The Baltimore Orioles’ first move of deadline week has arrived, and it points in a clear direction: Dean Kremer is gone.
Baltimore is sending the right-hander to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Low-A outfield prospect Jhomnardo Reyes, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. It comes after the Orioles had already added veteran catcher Jake Rogers from the Detroit Tigers two days earlier, and it marks the first real sell-side move of the deadline stretch.
Kremer’s exit doesn’t land out of nowhere. The 30-year-old has been hit hard lately, giving up 14 earned runs over his last 10 innings.
He had also posted a 6.50 ERA in seven starts this season, a step back from a 2025 campaign in which he led the club with 171 ⅔ innings. Even so, the strikeout-to-walk ratio he carried this year sat at 3.45, the best mark of his seven-year major league career.
Minnesota is taking on a pitcher with plenty of Baltimore mileage. Kremer, a 14th-round pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016, came to the Orioles in the trade that sent Manny Machado to Los Angeles.
Since then, he appeared in 133 games for Baltimore and put up a 4.37 ERA. His final outing for the club was a rough one: four innings, eight runs, eight hits, and a 14-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
His overall work in Baltimore settled almost exactly at league average. Kremer’s career wins above average with the O’s was 0.0, and his ERA sat between 4.10 and 4.20 for three straight seasons from 2023 through 2025.
For Baltimore, the return is Reyes, an 18-year-old Dominican outfielder who had made some noise in the Florida Complex League. In 49 games there, he hit .296/.409/.541, enough for Baseball America to rank him as Minnesota’s 12th-best prospect. He was promoted to Low-A Fort Myers on July 24 and has gone 2-for-21 with six walks and two RBIs in seven games since then.
The power is the tool that jumps off the page. Reyes posted a 99.3 mph average exit velocity, which ranked in the 94th percentile, and topped out at 110 mph in the FCL. MLB Pipeline has him at No. 20 on Baltimore’s top 30 prospect list.
Even with Kremer moved, the Orioles’ deadline approach still isn’t fully clear. The trade opens a hole in the fifth spot of the rotation, but it could also set up another move if Baltimore wants to upgrade there. The club has reportedly been looking for starting pitching, with Jose Soriano of the Los Angeles Angels and Kevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays among the names mentioned as realistic possibilities.
There are internal options too. Chris Bassitt, Cade Povich and Trey Gibson all come into the picture.
Bassitt, 37, made his first rehab start with Triple-A Norfolk on Tuesday and allowed one run on one hit with three strikeouts over 3 ⅓ innings. Before going on the injured list in early June with low back discomfort, he made 12 appearances for Baltimore and logged a 5.27 ERA and 1.633 WHIP.
Povich, 26, had been sidelined with low elbow inflammation in May. He made five starts for Norfolk in July and finished with a 7.13 ERA across 24 innings.
Gibson, Baltimore’s eighth-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, got a look in the majors in May and June before being sent back to Triple-A after a June 30 outing against the Chicago White Sox in which he allowed eight runs in 2 ⅔ innings. Since returning to Norfolk in July, the 24-year-old has posted a 3.55 ERA in three starts.
For now, the Orioles are operating with a four-man rotation. To fill Kremer’s roster spot, they recalled right-handed reliever Yaramil Hiraldo.
Hiraldo opened his 2026 season by allowing four earned runs in 1 ⅔ innings before landing on the 60-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. Now he gets another chance while Baltimore sorts out the fifth starter spot.
In Other News...
Orioles Fans May Hate What Adley Rutschman News Says About This Front Office
The Orioles rebuilding project has always been judged through the lens of patience, but any conversation about progress in Baltimore is going to feel different when it involves Adley Rutschman. The franchise centerpiece has been at the heart of everything the club has tried to build under general manager Mike Elias, which is why the latest news naturally lands as a referendum on the front office as much as on the player himself.
There is still a procedural step left before anything becomes official, and that is the part keeping this story from being complete. Even so, the mere fact that Rutschmans name is now tied to a move of this magnitude will force Orioles fans to reckon with how aggressively the organization wants to keep reshaping the roster, and whether the people making those calls can be trusted with the next phase of the rebuild. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Face One Deadline Decision That Could Define Their Rotation
The Orioles have already made one move that fits the deadlines usual balancing act, sending Dean Kremer out and bringing Jake Rogers in to shore up catching depth. Now the bigger question is whether they lean further into selling, or take a swing at adding help for a rotation that still has to carry them through a postseason chase. Baltimores front office is working with the same familiar tension that hangs over a contender near the deadline: protect the future, or push chips in for the present.
One possibility being discussed would address a clear need by adding a controllable left-handed starter, the kind of arm that could stabilize the staff beyond this season. It is the sort of deal that would require real prospect capital, and the Orioles have to decide how far they want to go to strengthen the rotation without thinning out the next wave of talent. For a club trying to thread that needle, this is the kind of decision that can shape not just the deadline, but the shape of the pitching staff for some time to come. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Just Helped A Wild Card Rival And Fans Know It
A late-summer trade sent veteran outfielder Taylor Ward from Baltimore to Seattle, a move that immediately drew attention because the Mariners are pushing to stay in the playoff race. Ward, on a one-year deal, gives Seattle another right-handed bat as it tries to shore up an offense that has been looking for a lift.
For the Orioles, the deal is a tougher sell to the fan base because they are still sitting near the wild-card picture themselves and moved a useful bat in the process. Baltimore did bring back three minor-league right-handers in Alex Hoppe, Harrison Kreiling and Brock Moore, though none of them were among Seattles top 30 prospects, which only adds to the feeling that this was a small return for a player who could have helped in the standings race. [Read more 🡒]