The Orioles are letting rival clubs know that first baseman Ryan Mountcastle is available in trade talks, according to a report from Bob Nightengale of USA Today. There’s no indication that Baltimore is particularly close to moving Mountcastle, and now that the regular season has begun it wouldn’t be a surprise if talks were largely tabled until closer to the trade deadline.
Mountcastle, 28, was a first-round pick by the Orioles back in 2015 and a consensus top-100 prospect prior to his big league debut in 2020. The slugger received down-ballot Rookie of the Year votes in both 2020 and ’21 as he hit a combined .270/.324/.488 with 38 homers and 28 doubles in 179 games across the two seasons. That explosive start to Mountcastle’s MLB career didn’t last, however, as he’s not slugged 30 homers in a season since 2021 and saw his everyday playing time in Baltimore erode somewhat following the breakout season Ryan O’Hearn enjoyed in 2023. Since the start of the 2022 campaign, Mountcastle has looked the part of a solid if unspectacular regular. He’s slashed .262/.312/.431 with 53 homers and 80 doubles in 387 games while playing generally adequate defense at first base.
Overall, Mountcastle is clearly a valuable player but one that looks like an increasingly questionable fit on the Orioles’ roster. As previously mentioned, O’Hearn has come into his own since breaking out in Baltimore during the 2023 season, and his .276/.329/.449 slash line in 257 games with the Orioles indicates that he’s actually outproduced Mountcastle on a rate basis in that time. If O’Hearn was the only player competing with Mountcastle for time at the hot corner, perhaps that wouldn’t be worth exploring a trade over. After all, the right-handed hitting Mountcastle serves as a strong complement for the lefty-swinging O’Hearn, who has been heavily platooned throughout his career and does not hit well against fellow southpaws.
Mountcastle’s long-term fit in Baltimore is further complicated by the presence of Coby Mayo. The Orioles’ top prospect is a consensus top-30 talent in the sport, and he’s clearly ready for a proper big league audition even after struggling badly in a 17-game cup of coffee last year given his career .276/.373/.536 slash line at Triple-A. Much like Mountcastle himself, the 23-year-old Mayo profiles best as a first baseman at the big league level despite coming up through the minors as a third baseman. There simply isn’t enough room for all of Mountcastle, Mayo, and O’Hearn in the club’s first base plans, and while occasional time at DH or in the corner outfield spots could help the club better allocate playing time those spots are already crowded by the presence of Colton Cowser, Tyler O’Neill, and Heston Kjerstad not to mention Ramon Laureano.
With such a deep group of corner outfield and DH options already, it seems likely that a trade opening up time at first base represents Mayo’s best path to regular playing time in Baltimore outside of an injury at the big league level. Of the club’s other two first base options, Mountcastle makes the most sense to shop given the fact that Mayo is a fellow right-handed hitter, meaning he would serve as a strong complement to O’Hearn the same way Mountcastle has over the past two seasons. Mayo would not be able to slide into O’Hearn’s role alongside Mountcastle anywhere near as easily, with the two right-handed hitters likely proving somewhat redundant even if O’Hearn was no longer in the mix.
If Mountcastle is indeed on the trade block, he’d be an attractive addition for plenty of teams. The 28-year-old is controlled through the end of the 2026 season, and while he’s largely limited defensively to first base and DH he should still be an intriguing potential addition for clubs in need of right-handed thump in the lineup. A heavily left-handed lineup like that of the Tigers could surely benefit from the presence of a player like Mountcastle, especially if Spencer Torkelson can’t maintain his hot start and remains a question mark this year. The Diamondbacks, Twins, Giants, and Padres are among the other clubs for whom Mountcastle could be an upgrade, though with four months until the trade deadline there’s still plenty of time for the needs of clubs all around the league to change and impact Mountcastle’s market if the Orioles are set on moving him.
I have always liked Mounty but this is def the time to move him. 2 yrs of cost control, a bat that has consistently had some pop and what is now a good glove at 1B, he can be a solid starting addition to a number of clubs. Time to try out Mayo at 1B. Hope that the FO can move him early in the 1st half.
