The non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone and the Orioles have done nothing. If you are a pessimist who hoped that the team would sell off a couple of assets, like potentially overachieving relievers, well, sorry to say you were disappointed. If you are an optimist who hoped that the O's would be adding pieces to push for contention, you too will be disappointed.
On the other hand, if you weren't gladdened by the prospect of the Orioles giving up anything at all for any bottom-tier pitcher like Joe Blanton, then the fact that the deadline's passed by with no news is good news for you. It doesn't matter what names were out there. I didn't want any of them. They were either in the category of "would cost way too much" - like Zach Greinke - or in the category of "not worth acquiring" - such as Blanton. Seriously, people, Blanton has allowed 22 home runs against National League competition this year. We want no part of him in the AL East - we already have Tommy Hunter.
Joe Saunders, Jason Vargas, Chase Headley - it doesn't matter now. Maybe in the offseason there will be some wheeling and dealing. Dan Duquette likes marginal trades. Maybe he would like a major trade if the right one came along, but the situation won't be much different then as opposed to now - the O's just don't have valuable minor league assets other than Dylan Bundy and Manny Machado.
The closest they came to getting anyone seemed to be Blanton. Again, just to reiterate: he is not a good pitcher. He would add nothing to the Orioles except possibly being slightly better than Hunter, and that's not any guarantee. He is owed $3 million for the rest of the year and would cost a player in addition to that. There were reports that the Phillies did not want to eat any salary and they wanted a player back as well. That makes sense for the Phillies; their job is to get the best deal they can. Instead, they got no deal - but they made plenty of other deals. Blanton was just the last they couldn't do.
Were you wanting the Orioles to trade for, or to trade away, anyone in particular? That the team would sell off players never seemed likely - the fanbase that's been engaged with the surprising success so far this year is not something they would have wanted to alienate. There may have been value in relievers like Jim Johnson - if someone enjoyed his record as a closer - or Darren O'Day or something.
Instead, they didn't buy and they didn't sell. Perhaps some small move can crop up in the waiver trade period. The ability to add salary is one strength the O's should have in that period. Probably the Orioles you see are the Orioles you will continue to see. Probably they will fade in the stretch, but it's been a nice run, and there's no player they could have acquired to stave off whatever is coming their way.
Now, we can turn our attention to more important questions, like... uh. Oh, right, more important questions like whether the Orioles can manage to salvage even one vaguely useful MLB pitcher out of The Cavalry, or indeed any vaguely useful MLB player out of all prospects and tarnished ex-prospects in the system.