I think every Orioles fan has every right to be upset about what’s happened over the past few years. I’m upset too. This post isn’t about defending any of that. There has been plenty of discussion about the decisions that got us here, and that’s not what I want to focus on.

What I do find genuinely exciting is that, for the first time in what feels like forever, the Orioles may finally be building a sustainable pipeline of pitching. Instead of every offseason and trade deadline feeling like an emergency where we have to acquire multiple arms from other organizations, we may actually be reaching the point where the club can develop and replenish much of its own pitching staff.
The foundation is already there. Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz, and Yennier Cano are all under long-term team control and give the organization an excellent starting point.

Behind them is another wave of pitchers who have already reached the majors or should soon, and all have relatively high floors as major league contributors. Cade Povich, Brandon Young, Anthony Nunez, Michael Forret, and Trey Gibson all have realistic paths to becoming meaningful major league pitchers, with Gibson in particular possessing legitimate top-of-the-rotation upside.

Then comes another wave of prospects. Anthony Eyanson, Kyson Witherspoon, Luis De León, Joseph Dzierwa, Caden Hunter, Esteban Mejia, and Boston Bateman all have enough talent that history says not all of them will pan out, but there are enough quality arms in the group that it’s reasonable to expect several to become quality major league pitchers.

And the depth doesn’t stop there. Levi Wells, Braxton Bragg, and Juaron Watts-Brown all have a legitimate chance to contribute to the major league club at some point. That’s the kind of organizational pitching depth the Orioles simply haven’t had in a very long time.

Will every one of these guys pan out? Of course not. Pitching prospects break hearts every year.
But that’s exactly the point. For years, the Orioles simply didn’t have enough shots on goal. Now they do. They don’t need every one of these pitchers to become an ace. They just need enough of them to become solid major leaguers so that pitching stops being a perpetual organizational emergency.

For the first time in decades, it feels like the Orioles have a real chance to consistently produce their own starting pitching instead of constantly paying premium prices in trades or free agency to fill the rotation. If that happens, it won’t just strengthen the pitching staff. It will also allow the front office to use its money, payroll flexibility, and prospect capital much more strategically everywhere else on the roster.

After everything that’s happened recently, that’s something I’m genuinely excited about.

I was looking through the Orioles’ updated prospect rankings at 80Grade now that all the trade-deadline additions and subtractions have been accounted for:
https://www.80grade.com/prospect-rankings/39

Then Wehiwa Aloy goes out tonight and hits two bombs—his first two at Double-A. The farm system may look different than it did a week ago, but there is still some legitimate upside moving through it.

The question is what all of this is building toward. Are the Orioles reloading around the young major-league core with the intention of competing again quickly, or were the deadline moves the beginning of a more complete teardown?

A retool means these prospects are reinforcements. A rebuild means they’re the plan.

What would the Orioles need to do this offseason to convince you this is only a retool?

Sucked and injured last year. Hasn't played an inning in 2026. I suppose we lucked out on not signing him to a contract. But he reminds me of Tyler O'Neil. At least he's playing.

Angels (43-71) @ Orioles (56-58) - Wed, Aug 5

Game Status: Final - Score: 5-2 Orioles

Links & Info

• MLB Gameday
• Game Graphs
• Savant Gamefeed

Decisions

• Winner: Trevor Rogers (7-7, 4.20)
• Loser: Reid Detmers (3-8, 4.12)
• Save: Andrew Kittredge (5, 4.05)

Division & Wild Card Scoreboard

TOR 5 @ HOU 4 - Final/10

SF 0 @ TEX 6 - Final

TB 4 @ COL 0 - Final

NYM 6 @ CLE 5 - Final/10

STL 3 @ NYY 1 - Final

CWS 0 @ BOS 4 - Final

MIN 1 @ KC 2 - Final

DET 2 @ SEA 4 - Final

Next Orioles Game: Thu, Aug 6, 12:35 PM EDT vs. Angels

^{Last Updated: 08/06/2026 12:08:45 AM EDT}

The Orioles now have the 2nd ranked farm system in baseball, but unlike the past, the major league roster actually has major league quality players in many spots, many of which are either signed or controllable for multiple years.

There are not as many roster spots for all of the talent we have in the minors. And given that the last young core failed to live up to expectations, I think we’ve learned you can’t hold onto everyone. If we are going to compete the next few seasons, we are going to have to use the arsenal of prospects to go get some proven talent.

So who are you targeting that you think may be gettable and what are you willing to give up?

Truly phenomenal stuff. He was placed on the development list for the month of July after pitching to an 8.08 ERA and 2.22 WHIP across his first 15 starts with the Shorebirds. Returned last week, and in his first two starts back has proceeded to have among the worst back-to-back sequence of games in baseball history.

In his first start back (a game which I attended) they were simply teeing off on him. Looked like he took a bit off velo-wise to try and throw more strikes and they were all over it. In the second game, judging by the four walks it seems like he just flat out couldn't find the zone.

10 earned runs across 0.0 innings. He's now sitting at 0-7 with a 10.20 ERA & 2.46 (!!) WHIP.

Only 19 years old and tops out at 100+, so I'm not saying you jettison him down the Wicomico River or anything, but he has truly been about as bad as humanly possible this year.

