Hope has a cruel way of flipping into heartbreak when you least expect it. That’s where the Baltimore Orioles find themselves now.

Just weeks into the 2025 MLB season, they’ve plummeted into a painful reality — their 19-36 record before Friday placed them alarmingly closer to the cellar-dwelling White Sox than the high-flying Yankees.

Advertisement

For a franchise that danced into October in back-to-back years, this year has hit like a gut punch. The fall from grace hasn’t been gradual — it’s been a plunge.

Fans expecting a return to glory instead found themselves watching listless games, uninspired performances, and a team that looks lost.

And now, whispers of change echo louder with every loss. Those whispers? They speak of trades — and at the heart of it all is a breakout bat: Ryan O’Hearn.

It’s hard to find bright spots when your team is crumbling, but O’Hearn has been nothing short of electric.

Advertisement

Mostly playing as a designated hitter, O’Hearn has quietly turned into one of MLB’s most productive offensive forces. Before Friday, he was slashing .338/.427/.550 with nine home runs and a 184 wRC+.

Those are MVP-level numbers, tucked away in a struggling roster. And for front offices around the league, he’s become impossible to ignore.

In baseball terms, O’Hearn is like finding a perfectly ripe avocado in a sea of overripe fruit — rare, valuable, and instantly useful.

He hits for average, reaches base at an elite clip, and provides thump — all while being a plug-and-play option at first base or the outfield corners.

Advertisement

The catch? He’s a rental. With free agency on the horizon, any team trading for him will be rolling the dice — but the upside is tantalizing.

Per Andrew Wright of Newsweek, the following three teams could be a fit for the player: the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, and San Francisco Giants.

Let’s start with Detroit. The Tigers are unexpectedly in the playoff hunt and looking to return to October for a second straight season.

Adding O’Hearn would inject life into a lineup that’s shown flashes but lacks consistency. He’d slot in as a reliable middle-of-the-order presence.

Advertisement

Then there’s Boston, where the first base situation has been… bleak. Wright noted the Red Sox rank 27th in Wins Above Average from first basemen this year.

O’Hearn, with his left-handed bat, contact, and power, would be a glove-fit upgrade at the cold corner and a spark in Fenway.

Finally, San Francisco could look to pull the plug on LaMonte Wade Jr. Wright didn’t mince words, pointing to Wade’s .171 average with a single home run as simply unsustainable.

The Giants are in a division race, and a bat like O’Hearn’s could be the difference between staying afloat or sinking in the competitive NL West.

The Orioles are at a crossroads. The temptation to hold on, to hope the ship steadies, is real. But reality is louder.

Advertisement

They’ve underachieved in almost every category, and if history tells us anything, it’s that playoff windows can slam shut in an instant.

Trading O’Hearn — along with other expiring contracts — could restock a farm system or bring back controllable major league talent.

There’s no shame in resetting when the writing’s on the wall. In fact, it might be the smartest path forward.

If Baltimore waits too long, injuries or slumps could derail O’Hearn’s trade value. The time to act might be now.

And if multiple contenders start bidding, the Orioles could find themselves in a favorable position — one of the few they’ve had this season.

Advertisement

That’s the ironic twist in baseball: sometimes, your biggest win comes from letting go of your best player at the right time.

Dodgers acquire former All-Star reliever in surprising trade