Baltimore Orioles general manager Mike Elias didn’t mince words when discussing the team’s situation ahead of the upcoming trade deadline. The 2025 season has been a rough ride for the Orioles, who currently sit at 35-46, placing them 11.5 games behind the AL East lead and seven games out of the final Wild Card spot.
With the deadline a little over a month away, the organization faces a critical decision: continue pushing for a playoff spot or shift focus toward the future as sellers. Elias, who serves as both GM and executive vice president, gave a candid assessment of the team’s outlook in a recent interview with MLB.com Orioles beat reporter Jake Rill—though his comments offered a glimmer of hope for fans still holding out for a turnaround.
“We’re still fighting and playing for 2025,” Elias said. “This is a team that we had high hopes for. We can see the talent, but we just stumbled badly out of the gates and dug a hole, and that’s still haunting us. I think we’re playing better and things are moving in the right direction, but there is a deadline coming up, and we’re going to have to make a strategic decision around that sometime in the next month.”
Mike Elias made it clear he’s not ready to hit the panic button just yet, but the next few weeks will be pivotal for the Baltimore Orioles. While a specific decision point hasn’t been set, Elias emphasized that the front office will rely on its internal tools and collective judgment to determine the best course of action as the trade deadline approaches.
“I don’t have an exact day in mind,” Elias said. “But we’ll use our tools and judgment to decide when that might be. For now, we’re hoping to keep playing well, keep racking up wins, and stay within arm’s reach of the Wild Card race. But we will have to make a reasonable determination at some point in the next several weeks.”
The Orioles’ roster features a compelling blend of youth and experience, and with their postseason hopes in flux, the team may need to consider shaking things up. Veterans like first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, closer Félix Bautista, and center fielder Cedric Mullins could draw significant interest on the trade market. All three are having solid seasons and remain in their primes—though O’Hearn and Mullins are set to hit free agency after the season, while Bautista is arbitration-eligible after 2025.
As the clock ticks toward the deadline, Elias faces some major decisions. At 42, the 2023 MLB Executive of the Year will need to channel the same strategic savvy that once helped elevate the Orioles into contention. Whether that involves buying, selling, or something in between remains to be seen—but for now, hope is still alive in Baltimore.
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