Baltimore Orioles' Bungled Trade Deadline Gave The AL East to the New York Yankees

The Baltimore Orioles didn't acquire enough talent at this year's deadline to hold off the Yankees and repeat at division champs

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles were in a close battle with the New York Yankees at the 2024 Trade Deadline, but the on-field results for each team took a turn at the end of July and New York has won the American League East because of it.

It didn't need to be this way.

The Orioles finished deadline day 64-44 and half a game up on the Yankees, who were 64-45. But since then, New York has gone 30-21 (7th best) while Baltimore has been just 24-27, a bottom five record in MLB.

General manager Mike Elias missed at the trade deadline. Brian Cashman, Yankees general manager, hit on his moves. Let's figure out what went wrong.

Most of the players acquired haven't performed in Baltimore

In all of their summer deals, the Orioles moved a whopping nineteen players either in or out of the organization:

Acquisitions: Zach Eflin, Seranthony Domínguez, Cristian Pache, Trevor Rogers, Eloy Jiménez, Austin Slater, Livan Soto, Gregory Soto, Patrick Reilly
Departures: Austin Hays, Connor Norby, Kyle Stowers, Matthew Etzel, Jackson Baumeister, Mac Horvath, Seth Johnson, Moises Chace, Trey McGough, Billy Cook

But the players that Baltimore acquired have mostly disappointed. That was to be expected - several of them were reclamation projects. But it's still frustrating to see just how poorly several of them have played during their Orioles tenures.

Starter Trevor Rogers, who was acquired from the Miami Marlins in a package that included infielder Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers, made it through only four starts before being optioned down to Triple-A Norfolk. The lefty put up a 7.11 ERA, going 0-2 and allowing more earned runs (fifteen) than logging strikeouts (twelve).

This wasn't that surprising - his ERA with Miami was 4.53 and his Fielding Independent Pitching of 4.43 showed that wasn't a fluke or bad luck. (His FIP with Baltimore is "only" 5.01, so maybe the Orioles let some bad defense color their perspective here.)

Zach Eflin, acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays, has pitched well (5-2, 2.31 ERA) but also missed two weeks on the injured list with an ankle injury.

Outfielder Cristian Pache, acquired with Seranthony Domínguez from the Philadelphia Phillies for veteran outfielder Austin Hays, got just one at-bat for the Orioles before being DFA'd. (The Miami Marlins, who selected him on waivers and gave him 60 at-bats, just DFA'd him as well.) Domínguez wasn't the only reliever being moved by a contending team, as the Phillies also sent Gregory Soto to Baltimore - a contending team moving on from relievers usually isn't a scenario where you're getting quality performers, and that's exactly what happened here. Soto is 1-1 with a 5.87 ERA for the Orioles, while Domínguez is 0-2 with a 3.54 ERA.

DH Eloy Jiménez was optioned to the minors earlier this week after hitting just .232 with a .586 OPS in 33 games, while outfielder Austin Slater has started only six games in the month of September while batting just .185.

Elias moved a lot of players, but wasn't willing to part with the good ones

Trades aren't supposed to feel good. You're usually required to give good players to get a good player, any deal between the Atlanta Braves and Oakland Athletics notwithstanding.

Baltimore hasn't been willing to give up good players at the deadline for the last two seasons.

The Yankees acquired the dynamic Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the Miami Marlins for three players: catcher Agustin Ramírez, infielder Jared Serna, and utility player Abrahan Ramirez. Two of those players, Ramírez and Serna, are now in Miami's top ten prospects at #3 (Ramírez) and #10 (Serna).

Baltimore could have beat that deal. Jazz's 10 home runs, 16 stolen bases, and solid defense at third base would have been useful when the Orioles lost multiple infielders to injury.

Was it a smart decision to hold onto catcher Samuel Basallo and infielders Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo? Time will tell. But refusing to deal them or any other top-ten prospect, in retrospect, was a mistake. The organization didn't get significantly worse at the deadline, but it can be argued that it also didn't get better and there's no obvious path forward for a deep postseason run.