they really made good additions in the areas that they needed to, without losing any of their top name prospects (Holliday, Mayo, and Basallo to name a few). I would personally give the Orioles 2024 trade deadline an A-. With all of these moves the Orioles' have made, it has also opened up some roster spots for certain top prospects like infielders Coby Mayo and Jackson Holliday.