Breaking: Orioles Shock the Baseball World, Land Blue Jays Superstar
The MLB world has been abuzz with rumors surrounding a Toronto Blue Jays superstar’s impending free agency, but the Baltimore Orioles are likely to just be spectators.
It became clear that Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would be headed towards free agency after this season since he didn’t work out a contract extension with the club.
In an attempt to understand Guerrero’s market, Matt Snyder of CBS Sports created a ranking of each team’s likeliness to land the star.
While the Orioles were not the last team on the list, they were also not far off.
Baltimore was ranked No. 22 and in the “would be a monster upset” tier.
That was mostly a conversation surrounding how much the ownership is willing to do, and the Orioles don’t seem to be the ones waiting to shell out a ton of money for a free agent, especially with some young stars of their own needing to get paid.
Guerrero is going to fetch a pretty penny in free agency.
He is one of the best young bats in baseball. Last season, the 25-year-old posted a .323/.396/.544 slash line with 30 home runs and 103 RBI. That wasn’t even the best campaign of his career.
While that would be intriguing to add to this lineup long term, first base simply isn’t a need for the future.
Samuel Basallo, the top prospect in the Orioles farm system, looks to be the long-term answer at the position.
Basallo has been a breakout star in the minors for Baltimore and reached Triple-A last season. He has a career slash line of .286/.364/.477 and has had at least 19 home runs in each of the past two campaigns.
The 20-year-old has one of the most promising bats in the sport, so the Orioles are not likely to pursue anyone who will block his path to The Show.
There is a chance, however, that Baltimore could pursue a rental of Guerrero if Toronto looks to ship him out at the trade deadline.
Basallo could technically get called up this year, but there is no reason to rush the youngster.
Ryan Mountcastle is likely to be the guy at first this year for the Orioles. He has been consistent, but still closer to replacement level than Guerrero.
If Baltimore is close to competing at the deadline, pursuing a bat that could push their offense to the next level down the stretch would make sense.
It was the offense that doomed them last season, so they should try to avoid that happening again at all costs.
The most likely scenario, though, is they sit on the sidelines throughout the next year of the Guerrero rumors.
