The Orioles surprised many people on the July 31 trade deadline by making the decision to embark down the road of a multi-year rebuild. When they traded Jonathan Schoop, a free agent after the 2019 season, and Kevin Gausman, a free agent after 2020, the signal was not hard to miss. Not only was this season a lost cause, but next season’s probably not going anywhere good, either.
O’s fans can only hope that the players they got back in these trades are able to develop and become key contributors to the next good Orioles team.