The Tarik Skubal trade changed the whole shape of the deadline, and it pushed Trevor Rogers into a spotlight he probably wasn’t supposed to have.
For months, Skubal was the name driving the conversation. Once he wound up with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the market for frontline rental starters got a lot thinner, and contenders suddenly had to recalibrate fast. With the next 36 hours now all about figuring out how to answer the Dodgers, the Orioles find themselves sitting on a pitcher who could become one of the most intriguing chips in the market.
Baltimore says it wants to buy and sell, but the early signs point more toward selling. One starting pitcher is already gone, and that makes Rogers the obvious name to watch.
The appeal is pretty clear once you look at the board. A lot of the other rental starters come with real baggage.
Casey Mize, Jack Flaherty and Clay Holmes all have health concerns. Freddy Peralta is in the worst season of his career and doesn’t look like a simple fix.
Robbie Ray and Brady Singer have underlying numbers that suggest their ERAs should both be near five. For a contender, that’s a tough group to trust if the assignment is to hand someone the ball in October.
Rogers has had a couple of rough patches this season, and they’ve made his overall numbers look less tidy than they otherwise would. But if you zoom out to what he’s done over the last two seasons, and set aside the four starts around his IL stint when he was clearly dealing with an illness, the profile gets a lot more interesting. He has shown an ability to keep runs off the board and work deep into games, even against strong competition.
If Baltimore actually made him available, he’d shoot straight to the top of the rental starter market. In fact, he might be the only rental starter out there who could genuinely be viewed as a playoff starter.
That’s why the list of possible suitors is so long. Rogers would fit into the rotation picture for the White Sox, Astros, Twins, Rays, Rangers, Diamondbacks, Braves, Cubs, Brewers and Padres. Even if some of those clubs preferred Mize or Ray, there would still be a sizable market waiting for Baltimore.
And if the Orioles play this right, they might even be able to recoup the value they gave up to get Rogers in 2024. With the team entering the deadline with “no biases” about whether to buy or sell, the offers should be impossible to ignore.
Of course, Baltimore may have its own reasons to stay put. The Orioles are only 1.5 games out of a playoff spot, and that puts them in a spot where a move like this could say as much about the season they’re trying to salvage as it does about the market they’re trying to exploit.
In Other News...
Mike Elias Just Got A Trade Deadline Chance Orioles Fans Can't Ignore
The Tarik Skubal deal out of Detroit has already shifted the conversation around the trade deadline, and it reaches Baltimore in a very direct way. With the Tigers sending the left-hander to the Dodgers for three prospects, the market for starting pitching has another major data point, and Orioles executive Mike Elias now has a clearer sense of what teams are willing to pay when a controllable arm becomes available.
For Baltimore, that matters because Trevor Rogers is sitting there as a potential deadline piece, and clubs around the league are said to have interest. Elias has a real chance to turn a pitcher into future value, but the shape of that return is still taking form as contenders weigh their needs and the market responds to the latest big move. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Face One Deadline Decision That Could Define Their Rotation
With the trade deadline closing in, the Orioles are still weighing whether to lean into a push for October or start making moves that better fit the longer view. They have already sent Dean Kremer out and added Jake Rogers for catching depth, a reminder that the front office is trying to balance immediate needs with whatever comes next. The biggest question now is whether Baltimore uses its remaining room to shore up the rotation, where another arm could matter as much as any bat.
One idea that has circulated would send the Orioles after a controllable left-handed starter, the kind of fit that could stabilize the staff beyond just this season. Any move of that sort would come at a cost in prospects, and Baltimore has to decide how much future value it is willing to part with for a chance to make the rotation more trustworthy right now. With the deadline pressure building, this is the sort of call that can shape not only the stretch run but the way the Orioles are built for the months ahead. [Read more 🡒]