Mancini traded by O's: 'There's so many emotions'

ARLINGTON -- Trey Mancini took early batting practice at Globe Life Field on Monday. That’s where he found himself, on the phone with his fiancée, Sara, when manager Brandon Hyde called him into his office. Shortly after, he was back on the field, doling out hugs to Orioles’ coaches and gameday staffers just outside the dugout before venturing out to do the same with teammates in the visitors’ bullpen.

That was only a fraction of the emotional scene before and after the Orioles traded away the face of their franchise. Mancini, the longest-tenured Oriole and a fan favorite for his personal story, was dealt to the Astros as part of a three-team deal involving the Rays, the teams announced prior to Monday’s 7-2 win over the Rangers in Texas, sending a partly expected but still startling shockwave across the clubhouse.

In the door come a pair of pitching prospects who enter near the top of the Orioles’ top-ranked farm system. Out the door and across the state goes Mancini, the heart of the franchise for the entirety of the rebuild -- primarily when he wasn’t off the field, battling cancer.

“I was pretty surprised today. There's so many emotions, and I think it'll take a while to really be able to express all of them,” Mancini said. “A huge part of me is always going to be an Oriole, and a huge part of my heart is always going to be in Baltimore with the fans there. There's not enough words for me to describe what the organization means to me.”

TRADE DETAILS
Orioles get: RHP Seth Johnson (now Orioles’ No. 8 prospect, from Tampa Bay) and RHP Chayce McDermott (No. 12 prospect, from Houston)
Astros get: 1B/DH Trey Mancini (from Orioles) and RHP Jayden Murray (from Rays)
Rays get: OF Jose Siri (from Astros)

There always existed the real possibility, if not expectation, that the Orioles would trade Mancini ahead of Tuesday’s Trade Deadline. He’s in the final guaranteed year of his contract, and the Orioles’ expectations at the outset of the season had them cast as sellers.

But here they were on Monday, entering play exactly .500 (51-51) and three games out of the final AL Wild Card spot. Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias reiterated his pleasure with the big league team’s performance to date, but also reiterated his longstanding messaging that every move his front office executes is with the long-term health of the franchise in mind.

"I think the .500 record we have, the winning last couple of months that we have, the momentum we have, has made this a much more difficult decision and a much more complicated Trade Deadline than it would've been, or that any of the past ones have been,” Elias added. “But ultimately, I have to tether my decisions to the outlook and the probabilities of this year. We have a shot at a Wild Card right now, but it is not a probability that we're going to win a Wild Card. We have all different ways of looking at that. And moves that we make that can strengthen our chances for next season and the season beyond and the one beyond that are something that we have to continue to consider, despite the tremendous progress our players have made this year.”

They believe that with 23-year-old right-handers Johnson and McDermott, they have added two arms that can impact the big league club for years to come. Monday was “emotional … a very difficult call to make,” Elias said, “but I think it's one that characterizes our optimism for the future.”

Still, the move does little to lift the current Orioles club, a ragtag bunch that has given itself a chance due to a flair for the dramatic and by besetting the probabilities laid out for them. Now they have their largest gap to bridge -- their first player out the door, with more possibly to come before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. ET Deadline.

"One day we're going to be three games up in the division, and things change,” said manager Brandon Hyde. "... It's going to be tough to replace. It's going to be tough to replace in the clubhouse, going to be tough to replace on the plane, on the bus, [all] around."

"I mean, just, it sucks,” said first baseman Ryan Mountcastle. “ … It's going to be tough without him. And I know a lot of us are pretty upset."

Baseball-wise, the Orioles lose a middle-of-the-lineup bat, with Mancini serving as one of their most consistent offensive contributors to date. In the clubhouse, the Orioles lose their most respected voice for his success on the field and his perseverance off it.

Mancini, speaking to local media in front of his cleared-out locker, was asked which goodbye had been hardest so far. His answer was head athletic trainer Brian Ebel and the rest of the training and medical staff. They were the ones who raised a red flag when he was feeling lethargic and his iron levels came back low during Spring Training 2020.

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They sent him for further testing, where he was diagnosed with colon cancer. His comeback inspired the clubhouse -- those around the ballpark still wear his “#F16HT” T-shirts -- baseball and the sporting world at large.

“I think they saved my life,” Mancini said.

Mancini, the Orioles’ eighth-round Draft pick in 2013, had voiced his desire to remain in Baltimore for the stretch run but acknowledged the business at hand. In Houston, he will get to primarily man first base for a team in cruise control for the AL West title. That’s something that excites him. That was far from a sure thing in Baltimore, despite the steps forward.

“To be a part of things changing for the better this year, and see the organization go in a way that I've been waiting for it to for a long time, has been incredible,” Mancini said. “I always said I wanted to see the rebuild through, and I feel like, in a lot of ways, I have. I think things are only going to get better here. And besides when I'm playing against them, I'm always going to be rooting for these guys here."

He didn’t know it at the time, but Mancini ensured his last at-bat at Oriole Park as a member of the home team was a memorable one, his inside-the-park home run on Thursday eliciting nostalgia from the memories he provided Baltimore. The Orioles still have Houston on the calendar twice this season, from Aug. 26-28 in Houston and then Mancini’s homecoming in Baltimore from Sept. 22-25.

Before entertaining any of those ideas of returning to Baltimore, Mancini had to get himself to Houston -- emotionally as much as physically.

"I'm not wanting to, like, leave these guys quite yet in the locker room,” Mancini said. “I'm having a hard time getting in the shower, putting my stuff on and leaving, because I know I won't be back in the locker room with them."