The Baltimore Orioles will need to be creative with how they go about upgrading their roster during the offseason. As long as Mike Elias is in charge of the Orioles’ front office, the idea of the Orioles spending money to turn the page from their 2025 disappointment remains a laughable thought exercise. With needs across their pitching staff, Elias will need to be creative this offseason.

That often leads to trouble for the Orioles, as Elias’ “creativity” has been at the center of the Orioles’ failures over the last year. There are obvious moves that the Orioles should be involved in this offseason, but chances are the team will come up with a solution littered with red flags.

That is why the unhinged trade idea proposed by Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller may be just crazy enough to catch Elias’ eye. Drawing up a wild trade for each division, Miller has the Orioles taking part in a three-team trade involving the Cleveland Guardians and Houston Astros.

Considering the need for offense the Orioles have, one would stop right there and think that Miller must have Baltimore landing one of Steven Kwan or Christian Walker. Nope. Miller has the Orioles adding Bryan Abreu from the Astros while Kwan is sent to Houston, and the Guardians wind up with Dylan Beavers, Jacob Melton, and Spencer Arrighetti.

Bleacher Report’s latest Orioles proposal might be its wildest yet

There is a lot going on with that proposal, and if you’re the Astros, you might do the deal in a heartbeat. The issue is that it makes very little sense for the Orioles to give up one of their promising bats for a relief pitcher.

That’s not to discredit Abreu; he is one of the better high-leverage relief pitchers in baseball and would address a major need for the Orioles. The issue is that he is a free agent after the season, and trading Beavers for one year of a high-leverage relief pitcher should get Elias fired on the spot.

There’s only a handful of scenarios where it would make sense for the Orioles to dangle Beavers in trade talks this offseason.

If involved in a potential deal for Tarik Skubal, Hunter Greene, or Freddy Peralta, that would make sense. Either of those three pitchers would move the needle significantly closer to contending for the Orioles. But for one season of a relief pitcher, Miller’s proposal is begging for the actual rumors to get started.