Orioles trade Gregory Soto to Mets
The Orioles acquired reliever Gregory Soto at last year’s trade deadline. Today, they’ve moved him to another team.
Soto is going to the Mets for a pair of pitching prospects, according to a source.
The left-hander is the second player moved after reliever Bryan Baker, traded to the Rays on July 10 for the 37th-overall pick in the draft. The Orioles will receive 20-year-old right-hander Wellington Aracena and 26-year-old right-hander Cameron Foster in exchange for Soto.
Aracena is the Mets’ No. 19 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. The Dominican native had a 2.38 ERA and 1.135 WHIP in 17 games (eight starts) with Single-A St. Lucie in the Florida State League. He didn’t surrender a home run in 64 1/3 innings and averaged 4.9 walks and 11.8 strikeouts.
Over four minor league seasons, Aracena has a 4.53 ERA and 1.497 WHIP in 57 games (34 starts) and has walked 123 batters and struck out 214 in 173 innings. He’s surrendered only six home runs.
Aracena’s fastball and cutter are 60-grade, per Pipeline. The four-seam sits at 96-99 mph and has topped at 101 this year.
He received a $70,000 bonus from the Mets during the 2022 international signing period.
Foster, a 14th-round pick in 2022 out of McNeese State, posted a 1.01 ERA and 0.825 WHIP in 19 relief appearances at Double-A Binghamton, with no home runs, five walks and 34 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings. He has a 3.78 ERA and 1.369 WHIP in 66 games (26 starts) and averages 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings.
His only experience above Double-A is two games this season with Triple-A Syracuse.
The Orioles are sellers as Thursday’s deadline approaches, and the bullpen figures to be a popular target among contenders. Seranthony Domínguez and Andrew Kittredge also are attracting interest. Soto and Domínguez are pending free agents, and Kittredge has a $9 million option for 2026.
Soto earned his first Orioles save yesterday in Cleveland and posted a 3.96 ERA and 1.294 WHIP in 45 appearances. He walked 18 and struck out 44 in 36 1/3 innings.
The Orioles acquired Soto from the Phillies on July 30 for minor league pitchers Seth Johnson and Moisés Chace.
Removing Soto from the bullpen leaves the Orioles short of a closing candidate while Félix Bautista is on the injured list with a sore right shoulder. Grant Wolfram is the only left-hander, though Keegan Akin is close to rejoining the team. He’s on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk.
Asked yesterday about the possibility of a trade, Soto said through interpreter Brandon Quinones that “I can’t control that.”
“What I can control is going out there, doing what I did today, doing my job,” he said. “If they ultimately decide to make a decision where they trade me, perfect, let it be.”
Andy Martino of SNY was first to report the trade.