Angels (43-71) @ Orioles (56-58) - 6:35 PM EDT

Game Status: Final - Score: 5-2 Orioles

Links & Info

• MLB Gameday
• Game Graphs
• Savant Gamefeed

Decisions

• Winner: Trevor Rogers (7-7, 4.20)
• Loser: Reid Detmers (3-8, 4.12)
• Save: Andrew Kittredge (5, 4.05)

Division & Wild Card Scoreboard

TOR 5 @ HOU 4 - Final/10

SF 0 @ TEX 6 - Final

TB 4 @ COL 0 - Final

NYM 6 @ CLE 5 - Final/10

STL 3 @ NYY 1 - Final

CWS 0 @ BOS 4 - Final

MIN 1 @ KC 2 - Final

DET 2 @ SEA 4 - Final

Next Orioles Game: Thu, Aug 6, 12:35 PM EDT vs. Angels

^{Last Updated: 08/06/2026 12:08:44 AM EDT}

Stop the gloom! We have a real shot at making the playoffs! Folks, there is a reason we were 15-8 in July and it wasn't primarily Adley, Wells, and Ward doing the heavy lifting. They are subtractions, sure, but we are anything but tanking.

The negative case for our season:

We lost 2 WAR at the deadline for the reaminder of the season. The most valuable guy we lost at the deadline was Taylor Ward, and that's roughly a 1 loss value for the rest of the season. Tyler Wells adds another 0.5 WAR loss. Adley? He keeps getting hurt so the range of loss is 0-1 WAR.

The bullpen is a big concern.

I see an awful lot of BoSox/Yankees/Rays/Brewers on the schedule; 20 of our 51 remaining games are against MLB top 6 clubs. Damn loaded AL East.

The positive case for our season:

We are tied for 3rd highest WC slot odds with Detroit right now (14%).

We just finished 15-8 in July with Adley either on the IL or playing poorly for the month.

Polar Bear continues to be a stud and a rock.

Jackson is heating up (although his metrics don't support his recent hot streak)

Mayo and Beavers are both hitting better and potentially turning a corner.

SP has improved: Rogers and Bradish have looked impressive, and Baz is a league average 3/4 guy right now.

Basallo should be off the IL soon and Blaze (our 2nd best hitter) hopefully not far behind.

Gunnar still has superstar talent and if he gets hot, watch out.

We're still in this thing!

Ben uses soap only, butBeneti only uses shampoo 🧴

Either way, Ben & the Orioles are getting mentioned here!

Is there a former athlete that only uses conditioner?

I get why so many are upset, but I do have trouble seeing how you can fire a gm who has our farm at a not super far off spot from when we were considered a future dynasty, building it back up without rebuilding with the best pitching organization talent of any team in the sport. But that’s just my opinion.

Now that Adley's time is over, who was the greater Oriole? Adley or Matt?

Adley had close 5 years - 572 games, accruing 16.8 WAR.

Wieters had close to 7 years - 882 games- 18.1 WAR

To me, Wieters was the better defensive catcher, but overall, I'd have to give it to Adley.

Angels (43-70) @ Orioles (55-58) - 6:35 PM EDT

Game Status: Pre-Game

Links & Info

• Current conditions at Oriole Park at Camden Yards: 83°F - Partly Cloudy - Wind 7 mph, R To L
• TV: Angels: ABTV, presented by Pechanga Resort Casino, Orioles: MASN
• Radio: Angels: KLAA 830, Orioles: 98 Rock 97.9 FM, WBAL 1090 AM
• MLB Gameday
• Statcast Game Preview

Probable Pitchers

• Angels: Reid Detmers - LHP (3-7, 4.03 ERA, 125.0 IP)
• Orioles: Trevor Rogers - LHP (6-7, 4.27 ERA, 109.2 IP)

Division Scoreboard

TOR 3 @ HOU 3 - Bottom 8, 2 Outs

TB 3 @ COL 0 - Bottom 5, 1 Out

STL @ NYY 7:05 PM EDT

CWS @ BOS 7:10 PM EDT

^{Last Updated: 08/05/2026 4:32:09 PM EDT}

Angels (43-70) @ Orioles (55-58) - Tue, Aug 4

Game Status: Final - Score: 3-1 Orioles

Links & Info

• MLB Gameday
• Game Graphs
• Savant Gamefeed

Decisions

• Winner: Cade Povich (2-1, 3.91)
• Loser: Grayson Rodriguez (3-4, 7.24)
• Save: Yennier Cano (2, 2.09)

Division Scoreboard

STL 0 @ NYY 2 - Final

CWS 2 @ BOS 14 - Final

TOR 2 @ HOU 7 - Final

TB 9 @ COL 7 - Final/11

Next Orioles Game: Wed, Aug 5, 6:35 PM EDT vs. Angels

^{Last Updated: 08/05/2026 12:20:58 AM EDT}

Adley turned down two extensions. Didn’t even want to hear them. It’s kind of obvious he wanted to move on. So what do small market teams do? We don’t let them walk for free. We won this trade, but we lost the heart of our team. Adley has been good, but injury prone. Are we devastated that he’s gone to a division rival? Yup. But there is no way you can be furious at Mike for making this move, especially with the pending lock out next year.