Orioles could follow through and part with untouchable prospect after Kyle Bradish injury

Baltimore can't repeat the mistakes of last year's deadline and need to pull out all the stops at this year's trade deadline even if it means parting with one of their top young prospects.

Eric Cole

Baltimore Orioles v Pittsburgh Pirates / Christopher Pasatieri/GettyImages

While the Baltimore Orioles remain in a really good spot, especially after outlasting the New York Yankees on Wednesday for a key 7-6 extra-inning victory over their division foe, not everything is coming up roses for Baltimore at the moment. On Wednesday, the Orioles revealed that their 2023 ace and still frontline starter Kyle Bradish underwent Tommy John surgery in a huge blow to Baltimore's rotation.

Adding rotation depth at the trade deadline was already a priority for the Orioles before Bradish got hurt again. John Means and Tyler Wellsn also went under the knife and will miss the rest of the season. While Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott are supremely talented pitching prospects, Baltimore can't afford to hinge their hopes on a pair of rookies with a potential World Series run in play.

As a result, the Orioles appearing to be dangle the formerly untouchable Samuel Basallo in trade talks ahead of the deadline makes a lot of sense all of a sudden.

Orioles Rumors: Baltimore could trade top prospect Samuel Basallo as their rotation woes mount

While a lot of attention has been given to the possible departure of Heston Kjerstad at the trade deadline, moving Basallo has a lot of merit. Not only will he command a premium as one of the best hitters in the minor leagues who has a chance at sticking behind the plate, but he is also pretty blocked at catcher with Adley Rutschman firmly entrenched there (and with good reason).

Given the current state of the Orioles' big league roster, the time is now for Baltimore to stop hoarding all of these hitting prospects. The team values Basallo highly and certainly shouldn't just give him away, but there is no reason he should be considering untouchable. If an opportunity to trade him for a controllable starter like Garret Crochet or even a shutdown closer like Mason Miller presents itself, Basallo needs to at least be on the table.

If not, the Orioles could find themselves in a similar situation to last year where they needed starting pitching, tried to apply a bandage on it without parting with top talent, and then getting burned for it in the playoffs. That can't happen again in 2024.

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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.