Story byConor LiguoriSat, January 10, 2026 at 8:46 PM UTC·1 min readWhy Orioles' 2017 trade offer for Astros' Framber Valdez fell through originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. What could've been. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAccording to sources close to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon, the Baltimore Orioles came close to acquiring a future ace in Major League Baseball in 2017. Rosenthal and Sammon's report states that the Houston Astros and Orioles had a deal agreed upon that would've sent reliever Zack Britton to Houston. One of the four relatively unknown prospects the Orioles would have acquired was Framber Valdez. Valdez was a 23-year-old starter in Double-A at the time.