The Baltimore Orioles were sitting at 57-35 in 2024, two games up on the Yankees in the AL East, and the whole thing felt like it was lining up. Corbin Burnes was fronting the rotation, Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman were both in peak form, and with the trade deadline closing in, Orioles fans were waiting for Mike Elias to swing big.
The name at the center of that conversation was Tarik Skubal.
At the time, the Detroit Tigers ace was putting together a monster season: a 2.37 ERA, a 0.90 WHIP, and opponents hitting just .195 against him. Detroit was only 44-49, so the idea of a trade was very much alive, and Baltimore looked like the cleanest fit. Burnes’ contract was nearing its end, and the Orioles had the kind of prospect capital that made rival clubs pay attention - Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo, and Jackson Holliday.
MLB Network Insider Jon Morosi said on "The Daily Flock Show" on Friday that Baltimore was in the right spot at the right time.
“The right players were in form at the right time. They were missing the guy, and they didn’t ever pull the trigger to make the deal to make it a special run to the playoffs.”
Morosi also said the Orioles let the moment slip away.
“They seemed to miss their window, and it’s almost seemed like they’ve been chasing that mistake ever since then. I don’t know when they will ever get back to having that type of opportunity again.”
Skubal, of course, has gone on to become a two-time Cy Young award winner, a two-time ERA champion, and a Triple Crown holder. That makes the what-if even louder now, especially when you look at the prospects Baltimore would have had to put on the table.
Basallo was still 19 at the time, a 2021 international free agent signee playing at Double-A Bowie and hitting .289 before a Triple-A call-up just over a month later. Morosi said he believed Basallo would have mattered in those talks.
“I do think that that Basallo would have been a really important piece of that conversation, and one that I think they (the Tigers) would have wanted to get as part of that deal.”
He added, “It’s hard to know," Morosi said, "but I do think if you would have put in Basallo, Mayo, Holiday, that was the package we were talking about a lot at that time.”
Back then, that trio looked like the kind of haul that could tempt Detroit. Now, the picture looks different.
Basallo is the only one of the three who has shown success at the Major League level. Mayo is sitting at a .263 OBP and an OPS+ of 80, while Holliday has a 0.2 WAR and an OPS just over 700.
The deal never happened, and Baltimore’s trajectory has only made the missed opportunity sting more. The Orioles were swept in the 2024 American League Wild Card by the Royals, then fell all the way to last in the AL East with a 43-51 record. Detroit, meanwhile, put together an 87-75 season in 2025 and reached the ALDS.
Skubal’s name is back in the rumor mill with the Aug. 3 deadline approaching, but Morosi’s view is that Baltimore’s role has changed. The Orioles are no longer in position to buy, and players like Holliday and Mayo may now be the ones they need to consider moving.
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