This exercise is meant to be a pipe dream! I am going to put together trades and free agent signings that would constitute my personal idea of a perfect offseason for the Orioles. I will put down the contracts I think these players would sign for but they are just semi-educated guesses. I will put down who is traded to acquire players but it is more about the value given up than the perfect fit of players to make it happen (I’m using Baseball Trade Values to be as fair as possible). Every time someone included in my speculative opening day roster is no longer available to the Orioles I will update it to reflect what I would consider the ideal offseason following that transaction. The idea here is to just have fun with the endless possibilities of what this time just before “lift off” could mean. I’d love to hear your ideas as well!
Free Agent Signings:
SS Trea Turner signed to a 8 year, $280 million contract
LHP Carlos Rodon signed to a 5 year, $150 million contract
OF Michael Brantley signed to a 1 year, $10 million contract
C Jorge Alfaro signed to a 1 year, $2.5 million contract
LHP Matt Moore signed to a 2 year, $8 million contract
2B Jean Segura signed to a 1 year, $6 million contract
Trades:
Orioles get RHP Corbin Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers for OF Colton Cowser, INF Jordan Westburg, OF Heston Kjerstad, OF Austin Hays, and INF Ramon Urias
Orioles get low minors prospects from the Colorado Rockies for LHP Keegan Akin and RHP Joey Krehbiel
Opening Day Roster
C - Adley Rutschman
1B - Ryan Mountcastle
2B - Jean Segura
3B - Gunnar Henderson
SS - Trea Turner
LF - Kyle Stowers
CF - Cedric Mullins
RF - Anthony Santander
DH - Michael Brantley
C - Jorge Alfaro
INF - Jorge Mateo
OF - Ryan McKenna
UTI - Terrin Vavra
SP - Corbin Burnes
SP - Carlos Rodon
SP - Kyle Bradish
SP - Dean Kremer
SP - DL Hall
SP - Grayson Rodriguez (Maybe Hall and Rodriguez tandem early on in an effort to limit innings)
RP - Austin Voth
RP - Bryan Baker
RP - Tyler Wells
RP - Matt Moore
RP - Dillon Tate
RP - Cionel Perez
CL - Felix Bautista
Well there you have it! Totally unrealistic but I’d put money on that team to make the playoffs. Joey Ortiz and Connor Norby would be available in AAA Norfolk in case of injury or you want to trade Segura and/or Mateo at some point in the season. Considering the Burnes trade and obvious graduations the top 10 prospects list would look something like:
Jackson Holliday
Coby Mayo
Connor Norby
Joey Ortiz
Dylan Beavers
Seth Johnson
Cade Povich
Samuel Basallo
Darell Hernaiz
Jud Fabian
This would be beautiful! I think Jean Segura would be a sneaky good signing.