Trey Mancini wants to stay with the Orioles through the rebuilding project, but he acknowledged the situation is out of his hands.
“Of course, I want to stay,” Mancini said Friday before the Orioles began the second half of their season against the Kansas City Royals. “I’ve always said that and I still do. But that is something that I can’t control … It’s a business and I know that, so whatever happens, it happens.
“I really hope to stay, but I understand there is a much bigger picture than just myself. I hope to stay, I think I will. But, at the same time, it’s not anything that I will put much thought into because I really have no say in it.”
Mancini would be an attractive player for a contender with the July 30th trade deadline approaching. He is batting .256/.331/.460 with 16 homers and 55 RBIs. Mancini is also a leader in the clubhouse and can play multiple positions.
He’s also a candidate for Comeback Player of the Year after missing the entire 2020 season because of colon cancer surgery followed by six months of chemotherapy.
Mancini has become a spokesman for colorectal cancer awareness and never had a bigger audience to share his story with than during Monday night’s Home Run Derby. He reached the finals and finished second to the Mets’ Pete Alonso.
“There have been countless people who reached out and told me they were recently either diagnosed with colon cancer or another form of cancer or any illness,” he said. “It was so touching, and that is exactly why I wanted to do it. And my older sister runs my foundation and she said we are just trying to sort through all the messages. She has told me about some really cool ones we’ve seen.
“It’s something that I want to respond to everything I can. It’s really tough, but I’m just so appreciative of all the kind words. The messages have been flooding in. It’s been amazing.”
Mancini’s would like to keep his focus on the Orioles, who are 28-61 going into Friday’s game.
“I am just looking forward to seeing what this team can do in the second half,” Mancini said. “This is a huge half for us going into next year. It really is. And I said this on Sunday, but so much momentum can be built the last couple of months of the season going into the next year. I’m excited to see improvements that we can make in this half of baseball.”
Second-round pick signs: The Orioles signed infielder Connor Norby, who was selected by the team in the second round (41st overall) in the Major League Baseball draft.
Norby, 21, hit .415/.484/.659 (102-for-246) with 15 doubles, 15 home runs, 64 runs, and 51 RBI in 61 games during his junior season in 2021 at East Carolina. He was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year after leading the nation in hits and becoming the fourth player in program history with 100 or more hits in a season.
Norby was ranked as the No. 43 overall draft prospect by Baseball America and No. 58 by MLB. The approximate pick value for Norby is $1.81 million, according to MLB.
Lopez expected back: The Orioles expect to get pitcher Jorge López back from the bereavement list in time to start Saturday night against the Royals.
They are going with a 25-man roster for the series opener in Kansas City. After having four days off for the All-Star break, manager Brandon Hyde has a rested bullpen.
“We’re hoping that [López] will be back tomorrow and if he’s back by tonight, then he’ll start tomorrow’s game. That’s why this has been TBA,” Hyde said. “He had a family matter that he needed to take care of and was a little bit unsure when he’d be coming back, but probably would have been back today. It sounds like that’s going to happen, and so he’s our starter for tomorrow if everything works out smoothly this afternoon.”
The Orioles have a three-man taxi squad consisting of left-hander Alexander Wells, right-hander Conner Greene and catcher Nick Ciuffo.
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I would rather go to a contender myself, but good for him!
Odds are he will end up elsewhere. The Orioles don't speak "extension".
Akin looking Sigh Young like tonight, totally understand why we let Alberto go, might’ve won a few more games, sold a few more tickets, & had less bitching on this site...lol...go O’s...
Alberto was too expensive for the Orioles - $1.6 million.
I believe his projected arbitration number was over $2M. Needed a better fielding 2B, still do. Alberto would have been better than anyone the Os have had there this year. Elias over thought this one (and some others).
Don't think the Keegster is ML material.
So Trey has confirmed that he wants to stay in Baltimore ... now the question is whether ownership is actually willing to step up and make a reasonable extension offer ... we'll see, but I doubt it.
Not with Grinchelos ownership, no. They didn't even want to pay a decent pitching coach, for Chrissakes, as Earl would say!
2 HR for Yaz tonight, Hyde preferred little Joey!
I still shake my head on this one… Just saying…
They better sign him to a long-term deal give us something to be excited about but they won’t because the organization is a bunch of idiots
What else was Trey going to say? It didn’t look or sound that convincing to me.
Trey has always maintained he wanted to stay here.
No surprise there. One doesn’t know if he’s saying the things that fans want to hear or not.
I hope he stays.
Is whatever couple of recruits we get in return really going to make any kind of tangible difference? Doubtfully.
Either way, we’re not competitive until 2023 or well beyond. He’s a core guy and the youngsters will benefit from his even keeled demeanor and professional approach.
I have stated the O's should trade Mancini before or at the trade deadline. Not because Mancini is a bad player or the O's need to dump his contract. No, because the O's need to cash in on the high return of prospects he should bring. Okay, Let's look at what any extension would look like. Currently Mancini is batting 256/331/460 16 HR 56 RBI and at the end of season would most likely finish the season 256+ Avg, 30+ HR 90+ RBI. That would mean for the 2nd straight full season Mancini would be putting up those type of numbers. He's making $4.75m this year with one more year of team control and will make at least $8-$12m next year. The majority of O fans want to extend him and half or more of that majority want him to remain a Oriole for his entire career. So we are talking at least 5yrs or 7+ yrs. Mancini is 29 yrs old. So if your talking a extension of Mancini wouldn't the avg. money number be per year between $15m-$20m for that production base on other players contracts.
5 years at $15m = $75m 34years old at expiration. I don't believe Mancini will retire at 34
7years at $15m = $105m 36 years old at expiration.
5years at $20m = $100m
7years at $20m = $140m
Are we talking a Chris Davis type contract? Have we not learned from that mistake. Mancini's production will decline during that time. Here's what I advocate trade Mancini for the high return you should get and be asking for and if the Orioles look to be competitive before the 2023 season sign Mancini as Free Agent, he will be 31 yrs old, to a 2-3 yr deal.