Baltimore Orioles OF Cedric Mullins available for ‘extremely high’ price

The Baltimore Orioles are reportedly listening to offers on outfielder Cedric Mullins, though the asking price is likely ridiculous.

Thanks to a tweet from MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, everyone now knows the Baltimore Orioles are at least listening to offers on breakout star Cedric Mullins, though their asking price is “extremely high.”

This shouldn’t really be all that newsworthy, since just about every team is willing to listen to offers on a player, but it hasn’t stopped fans from entering a fantasy world where their own favorite team trades for the 27-year-old outfielder.

So we’re going to do the same!

If there was ever going to be a team that had the firepower to trade for Mullins, it might be the Guardians. From a pitching perspective, Cleveland’s minor-league system is now absolutely loaded with talent, thanks in part to the 2021 draft, in which the Guardians selected nineteen – nineteen – pitchers. Not to mention the team picked up Konnor Pilkington from the White Sox and Peyton Battenfield from the Rays at the trade deadline.

But even with their abundance of pitching prospects, Mullins comes as something of a risky bet for a price that high. Sure, he was baseball’s only 30-30 man (with 37 doubles to boot) and hit .291/.360/.518 with a 136 wRC+. But this was the first season Mullins put together those kinds of numbers; his first three seasons in Baltimore weren’t much to speak of. Though, to be fair, he wasn’t getting the regular at-bats he finally received in 2021.

Mullins is also solid defensively, registering ten Outs Above Average this past season. In this fantasy scenario, the Guardians would likely move Mullins to left field with Myles Straw in center. From a defensive perspective, that would be a pretty incredible duo to have.

Mullins doesn’t become a free agent until 2026; he’s not even in his arbitration years yet. So he fits the Guardians’ staple of being a player controlled for multiple years. It just depends on how the team would view his breakout season. Is that Mullins’ peak? Just the beginning of something special? A flash in the pan? Who knows?

Either way, the Guardians would be parting ways with multiple top prospects for Mullins. Say goodbye to a few top pitching prospects, maybe one of Cleveland’s prized young infielders like Gabriel Arias. It would be hard to stomach.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to kick the tires on Mullins; it would be surprising if the Guardians haven’t already inquired. The asking price, as you can imagine, is likely just too insane for a deal to actually happen.

But hey, we can still salivate at the thought of Mullins and Straw patrolling the Progressive Field outfield, can’t we?