Wanting to “hold the Mayo” definitely puts them in a pickle.
I hope you didn’t keep yourself up all night coming up with that
For Yoshida and cash considerations. I expect the O’s will receive much better offers but he’s exactly in my view what Boston needs. A righty bat with some pop that can at least handle first base.
O’s won’t want Yoshida at any price.
all due respect, this is so obv a sox fan making a trade call. (I remember watching Evans, so yes the name gives it away too)
“he’s exactly…what Boston needs”, never mind the other side of the trade equation lol. Have you looked at the O’s roster??? Sometimes I get on this site just to see the trade ideas fans throw out…better than comedy central, and certainly better than late-night shows.
@dewey You have got to be pulling our leg with that trade request. I know you have been around the block a time or two so you should know throwing out such a one-sided trade proposal is garden variety homerism that is beneath you.
Lol all. I did my best for an April Fool prank that sounded legit with my adding about potential better offers. While it’s true he would be a good fit in Boston, there is no way Baltimore trades intra-division without them getting something valuable back. I’m now done with my pranks so castrate me fully on my next post if you must
April Fools Day not until Tuesday Dewey LOL. But you’re covered now I suppose.
deweybelongsinthehall
A righty bat with some pop that can at least handle first base.
==============================
Where would he play for the RS?
I had to try while the story was hot so to speak. Had I waited until tomorrow, no one would have seen it most likely.
Joe, he’s a legit first baseman who can adequately man the position. His righty bat also plays. While versatility is loved by Boston, I’m not sold on Gonzalez. I’m in the minority here but I also am not sure Ceddane’s bat plays in the majors this year. I realize it’s early but you have to always look to make the club better. Whether he would is debatable.
This guy Mountcastle is a good player. The only problem: he really just needs to take a walk once in a while. Lol
Took me a minute to ketchup, but I definitely relish what you did here.
He definitely works his buns off. Lettuce see what he does going forward
They should have moved him last season or before. If they want to land a meaningful pitcher they’ll have to trade Mayo or Kjerstad instead.
I can’t see the Tigers going there with some combo of Carp, Keith, Tork and Malloy sharing DH/1B at bats this year and offering similar or better production. Tork and Malloy are RH batters and would have to totally bomb.
The Pirates would be….oh forget it
Yeah, they have Horwitz’ name in the lineup with a sharpie for the next 3 years, and he’s done nothing yet. By the time the FO realizes that was a mistake, Mountcastle will have already signed somewhere as a FA, but at least Horwitz saved them money.
Well, your last line represents the only thing ownership cares about here. Nothing more.
Amazing how they’ve done their best to kill the fan base in Pittsburgh
Horwitz was still a decent addition in my opinion. Sure, he is hurt right now, but he’s going to play great in PNC Park compared to Rogers Centre. Luis Ortiz is okay, but definitley has some risk, and the prospects they gave up were not even top 15 prospects in their system, and aren’t even top 25 prospects in the Guardians’ system. A Mountcastle/Horwitz platoon would be fantastic at 1st base, and Horwitz could occasionally spell Gonzales at second base (that is when he is healthy).
That’s extremely hopeful, at best
The injury is concerning enough. Here’s a guy who’s never hit lefties. Yeah, it’s great that he’s going to play at PNC. Likely, only against righties
Bottom line continues to be ownership’s unwillingness to spend even on middle of the road types. With Horwitz, they went with a cheap option even knowing he was hurt
I agree about Mountcastle but we know it’ll never happen
Disagree about Ortiz
Horwitz was still one of the best rookies last year in baseball. Ranked top 3 in OBP, wOBA, wRC+ among rookies with at least 300 plate appearances. He was also average to slightly above-average in terms of isoalted slugging, home run rate, and barrel percentage, while being a solid defensive first baseman. He’s a very high-upside option in my opinion. Even if only most of his playing time comes against RHP, you’re still looking at 450-500 plate appearances, similar to guys like Joc Pederson, Luke Raley, and Mountcastle’s teammate, Ryan O’Hearn, which isn’t a small sample size. Plus who’s to say he can’t at least be serviceable against LHP eventually?
