MLB Insider Agrees Orioles Must Learn From Mistakes And Market Rutschman And Holliday For Trade

It was obvious to me two years ago that Jackson Holliday had no natural position in Baltimore – he was never going to be a shortstop, anyway, watching him through the minors - given what the Orioles already had with infielders Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg.

And with a preponderance of prospects in the O’s then-deep system, and with the front office jacking up the left field dimensions to make it incredibly oppressive for right-handed bats, the trade deadline screamed out for them to give the Tigers what they wanted for lefty Cy Young arm Tarik Skubal. MLB Network Insider Jon Morosi agreed with me at the time and believed general manager Mike Elias needed to make that move.

Of course he didn’t and Elias has never done anything but embarrass himself at the deadline and the entire industry knows he is inept when it comes to improving a major league product and building a roster than can do anything in October. There is no counter argument and only someone getting paid by the Orioles or, worse yet, media members totally under their thumb, would try to make it.

The next best time to trade Holliday, of course, is now, because there is sufficient reason to believe his value will not be higher anytime soon. He’s nearly 1000 PA unto his career and he can’t even get on base 30% of the time and he can’t play second base (let alone anywhere else) and he can’t run the bases and he needs a change of scenery.

The only sensible move the Orioles have to is sell (as every guest who has come on “The Daily Flock Show” has made clear), and catcher Adley Rutschman and Holliday (both former 1-1 selections) need to go, along with the even-more-obvious veterans with expiring contracts (Trevor Rogers, Taylor Ward, Yennier Cano, Andrew Kittredge, etc).

And wouldn’t you know it. Morosi is entirely with me again.

Elias Needs To Get Real About Holliday and Rutschman

“As hard as this is to say, you should embrace the fact that very few teams in the American League are sellers, and you should yourself become a seller,” Morosi told me.

As to how far that should extend, two former first-overall picks should be marketed across the industry. If a real GM was doing this as simply a baseball man – and not Elias whose very brand (failure) and identity are tied to these draft picks somehow proving him right – they would be seeking help for a bad farm system and bats and arms that could help by 2028.

“Does Jackson Holliday need a change of scenery?” Morosi posited, making clear through the course of conversation that he very likely does. ‘is there a similar aged player and salary-tier player to where you move him for a pitcher of a similar service-time class and you acknowledge that, ‘Hey, look, it’s just not happening now.’”

As for Rutschman, he isn’t durable (outside the top 20 in innings caught again this season), he doesn’t hit enough to warrant DH duties (he has 1 HR and 17 RBI and a .280 SLG in over two years of DH work) and his deal is up after 2027. And with Samuel Basallo having the best under age-22 power hitting start to his career of any catcher in the history of MLB - HYPER, and Pete Alonso signed long-term at first base, literally the only reasonable move is to get whatever you can for Rutschman as soon as you can.

“My outward, national perspective on this Orioles team is that it just hasn’t added up,” Morosi explained. “The sum of the parts is somehow lesser than what it should be when you add it all together … it just seems as though the pieces aren’t fitting.

“And you can either double down on all of this and say, ‘This is the core; this is who we are; we’ve got to win with this group one way or the other.’ … But it’s been two years of a lot of mediocrity and below that … So for me there’s a saying in government or baseball or any sport: You probably shouldn’t let a crisis go by the wayside and not do something it. This does seem to be a baseball crisis.”

A crisis indeed, born entirely of The Elias Way. And sadly this once-proud franchise is still entrusted to this charlatan to try to fix it. For now.

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