In the corner as Mansolino spoke sat Cedric Mullins, who, more than most, could be impacted by how the team plays over the next two weeks. He\u2019s the most tenured player on the team, debuting in 2018 as the Orioles entered a rebuild that was supposed to prevent seasons like this from happening. He\u2019s watched countless teammates get traded, including his good friend Austin Hays, who was sent to the Phillies at last year\u2019s deadline. <\/p>\n
Mullins doesn\u2019t want to be next. <\/p>\n
He has not heard from anyone in the front office, he said, and has not been told if the Orioles plan to shop him. He\u2019s taking that uncertainty one day at a time. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to stay,\u201d Mullins said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where you try to make a case, it\u2019s really what these next couple of weeks are for. Go out there, control what you can control, whatever happens after that is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, by making a case, Mullins could also make himself more attractive to potential buyers. His numbers are mixed \u2014 he\u2019s hitting .215 but is on track for a 20-20 season. Mullins is in his final year before free agency and could be an easily obtainable short-term rental for a contender looking for a center fielder<\/a>, even if defensive metrics aren\u2019t in his favor this year. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s true,\u201d he noted. \u201cWe know what we are trying to play for, but at the end of the day there is still an opening there.\u201d <\/p>\n It\u2019s not just Mullins whose time with the Orioles might be ending soon. Ryan O\u2019Hearn knows he\u2019s in the mix, so much so that the All-Star asked his family not to send him any speculation about trade rumors.<\/a> Seranthoy Dom\u00ednguez, Gregory Soto and Charlie Morton are impending free agents who could be potential trade chips. <\/p>\n The market has already picked up \u2014 Bryan Baker, who was in the midst of his best season, was traded to the Rays last week for the 37th overall draft pick<\/a>, which the Orioles used to select high school outfielder Slater de Brun<\/a>. Elias called the move a \u201cstep\u201d toward selling<\/a>. <\/p>\n As Mansolino spoke to the players Friday, he encouraged them to clear their minds of the deadline, Mullins said. Mansolino added, Coby Mayo said, not to go into the second half with a negative attitude and to see what they can accomplish in the next few weeks. <\/p>\n Mansolino reminded them, too, that even if Elias sells players, it doesn\u2019t mean they are out of it. He brought up the 2024 Tigers \u2014 a frequent reference in the Orioles\u2019 clubhouse \u2014 as an example of a team that sold off top assets, including starter Jack Flaherty, who had a 2.95 ERA at the time, and still made the playoffs. <\/p>\n The Orioles experienced that Tigers turnaround firsthand last year, running into Detroit six times in the final month of the season as it raced to a wild-card spot. <\/p>\n All-Star Ryan O’Hearn is another of the Orioles expecting an anxious time for the next two weeks. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Baltimore Banner)<\/p>\n The Orioles think they can do the same this year. <\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of talented players here,\u201d Mayo said. \u201cWhatever the front office decides to do, you still have two months after the deadline to win games and that\u2019s exactly what Detroit did last year. They went on a bunch of runs and found themselves in a wild card. … Baseball is a game of runs and it\u2019s kind of like who gets hot at the right time, so you never know.\u201d <\/p>\n But the 2024 Tigers had a major advantage that this Orioles team does not: quality starting pitching. Although the Tigers traded Flaherty, they were still led by Tarik Skubal, who won the American League Cy Young Award and finished seventh in MVP voting. He pitched to a 2.37 ERA after the break while averaging 6 1\/3 innings a game. <\/p>\n The Orioles have only one starter with an ERA under 4.00, and that\u2019s Trevor Rogers, who has made only six starts. <\/p>\n The Tigers were also in a better position \u2014 they were 47-50 at the All-Star break, compared to the Orioles\u2019 43-52. In the first game after the break, the Orioles\u2019 didn\u2019t look any more inspired than they were before the meeting. The Rays beat them 11-1. <\/p>\n So is it possible for the Orioles to be this season\u2019s Tigers and for the team to give Elias enough hope that he doesn\u2019t feel the need to trade players like Mullins? <\/p>\n The clock is ticking. Quickly. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 In the cramped visiting clubhouse at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the temporary home of the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":76067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[590,591,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-76066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-american-league","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114881405000667625","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/4NFGK55EPVH55GZ2FUECEJ3JJI.jpg\")
<\/p>\n