Won’t argue about ownership, it’s awful, but I’ve just accepted there’s nothing we can do to change that. It is what it is at this point until the higher ups decide to do something about it.
Also, just wondering, why do you disagree about Ortiz? I wasn’t super impressed watching him last year. Not very many strikeouts, not great at limiting hard contact, misses his spots. His stuff was good, I’ll give you that. But he really didn’t excel in anything particular, and I don’t know if he ever will. I think he’ll develop into a perfectly fine #4 starter, maybe very low-end #3 starter if everything works out. I think he’d be a good reliever if he gets moved into that role.
Agree about ownership. Why even comment anymore, hence my initial post on this thread
We’ll see if your optimism about Horwitz is justified. Kind of hard to believe they knew he needed wrist surgery and proceeded anyway. Very strange front office. Tremendous asset in having a good starting pitcher staff with more coming, yet no impetus to sign a more established bat or two. And I’m not talking high salary types
As for Ortiz, watched all of his starts after being brought back into the rotation. Discount the D’Backs debacle. I like pitchers who excel with little run support, and who persevere when the defense is shaky behind him. And that was Ortiz.
Agree about 3 or 4 spot. Not saying he was going to displace anyone here. But he’s mentally tough and to me at least, hit spots reasonably well. I just don’t know how you trade him in a deal like this when Oviedo was such a question mark
I just don’t think that’s enough to justify keeping him over Horwitz, injury or not. Was never overall high on Ortiz to start with. Good stuff, just not good enough command in my opinion to truly excel as a SP. I think Horwitz’s swing is really built well for PNC Park. His style sort of reminds me of Corey Dickerson.
He only lasted 4 innings yesterday against the D’. Backs. Again. Will be interesting to watch both players develop moving forward
Pardon me, as I lose my mind. Ortiz’s stat line was from his last exhibition start. He goes next in rotation, I believe
And I love this talk like Cherington and the next guy and the next guy are going to be any different.
You’re not giving the FO the resources to compete at an ownership level. It’s that simple.
Frankly that they even sniff .500 with the resources they are given is pretty good.
They could solve several holes with $20M. But that’s not available to the FO. It’s just not. Because Bob has figured out if we spend X, he’s guaranteed a profit.
Maybe people are finally coming around to the idea that billionaires aren’t into sports ownership as a public trust and just look at teams as money making operations solely. And if they’re willing to do that with a sports franchise, what else might they do? I don’t know…cut your Social Security benefits? Buy up public resources and parcel them out as they see fit?
I watched a video the other day where supposedly the front office confirmed they lost money last season and Nutting is praying for a salary cap. It sucks. I’d assume they can spend a bit more but they’re gonna have to make every penny count unless attendance really booms I guess??
Yes they aren’t taking on the payroll increase
I guess the Marlins, with their $50M payroll, has validated their thinking that, “See? You can win on a shoestring budget.”
Losing 3 out of 4 the way they did , wow, it’s gonna be a long season
@george Bailey every reasonable Pirates fan knew that the bullpen would be worse place on this roster. Last year they blew games are larger numbers and this year, 3 games were blown by the pen already. Bednar should have been traded when his stock was higher. Right now, the brass would be lucky to get a bucket of balls for him. He needs to move down into a lesser demand work. Almost interested to see what Molder does in the closer role. Dennis Santana and David Bednar shouldn’t be given the ball in close games. It’s heart wrenching to see those two enter the game. Walks and/or giving up a big hit to lose the game, is crushing to everyone involved. I still think Burrows or Oviedo should have been in the pen while they work through their return. I feel both men would be better than Santana or Bednar in the 7th or 8th innings. Bullpen was horrible last year and this year, it looks worse. It’s going to be a long long season
Competing “for time at the hot corner”?
Methinks the writer has his corners confused.
Four years post peak performance. Tough sell. Better 1B bats had a tough job market this past winter
Who?
