Legend Says He Would Have Accepted Trade to Orioles

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Heading into the upcoming season, the Baltimore Orioles are looking to put last year’s performance behind them and focus on the new task at hand.

The 101 wins and American League’s best record is great to have attributed to them, but it does nothing to help them succeed in 2024.

There are already doubters that the Orioles can put together back-to-back successful years.

Baltimore is also looking to move on from last season after it didn’t end the way they had hoped following getting swept out of the American League Division Series by the Texas Rangers.

Players have talked about using that elimination as fuel, but they won’t harp on what could have been.

However, that might be tough for fans after it was revealed Justin Verlander would have waived his no-trade clause to join the team at the trade deadline.

“Verlander said he heard at the trade deadline that the Dodgers and Orioles were interested, and he said he’d have accepted Los Angeles or even Baltimore if those were the options,” writes Jon Heyman of The New York Post who spoke with the legend.

“I’m from Virginia” he told Heyman.

Instead, the Houston Astros made a trade to acquire their past ace, and the Orioles saw him put up a record of 7-3 with a 3.31 ERA across his 11 starts.

Of course, when discussing Baltimore and trades, it always has to be mentioned that general manager Mike Elias doesn’t just throw prospects into a package to get something done.

The Astros dealt the New York Mets their top rated prospect, Drew Gilbert, and Ryan Clifford to land Verlander.

Gilbert was ranked No. 68 in all of minor league baseball at the time, suggesting the Orioles would have had to meet, or exceed, that asking price.

It’s unclear how far along those trade conversations with the Mets actually progressed, but Baltimore can now wonder what might have happened if they had landed the former MVP and three-time Cy Young winner for their stretch run.