The trade deadline is a date that looms large for any professional baseball player, whether you’re at the big league level or working your way through the minor leagues. 

Very few are truly safe from any kind of movement. 

Those feeling the least secure would include anyone in the Padres organization and rising arms in the system of a winning ballclub. 

Juaron Watts-Brown, a starting pitcher in the Blue Jays’ Double-A affiliate, found himself in the latter category as the calendar inched towards August. 

“We all thought it was a possibility,” Watts-Brown told me ahead of Double-A Chesapeake’s matchup with Richmond yesterday. “Me and a couple of other guys, a couple of other guys that got traded, there was talk of like, ‘the Blue Jays are doing well, they’re probably going to go get a few pieces and we could be part of those package trades.’

In 24 hours, the Orioles’ roster could look very different. 

The front office is realistic about where Baltimore finds itself in the standings. Despite a great homestand with incredible performances from the likes of Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn, the Orioles would have to leapfrog seven American League teams to make the playoffs. 

The reality of the situation wasn’t lost on the fans at Camden Yards, nor the players in the clubhouse, a few of which have already changed jerseys. 

Ahead of today’s deadline, the Orioles have already sent Gregory Soto to the Mets and Seranthony Domínguez to the Blue Jays in exchange for some high-upside arms. 

In exchange for Soto, the O’s received RHP Wellington Aracena and RHP Cameron Foster from New York. Foster didn’t enter Baltimore’s top 30 according to MLB Pipeline, nor was he a top-30 prospect in the Mets system according to Baseball America. But Aracena is ranked by both outlets. 

The Orioles won the first game of today’s doubleheader and traded another high-leverage reliever. And he can make a short walk down the hallway at Camden Yards to join his new team.

Right-hander Seranthony Domínguez was dealt to the Blue Jays for pitching prospect Juaron Watts-Brown, according to an industry source. Toronto is in Baltimore for a four-game series.

Domínguez is the third reliever traded by the Orioles this month after Bryan Baker (Rays) and Gregory Soto (Mets).

MLB Pipeline ranked Watts-Brown, 23, as the Jays’ No. 10 prospect. They drafted him in the third round in 2023 out of Oklahoma State and he’s registered a 4.17 ERA and 1.328 WHIP in 40 starts. He’s struck out 246 batters and walked 98 over 192 innings.

Watts-Brown was in the Eastern League with Double-A New Hampshire, where he made 11 starts and posted a 3.48 ERA and 1.239 WHIP in 11 outings with 26 walks, 53 strikeouts and only four home runs surrendered over 51 2/3 innings. He also started eight games with High-A Vancouver and posted a 3.62 ERA and 1.179 WHIP with 12 walks, 62 strikeouts and two homers in 37 1/3 innings.