All the better bats signed for multiples of his salary. Even Carlos Santana is making more—from one of the five stingiest clubs in the league— and he’s ancient. In the previous winter, Rhys Hoskins got 3X per year over two years with a weaker projection.
Hi Brad, salary is a function of free agency, I was more referring to the limited amount of teams that showed interest in free agent 1Bs.
For me, Mountcastle isn’t worth much in trade to begin with being 4 years post peak and with potentially limited options that might have interest? I’d be surprised if the O’s can get better than a couple of low level prospects
Sure, RHH 1B aren’t especially coveted, but my point about the salaries is that teams are paying at least 2X his salary for his production so there is *some* trade value there.
At the moment, I don’t think anyone is feeling pressure to acquire a 1B, but that’ll change.
2021 was not his peak performance. He has posted a better fWAR each of the last 3 seasons, and has consistently sat between a 108 and 114 wRC+. Only reason his power has gone down the last few seasons is because he had to adjust to Camden Yards’ new dimensions, which they’ve now changed twice since Mountcastle made his debut. Mountcastle is still only 28 and is still under control through 2026. Plus his defense at first base has gotten progressively better. There are probably a handful of teams who’d be fine with him as their regular 1B.
Perfect fit for yanks.. platoon with goldy this year than take over next year for him full time .. plus already had AL east experience
Are you really that stupid. The Yankees have a better chance of Lou Gehrig coming back and playing 1b. The Orioles are never trading him to the Yankees. Maybe they can sell Gm him as a free agent.
Why do you have to be negative in your reply?
Because it’s the internet.
The Yanks are winning [RN]…everyone else is not safe.
Because he’s a keyboard warrior. Its his way of covering his own inefficiencies.
Goldschmidt hitting over 400 and you want to replace him with just a guy
Goldy and Mountcastle are both righties.
You don’t typically platoon 2 same sided hitters. Both Goldy and Mountcastle are righties so I don’t see that as a fit at all.
A better fit for the Yankees is lefty Dom Smith who won’t cost much since he’s a free agent …oh wait courtesy of the Yankees. Never mind…
I wouldn’t think the Orioles would trade to a division rival. I would look at Seattle as a strong possible landing spot as an upgrade at first base and DH depth. They have some pitching the Orioles could use on the return. With Mayo taking reps at first in Norfolk, I’m not really surprised at this article.
As a Seattle fan, no thanks. Baltimore fans have been trying to pawn him off for one of our pitchers for quite a while. They have drastically overvalued him. We too have kids almost ready in the minors who can step into 1st. There is a reason why no team has traded for him.
One of the younger Seattle pitchers was never realistic, but Mountcastle for Castillo was a perfectly reasonable framework for a trade.
I don’t blame the M’s for holding onto him with the way pitchers blow out their arms these days though.
A platoon 1B does not bring back a solid veteran starting pitcher. Maybe they could get a 5th starter type prospect, with a flaw that could be corrected.
Good thing he’s not a platoon 1B then.
Got to. Our hitting is so poor. We can’t get greedy with the stockpile of arms even with Kirby hurt. 4 front line starters and a 5th guy developing is okay if it means we can get somebody that hits over .220. Not saying this is the right trade, but gotta trade an arm for a bat. We’re not going to sign a major free agent hitter, only way to get better is to trade for one even it means giving up an arm. Dipoto knows this, but’s he’s been holding on hoping someone ups their hitting performance. He’ll trade an arm for a bat come July. What good is 5 solid starters and a team that scores 1 run a game and strikeouts 15 times…
I agree. M’s have the depth even with Kirby hurt. And they need a bat (s) desperately. That’s why you build a deep ML system and stockpile arms to give you leverage. Maybe too soon to pull the trigger, but I guarantee you we will need to trade somebody for a hitter.
You’ll get a lot of negativity from salty M’s fans saying how stupid we are. But they keep holding out thinking we’re going to sign a huge FA bat., which is never happening.
Only way to get a hitter is through a trade even if it means giving up an arm. Dipoto been stingy waiting on guys to perform, but come July and if they are competitive, they will trade an arm.
