The Orioles acquired infielder Steve Pearce from the Rays, tweets ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. The Rays will receive 21-year-old High-A catcher Jonah Heim in return, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The Orioles have officially announced the deal.
Pearce, 33, had a successful run with Baltimore from 2013-15 before signing with Tampa Bay on a one-year free agent deal. He’s owed about $1.6MM for the rest of the season, plus incentives once he reaches 400 plate appearances. Pearce, a right-handed hitter, has an excellent .309/.388/.520 line in 232 plate appearances on the season. He’s done a lot of damage against lefties, crushing five home runs and four doubles in just 63 plate appearances. For the Rays, Pearce has mostly served as a first baseman, second baseman, and designated hitter. He’s played the outfield as well, and Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette said today on MLB Network Radio that the veteran’s versatility will allow the club to carry an extra pitcher. You can check out the Orioles’ updated depth chart here.
Heim has struggled offensively at High-A this year, hitting .216/.300/.344 in 329 plate appearances. MLB Pipeline ranked him 13th among Orioles prospects, praising his defense and makeup. The Rays will hope the switch-hitting Heim progresses offensively in the coming years. The Rays made two additional trade deadline deals today, sending Matt Moore to the Giants and Brandon Guyer to the Indians.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Most insane deadline yet!
To…..???????
orioles
The Orioles.
Mystery team finally strikes a deal!
LOL
I’m still trying to catch up and keep refreshing and more are added every second. Guess the up-dates are slow Trade dead line now over. Keep refreshing guys.
Right?! Been like 5 of them since the official deadline time!
Like the Orioles need more offense. Damn
Isn’t this Steve Pearce’s 7th or 8th stint with Baltimore?
Better to stick with the devil you know…
Would have been a nice fit on the Mets. I think they were a little too passive this year.
They were passive because they remembered the mistake of trading Michael Fulmer
That wasn’t a mistake- They got Cespedes and he helped them to a pennant.
Hope the Rays re-sign him at the end of the year. I really like him and he seemed to be a big fan of the Rays clubhouse.
He was well liked in Baltimore as well. He’s definitely a man with class. I’m happy to see him back in Baltimore, I just hope it fits their plans like they had hoped.
The Orioles and Steve Pearce are the Puddy and Elaine of MLB.
Nice call!
Still better than vegetable lasagna.
More like will and grace
Orioles still have not learned anything this trade deadline. Only one starting pitcher pickup. Sad.
Hard to believe they couldn’t get another decent pitcher. Look what the Twins got Santiago for – they couldn’t beat that offer?
Still in first place and have all their top prospects. I’m okay with it. Hellickson was only realistic pitching option but the difference in cost to retain compared to Miley made Wiley the clear choice.
Trade waivers are still an option as well. Hopefully the O’s grab another pitcher that way.
The Braves should shock the World by sending Freeman to the Astros for a bundle. Then send Markakis, Vizcaino, and Newcomb to the Yanks for McCann and Pineda
Hoping once the deadline passes the mods will have time to ban you. Please stop posting your absurd Braves trades in every thread. Nothing that you want will happen. Go home.
Can you stop with your constant postings of Freeman to Astros for Bregman ? It’s not happening.
Bregman is batting .045, the braves can have him
The Braces can have him huh? I’m not an Astros fan, but I’m glad for their sake that you aren’t the GM if you’ve made your final evaluation on a top prospect after a week
It certainly would be nice to have a little more info Tim
I think I read somewhere that Pearce would resign with Tampa even if he gets traded. If he does, that just makes whatever we receive surplus value, even if the return was underwhelming.
Gee, a pending free agent telling the team he’s with that he would like to sign with them. How rare.
Doesn’t every pending FA say that? Now if he had said he would never sign back with Tampa, regardless of money, that would be a first. But it’s money that will have the final say. Tampa bidding can only help HIS cause.