{"id":11580210,"date":"2025-07-26T06:30:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T10:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11580210"},"modified":"2025-07-25T23:38:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T03:38:05","slug":"orioles-takeaways-gregory-soto-mlb-trade-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/26\/orioles-takeaways-gregory-soto-mlb-trade-deadline\/","title":{"rendered":"5 takeaways from the Orioles\u2019 trade deadline deal of Gregory Soto"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Orioles on Friday continued their trade deadline fire sale by shipping left-handed reliever Gregory Soto to the New York Mets<\/a> for pitching prospects Wellington Aracena and Cameron Foster.<\/p>\n

The trade is the Orioles\u2019 second this month after they sent reliever Bryan Baker to the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a> on July 10. Many more players will likely be traded ahead of Thursday\u2019s 6 p.m. deadline.<\/p>\n

Here are five takeaways from the Soto trade:<\/p>\n

A pitching prospect like Aracena is a valuable return for two months of Soto<\/h4>\n

No one knows what Aracena, the key piece of this trade for Baltimore, will turn into. He\u2019s 20 years old and in Low-A. All he is now is a prospect, and it\u2019s not common to receive one of his caliber for a pitcher like Soto.<\/p>\n

Since 2021, eight good-but-not-great lefty relievers on expiring contracts have been traded at the deadline. Only three of those trades netted the selling team a prospect inside the buying club\u2019s top 20 prospects list, according to MLB Pipeline. Aracena was the Mets\u2019 No. 19 prospect.<\/p>\n

Elite relievers \u2014 like Josh Hader in 2022 or Aroldis Chapman in 2016 \u2014 are often sold at a king\u2019s ransom. But southpaws like Soto, who posted a 3.96 ERA with the Orioles this season, often don\u2019t garner top-tier prospects in return. Four of the eight trades of lefty relievers like Soto since 2021 did not include a top-30 prospect.<\/p>\n

The Orioles certainly don\u2019t care about where Aracena is ranked on prospect lists, but that\u2019s one of the only ways to judge trades involving prospects. By that measure, the Orioles appeared to get excellent value for two months of a reliever.<\/p>\n

Aracena is a flier \u2014 but one that could soar<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s not difficult to see what the Orioles like about Aracena.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old righty is 6-foot-3 with a lanky build, long levers and a low-effort delivery. Aracena sports a five-pitch mix with a high-90s mph fastball that\u2019s topped out at 101 mph, a mid-90s mph cutter and a high-80s mph slider with a curveball and changeup mixed in. In May, the Dominican Republic native struck out eight straight batters, mixing his fastball, cutter and slider to baffle opposing hitters.<\/p>\n

OK, if he\u2019s so nasty, then why was he only the Mets\u2019 19th-ranked prospect? Yep, you guessed it: He allows a ton of walks.<\/p>\n

In 173 career professional innings, Aracena has walked a whopping 123 batters. Last season, his first stateside, he walked 20.9% of opposing batters \u2014 more than double MLB\u2019s average rate. But he\u2019s taken a giant leap forward this season, dropping his walk rate to a high-but-manageable 13.2% while posting a 2.38 ERA with an impressive 31.7% strikeout rate.<\/p>\n

The lower you go in the minor leagues, the more volatile the prospects get. Aracena might have a low floor because of his command issues, but his ceiling might be as high as almost any pitcher on Baltimore\u2019s farm.<\/p>\n

The Orioles recouped some value they lost a year ago<\/h4>\n

There are many ways to view a deadline deal. The Mets get a high-strikeout southpaw who dominates left-handed hitters. The Orioles get an intriguing young pitching prospect. The next few days should be interesting for both teams \u2014 one buyer, one seller.<\/p>\n

Another lens through which to view the Soto trade is with last year\u2019s Soto trade in mind.<\/p>\n

Last deadline, the Orioles traded pitching prospects Seth Johnson and Mois\u00e9s Chace to the Phillies for Soto when Baltimore was a buyer. Soto pitched about a calendar year for the Orioles and was overall so-so, recording a 4.33 ERA with a 3.45 FIP \u2014 an ERA-equivalent metric that only accounts for what the pitcher has the most control over (walks, strikeouts and home runs) \u2014 before he was traded for Aracena and Foster, a 26-year-old reliever in Double-A.<\/p>\n

If combining the two trades from a macro view, Chace and Aracena cancel each other out. Chace, 22, is Philadelphia\u2019s No. 8 prospect, but he underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery in May. MLB Pipeline ranks Aracena as the Orioles\u2019 No. 19 prospect.<\/p>\n

This effectively means that the Orioles traded Johnson, a 26-year-old reliever and the Phillies\u2019 No. 13 prospect, for a calendar year of Soto.<\/p>\n

If Johnson and Chace become stars for the Phillies and Aracena doesn\u2019t for the Orioles, then these trades will be viewed as failures. But without knowing what\u2019s to become of these three young arms, Friday\u2019s trade served as a way for the Orioles to recoup some value they lost at last year\u2019s deadline.<\/p>\n

The trade doesn\u2019t help the 2026 Orioles \u2014 or maybe it could?<\/h4>\n

Orioles general manager Mike Elias said on MLB Network Radio on Sunday<\/a> that his focus is on getting the team back on track in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not blowing up the team,\u201d Elias said. \u201cWe think we\u2019re going to be very good again in 2026 and have that intention. We\u2019re not interested in changing the foundation of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trading Soto, a reliever set to be a free agent this offseason, doesn\u2019t hurt the 2026 Orioles. But acquiring a 20-year-old pitching prospect doesn\u2019t help next year\u2019s team, either.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that simple.<\/p>\n