I dont believe the Dbacks are looking for help at 1B right now and imo Mountcastle is not an upgrade over Naylor. While Mountcastle is available beyond ’25, unlike Naylor, I’m guessing the Dbacks are hopeful Pavin Smith can earn the everyday 1B role next season.
The Dbacks view Pavin as a playable complementary player, not a starter. He’s probably a nontender candidate.
I disagree that Smith is a nontender candidate. Last year in 160ish PAs, he had an OPS+ of 145. More importantly, given the small sample size, he was on the right side of MLB average in SO%, BB%, EV, HH% and FB% among other things. If Smith handles the long side of the DH platoon well this season, I believe he will be the front runner to replace Naylor next year.
Why is everyone a perfect fit for the Yankees who are you going to release??? There a good team if I farted and it blew toward right field fans would say a perfect fit for the Yankees who are you going to cut????? You’re a good team but come on…….
Every player is a good fit for the Yankees bc they have an enormous fan base. So they are included in every article for click bait
The timing of this seems strange – opening weekend. Surely this isn’t a new development. The time to trade Mountcastle would have been a month or two ago. Seems counterproductive to risk getting inside your own player’s head right out of the starting gate with no likely resolution until June/July.
Elias ain’t too smart. This gaffe won’t sit well in the clubhouse.
His track record of success suggests that he is, in fact, pretty smart.
He took a perennial 100 game loser and turned it around in 3 years in a division with three teams that can spend as stupid as they want, and with ownership consisting of two brothers stabbing each other in the back behind the scenes.
But yeah, you know better…
It probably WOULD have been a half a month ago if Mayo had had a decent spring.
Why? The team has already suffered numerous rotation injuries so trading a gold glove first basemen without an established replacement makes absolutely no sense. O’Hearn isn’t that guy thanks to a subpar glove and the platoon splits.
Mountcastle is essentially a bridge to one of Mayo or Basallo. Once one of the two proves themselves at the big league level they can trade him.
I agree solaris602. This would’ve made sense off season. When they brought in rightside thumper O’Neil, I thought that that was in part a sign of the FO committing to Mountcastle as well … and to a certain extent Mayo. Takes the pressure off being the only rightside masher to take on the leftfield (now modified) wall.
Yeah, they’re not moving him right now. They’re leveraging surplus value when teams will overpay for mid-tier power bats at the deadline.
Pirates would be smart to move on him
If I’m the Orioles I’m offered by him a 5 year 60 mill contract with no opt outs… see if he takes it but do t give a no trade clause. Take that savings from having your first baseman locked up and spend elsewhere and use other pieces to trade for pitching. I’m not giving Mountcastle away unless I’m getting a good everyday starting pitcher period
Tell Mounty to start house shopping in Baltimore; no one is giving up a decent starting pitcher for him.
To KC for a prospect
Elias will end up getting little return because other teams will have him over a barrel knowing he’s got a jam-up at first base.
We have Mayo and Basallo just over the horizon, both of whom are likely destined for 1B and have far higher ceilings than Mountcastle, and they will be making the league minimum salary for their first 3 years.
I like Mountie and think he’s a bit underrated but there’s not really much reason to extend him.
What savings? Your proposal effectively doubles Mountcastle’s salary. Besides, Mayo and Basallo have far higher ceilings. Once of them establishes themselves in the majors there’s no sense in keeping Mounty around.
In case it hasn’t already been stated directly, the team is looking to trade veterans to make way for higher potential youngsters. The prospect logjam has been effectively cleared by repeated trades. Also, none of Mountcastle, Mullins or Urias would net even a #2 starter by themselves in a trade,
To me, the most logical targets are Seattle and San Francisco. Both teams are trying to contend, lack a clear answer at first and have a decent amount of young pitching that they could offer Baltimore to develop.
I kno it’s early but I expected O’s offense to take a step back this year. They have came out firing on all cylinders thou ! Looking strong. I think they win again today and the ol man they signed to take the mound starts the process of securing himself as one of their top rotation pieces
I don’t see them taking a step back. Adley is healthy, Cowser and Jackson are going to improve. Westy is healthy. Once Gunnar comes back they’re going to be stacked 1-9. Mounty is going to have a nice year too with the LF wall coming back in a bit.
