The Baltimore Orioles didn't add a star at the MLB trade deadline. But did they do enough?

But in a market defined by the exorbitant cost of starting pitching, they did get some. They acquired Zach Eflin from the Tampa Bay Rays without touching their most heralded prospects, in so doing adding a veteran starter with a 4.11 ERA who will be in the middle of their rotation next year, too. With a young pitching staff still establishing full-season stamina, that helps.

They acquired Trevor Rogers from the Marlins, grabbing a former first-round pick and 2021 all-star who will be under their control through 2026. Rogers, who has a 4.23 ERA in 80 career starts, accumulated those numbers in a Marlins organization that has struggled to turn talent into stars. The Orioles have a much better track record of improving players at the big league level by honing their pitch mix and usage. They have reason to believe Rogers can improve, and they bet infield prospect Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers they will be able to help Rogers do it.

They also traded for two Phillies relievers, Seranthony Dominguez and Gregory Soto, in separate deals. Both provide depth. Dominguez has explosive stuff. That deal cost them veteran outfielder Austin Hays, whose production against lefties the Orioles sought to replace by trading for right-handed outfielders Eloy Jiménez, the once-promising, oft-injured Chicago White Sox slugger, and Austin Slater. Neither of those deals cost the Orioles top prospects. Neither of them is a sure thing to establish himself as a key part of this Orioles offense. But one or both of them could certainly help.

For an exciting young team still waiting for its first deep October push — and a fan base hungry to see it — the haul was not exactly blinding in its shine. But the Orioles were by no means alone among contenders when it comes to making no star-studded splash. The two most prominent starters traded, Yusei Kikuchi and Jack Flaherty, were both moved in deals that stirred skepticism: Kikuchi’s expiring contract and four-plus ERA required the Houston Astros to part with three near-ready prospects. As for Flaherty, whose value was high because of an uncharacteristically sturdy season, the Athletic reported late Tuesday night that the New York Yankees had backed out of a deal for him amid concerns about his medical reports. When it came to the starting pitching market, seemingly, there were no sure things.

The problem for the Orioles, at least when it comes to the perception of their deadline, is they have now spent two deadlines and an offseason clinging to the kind of high-quality prospects that could pry a sure thing away from a team reluctant to deal it. Their deal for ace Corbin Burnes this offseason, for example, garnered them an ace in exchange for DL Hall and Joey Ortiz, one of their many infield prospects who, due entirely to quantity and not to his quality, they simply have not missed.

Were the Detroit Tigers ever going to deal Tarik Skubal? Maybe not. Would he have been worth unloading multiple members of the Orioles top prospect list to secure an ace for the next two and a half seasons? Maybe. Maybe not. Would A’s closer Mason Miller or now-Padres Tanner Scott and Jason Adam been able to stay healthy long enough to transform their struggling bullpen for years to come? Maybe. Maybe not. But is a bullpen that will enter the postseason relying on Craig Kimbrel and Yennier Cano to close out games be deep and dominant enough to win in October? Their decision to pry Dominguez and Soto from the Philadelphia Phillies bullpen instead of dealing for a proven closer means it will have to be.

That being said, parting with treasured prospects like Jackson Holliday and Samuel Basallo — both currently in Baseball America’s top five — should never be taken lightly. And again, the Orioles were not alone in their reluctance to do so: Baseball America reported Tuesday that for the first time since 2014, no members of its Top 100 prospects list changed hands at the deadline.

And while Baltimore has plenty of options in the middle infield that made Norby expendable in the deal for Rogers, a corner infielder like prospect Coby Mayo (also, like so many Orioles prospects, raking at Class AAA Norfolk) could help them, though Ryan Mountcastle still has two years of arbitration before Baltimore would really have to pay him.

But therein lies another fascinating aspect of this year’s Orioles deadline: For the first time in the Mike Elias era, and certainly in part due to the recent beginning of the David Rubenstein era, the Orioles seemed to have money with which to maneuver. For example, they will owe Eflin $18 million in 2025, a salary that would have made him the highest-paid player on this Orioles roster. And in Jiménez, whose contract expires after this season, they did something that would have been unthinkable for them even a year ago: They absorbed another team’s salary dump to take a chance on a few months of a once-promising young player who might never help them much at all. It should be noted, however, that the White Sox did send an undisclosed amount of cash the Orioles way to help pay down the rest of Jiménez’s salary.

As of early Monday morning, Elias had yet to address the media about his team’s deadline moves. Exactly how much payroll flexibility he had for the rest of this season and into next season is not clear. Burnes will become a free agent this offseason, and while all indications are that the Scott Boras client will have plenty of enticing reasons to leave in free agency, perhaps it is less of a sure thing than it once was that the Orioles cannot compete for elite starters in that market in years to come. If so, paying for pitching rather than selling treasured young players for it might feel like a more comfortable long-term strategy. Plus, the Orioles expect dominant closer Félix Bautista to return from Tommy John surgery next year, and 2023 Cy Young candidate Kyle Bradish could be back in time for a postseason push, too.

So the most immediate question, then, is whether the Orioles did enough to give themselves a chance in October this year. The window they waited so long to unlock is now wide open. Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser are all far outproducing their pre-arbitration and arbitration salaries. As recent annual juggernauts like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies can tell them, there is no planning for the right year to make a push. The best way to win a World Series is to take advantage of every credible chance because health and fluctuating performances might mean good years that felt promised never really are.

Perhaps Eflin will be the third starter the Orioles need behind Burnes and Grayson Rodriguez to help them carve through the American League in short series. Perhaps Kimbrel and Cano and Dominguez will be enough. But the Orioles deadline simply did not offer the kind of fortune-altering arms that, for example, the Padres acquired to turn their bullpen into a potential October wrecking ball.

The Orioles rotation will certainly be deeper next year for their efforts, and Dominguez has a club option for next year that means Baltimore can keep the proven set-up option around for $8 million next year. And again, many of their most obvious American League challengers have not exactly turned their pitching staffs into untouchable behemoths: The Yankees, for example, watched struggling Clay Holmes blow another save Tuesday night, and do not have an obvious replacement on their roster, either.

Baltimore entered this trade deadline with an imperfect roster and left with one, too. They will enter this offseason with prospect capital to spend. They will probably enter next year’s deadline with that at their disposal, too. If the right players were not available and the time was not right to splurge, then Elias & Co.'s patience will be rewarded in hindsight. But the question they will face in the meantime is a difficult one, one their unique depth of young talent has made it particularly challenging for their front office to answer: If now is not the right time, with a largely healthy and cheap young lineup and a veteran ace around for a few more months, when is?