With the MLB trade deadline rapidly approaching  (July 31st, 4:00 PM), one of the biggest questions that most Orioles fans are wondering right now is if the Orioles should be buyers at the deadline. What I mean by this is basically should the O’s give up prospects and possibly affect their future in a negative way to get a good player now that could help the us make the playoffs. I’ve had heard all sorts of different opinions from the fans that say “let’s trade everything but Bundy and Machado in order to win this year!” to the ones that think “we’ve been lucky to get this far and have no chance this year, lets not trade away our future when we have no chance of being contenders this year!”. I can see both sides. On one side the O’s haven’t been playoff contenders in almost 15 years and as of right now they are 51-45 and only .5 games out of the final wild card spot. Part of me says that we have already gotten through over half of the year with this record and are almost in the playoffs, just think if we added another piece or two, why couldn’t we make a push for the playoffs? Then the other side of me thinks that the O’s have been very lucky to have this good of a record (-46 run differential), with our best pitcher just going down for a month, and our lineup being so hit or miss I can’t imagine that we will continue to be able to sustain this kind of success and continue to be in  the playoff hunt for another 70 games even if we added a guy or two so whats the point in potentially hurting our future if we have little chance of making the playoffs anyways? It seems simplistic but basically the question of whether the O’s should trade for a player to help them this year depends on whether or not you believe we can make the playoffs this year.  Read more...