The Orioles have moved into deadline week with their biggest names no longer protected. Mike Elias is willing to discuss Adley Rutschman in the right deal, and he has also talked to teams about Jackson Holliday as the 6 p.m. ET cutoff approaches.
That matters now because 30 major league teams are on the clock, and the Orioles are trying to do two things at once: add talent for the stretch drive and listen on players who once felt off limits. Their options are not limited to one lane. The club can offer a right-handed hitting outfielder, multiple bullpen arms and a frontline starting pitcher, while also shopping for the same kinds of pieces in return.
For the people inside the room, the deadline is not an abstract date on the calendar. Jason Bourgeois said it creates anxiety in the clubhouse and that players are trying to keep their minds on today’s game. He said it is a day when teams hope to stack their deck and put themselves in position to make a move, but there is uncertainty attached to it. He added that the players want to win and want the guys around them to be in a position to win, too.
The Orioles are not describing Rutschman as untouchable anymore, and the talk around him has intensified as the deadline nears. Holliday is not yet in his arbitration years, which only sharpens the question of what sort of return would be enough to move either player. The answer likely has to be immediate help, because Elias is still trying to help a team that can chase the Wild Card while also reshaping the roster around it.
That push-and-pull is showing up everywhere. Left fielder Taylor Ward might be gone before the Angels arrive for a reunion on Tuesday night, Trevor Rogers could be one of the TBA starters in that series or be gone, and Andrew Kittredge is a pending free agent who might be dismissed from bullpen duty. Craig Albernaz will write out his lineups when the homestand resumes on Tuesday, but by then the deadline may already have changed the shape of the clubhouse.
The Orioles reached the deadline with real urgency after a shutout loss to the Phillies left them 2 1/2 games behind the last Wild Card and tied with the Tigers. They had also dropped three series in their last four, a stretch that has made every roster decision feel immediate. Elias can still buy. He can still sell. The unresolved question is whether he can do both without losing the young core he built first.
