AL East Notes: Orioles, Rowen, Jays, Hensley

Orioles executive VP Dan Duquette discussed today’s trade of Ryan Webb to the Dodgers with reporters, including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com.  He praised the two prospects (catcher Chris O’Brien and righty Ben Rowen) the O’s received in the deal and felt they were worth the cost of the Competitive Balance draft pick included in the trade.  “We value the picks,” Duquette said. “In this case, we think we’re getting some players who could help our major league team quicker than the player we would get out of the draft.”  Here’s some more from Baltimore and elsewhere around the AL East…

• The Orioles had interest in Rowen when he was an offseason free agent, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports (Twitter link).  Rowen was released by Texas in December and inked a minor league deal with the Dodgers the next month.
• O’Brien received praise from Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel (via Twitter), who described him as having a “good chance to be a solid backup” in the majors.  McDaniel prefers O’Brien to Brian Ward, the catcher who went from the O’s to the Dodgers in the trade, describing Ward as an “all glove/little bat emergency type.”
• Whereas some clubs add veterans when they’re in “win-now mode,” the Blue Jays have gone the opposite direction by promoting several of their top prospects to start the season, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes.  As Sherman puts it, the Jays “ignored age, service time, future costs and protocol” in putting six rookies on their Opening Day roster.
• Two of those rookies, Miguel Castro and Roberto Osuna, are now getting an even bigger role as Toronto moves to a virtual closer committee for the next few games, Jays manager John Gibbons told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi) today.  Castro may be Toronto’s first choice for saves as closer Brett Cecil is still recovering arm strength after missing time in the spring with shoulder soreness.  Follow @CloserNews on Twitter to keep up with all of the latest ninth-inning news.
• Yankees right-hander Ty Hensley will miss the 2015 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Baseball America’s Alexis Brudnicki reports.  Hensley was the 30th overall pick of the 2012 draft but has thrown only 42 1/3 professional innings due to surgeries on both hips and a hernia operation.  If that wasn’t enough, Hensley also suffered facial lacerations after being assaulted over the offseason.