Means, Mullins, Mancini fuel 'W' pre-Deadline

BALTIMORE -- As the Trade Deadline approaches on Friday, Orioles general manager Mike Elias this week will be faced with perhaps the toughest decisions of his tenure yet. Though he’s been very active trading veterans over the past few years, at no point in the Orioles’ rebuild has Elias had such valuable chips at his disposal. And at no point have the Orioles featured so many homegrown stars, the quandary being whether to build around John Means, Cedric Mullins and Trey Mancini or continue dealing from an exalted position with that crop.

The range of potential outcomes is infinite, the arguments for and against plentiful and controversial. But the benefits of leaving the unit intact shine clearly on days like Sunday, when all three contributed to the Orioles’ 5-4 come-from-behind, walk-off win over the Nationals at Oriole Park. Mancini hit one of the O's three homers in support of Means before Ryan McKenna scored on Ramón Urías’ pinch-hit, walk-off fielder’s choice in the ninth, sealing Baltimore’s first three-game home sweep of its regional rivals in 11 years.

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“Overall, today was just a good day,” McKenna said. “We’ve had a lot of close games that toward the end didn’t go our way. Pulling that out going into the off-day, it’s good vibes all around for the team.”

Said manager Brandon Hyde: “That was a fun one.”

It became possible because of the Orioles’ small-ball two-run rally off Nats closer Brad Hand in the ninth, when McKenna singled behind Maikel Franco’s leadoff hit-by-pitch, advanced to third on Pat Valaika’s game-tying sac fly and raced home with the winning run a batter later. McKenna also hit his first Major League home run five innings prior, with Mancini and Franco adding solo shots to provide Means an early cushion.

What followed was Means’ second straight disjointed effort since returning from the injured list. The left-hander retired 14 of 15 at one point, but also hit a career-high three batters and coughed up Ryan Zimmerman’s go-ahead, three-run homer in the sixth. All told, Means was charged with four earned runs in 6 2/3 innings, striking out only two. He’s allowed nine earned runs on 12 hits (3 HR) across 11 2/3 innings in two starts off the IL, and owns a 4.91 ERA in seven starts since his May 5 no-hitter.

“The team really showed up for me today,” Means said. “We played good defense, had great at-bats the whole game. For the team to pick me up after not doing as well as I hoped, it’s just huge. It’s been very fun in the clubhouse the past five minutes.”

Said Hyde: “I thought Means was really good. Just a few bad pitches … I thought his changeup was much better than his last start. His fastball command is close to getting where he wants it to be. It’s getting there … really happy how he got into the seventh inning.”

For fans clamoring for Means to stay, small comfort may come in the fact that if his latest outings have been a showcase, he hasn’t been his sharpest self. Mancini is hot, hitting .394 during his eight-game hitting streak and homering in consecutive games (his 455-foot first-inning blast off Paolo Espino was his longest of the season, per Statcast). Mullins (two hits), meanwhile, hasn’t cooled off at all. He’s hitting .353 in the second half and still leading the AL in hits. It figures to take a massive offer for the Orioles to part with any of them at the Deadline, given how important these players are to the long-term prospect of Baltimore’s rebuild.

Throw in contributions from young players like Ryan Mountcastle (home run on Saturday), Austin Hays (run-scoring hits on Friday and Saturday, key ninth-inning walk on Sunday), Tanner Scott and Paul Fry (solid all weekend) and McKenna, and this series provided a glimpse of what that rebuild might look like if it is achieved in full. The Orioles have now won nine of the 16 season series against their Interleague Beltway rivals since the Nationals moved to Washington in 2005.

And still, Elias knows he’ll entertain calls this week on a slew of players, as he has on Means and Mancini in the past. Elias rebuffed those inquiries and may again, after publicly declaring Means and Mullins (but not Mancini, interestingly) playoff-caliber pieces to build around. The truth is, the market might never deem Means, Mancini or Mullins to be more valuable than they are now, all with club control through at least 2022. Of the group, Mullins seems the safest, as he’s not even arbitration-eligible until after next season (Means is arb-eligible this winter and under control through 2024). Until the 4 p.m. ET Deadline on Friday, expect speculation to surround all three.