Need an 8th inning guy asap
With the LF wall at Camden Yards having been moved back in and lowered this year, I highly doubt we move Mountcastle this early in the season. He’ll be much more valuable at the deadline if the 25-30 HR power he showed earlier in his career before the LF wall was moved back and raised re-emerges.
@King Floch
that’s actually a great point. his value should increase with some shots at LF’s Diet Waltinore this season.
Too much platooning in Baltimore to my liking. Over the winter, I was hoping the Os would have moved on from both Mountcastle and O’Hearn. They didn’t. While waiting for Mayo to take on that everyday role, a pro like Urias could’ve been that everyday guy until Coby slotted in. And, of course, Basallo is lurking.
Javier Baez for Ryan Mountcastle.
If the Tigers include Skubal, sure.
Come back and chat when you wake up from that dream 😉
The Tigers don’t match up well with the Os regardless.
It’s no more a dream than the idea of getting someone to take Javier Baez’s wretched contract off Detroit’s hands while also giving up a decent player in return for him 😉
The Tigers have pitching prospects. Baltimore has bats. Seems like a match could be possible.
I will give you that one! We can all dream though 😉
Styme is right in his comments…Detroit has lots of pitching and Baltimore has lots of bats. They could match up for sure.
The Orioles basically need to keep Mountcastle around long enough for one of Mayo or Basallo to establish themselves as a viable hitter and defender.
IMO, Seattle and San Francisco would be logical fits. Both teams are looking to contend, have young, close to major league ready SPs to offer and lack clear starters at first base.
I think we could get by just fine this year with some combination of O’Hearn, Urias, Mayo and maybe Kjerstad at 1B, I just don’t see any reason to trade Mountie before seeing how he performs with the new, shorter LF wall at OPACY for at least a few months.
I agree that he could potentially raise his value with an offensive rebound. However, any slow walking of a trade comes from a need to protect the infield defense and by extension, pitching staff. We’re both in agreement that the team has more than enough hitters to replace any lost production. What’s unclear is whether they have even an average defender waiting to replace Mountcastle’s GG.
I’m confident that Urias can be at least average-ish there until Mayo shows he can handle it, but I’m also fine with keeping Mountcastle for the time being.
there’s something to keeping Urias’ bat in the lineup
As the above article states, Montcastle has played “generally adequate defense at 1B.” Defense at 1B is no longer what it used to be, but lets not look at Montcastle’s glove through homer colored glasses.
+8 DRS last season and a Gold Glove finalist. The defense has improved every season.
Twins are maybe a fit? Regardless, I don’t think any team will give up much for a 1B with average’ish slugging (for the position).
Orioles might have to wait for an injury.
It was Nightengale who wrote the article so Orioles fans can safely ignore this “rumor”. I have never seen any writer who still has a job with a legitimate news outlet whose articles and social media posts have turned out to be manufactured out of thin air more often. Being a reporter used to mean reporting what was happening, not making it up from their imagination.
He’d fit right in at CNN.
That’s how the current world of journalism is. ‘The News’ isn’t believable anymore.
Unlike Fox that said that they don’t tell the truth because they are entertainment not news?
“I have never seen any writer who still has a job with a legitimate news outlet whose articles and social media posts have turned out to be manufactured out of thin air.”
You obviously have never watched CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NBC, or read NYT, WSJ, Washinton Post…
The Tigers aren’t a good fit either. The O’s could use an upgrade at 3B and back up C. Everyone needs Ps. The Tigers are thin at 3B and Rogers and Dingler not moving.
An upgrade over Westburg?
Westburg is the O’s 2B.
Holliday is their 2B
Westburg is the 3B. And Holliday is the 2B. These are pretty much givens this year, as long as everyone’s’ healthy.
Go Ryan. Play well and get yourself to a team that might win a playoff series this decade.
Really hoping he doesn’t get packaged up in a deal for Sandy Alcantara. Last thing we need is Baltimore getting any kind of quality pitchers.