Orioles executive VP of baseball ops Dan Duquette has a long history of making significant roster moves late in the offseason, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes. It certainly seems that the stage is set yet again for the O’s to round out their 2017 mix in the new year, as the team is still looking to fill a need in right field and perhaps add one more power bat to the lineup. Here’s the latest out of Baltimore:
- There’s nothing new to report on Mark Trumbo, who remains a seeming match to return to the O’s, but Kubatko notes that the club has remain engaged with lefty slugger Pedro Alvarez. Price will be a factor, of course, and it seems the organization may prefer to pursue some other opportunities before committing. But Alvarez would represent a solid platoon option at the DH slot and could conceivably even give the outfield a try, Kubatko suggests.
- Baltimore also remains willing to deal set-up man Brad Brach, Kubatko notes. The 30-year-old entrenched himself as a key part of the O’s pen last year, throwing at least 79 innings for the second consecutive season and locking down a 2.05 ERA with 10.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. Even after that impressive showing, MLBTR gives Brach a $2.9MM arb projection in his second season of eligibility, making him an affordable asset. Just what the Orioles are willing to consider with regard to a trade remains unclear; presumably, he’ll only be moved for a significant return.
- While the O’s have more prominent extension candidates, the team would be wise to explore a deal with second baseman Jonathan Schoop, Rich Dubroff opines for PressBoxOnline.com. With three years of control remaining, now may be the optimal time to find value, he suggests. Even if Schoop isn’t a superstar, he’s a significant power threat and only just turned 25. It’s worth noting, though, that Schoop is already projected to earn $3.4MM through arbitration, and also is set to protect his downside through an agreement with Fantex. Those earning opportunities could certainly impact his willingness to take a discount.
- The Orioles took a hard look at Nick Hundley before deciding instead to go with Welington Castillo behind the plate, Hundley tells MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter links). Hundley, who says he still views himself as a regular catching option, says that his camp “talked to the Orioles a lot” before Castillo became available.
- In other recent news out of Baltimore, the club has been mentioned as a possible suitor for Mike Napoli and Kubatko recently broke down the possibilities in right field.
Always thought Brach for Cargo straight up made a lot of sense for both teams.
Leave it to the Orioles to not even do that right!
I agree and it appears like the Os tried but Colorado would take no less than Gausman which is a deal breaker for Cargo. I don’t know how much salary the Os were considering adding but the swap of players really helps both teams
It doesn’t help the Rockies to swap Cargo straight up for a 30 year old reliever. coming off his career year.
Cargo is 31, expensive, and trending down.
An aging injury prone slugger from Colorado isn’t exactly a top value player. Brauch was an all star as a set up man. An all star level reliever with two years of cheap team control is more valuable to Colorado then an OF slugger. I think Brauch and Christian Walker for Cargo and a mid level prospect would be a fair deal for both teams.
And only has one year left on his deal, if I’m not mistaken
That’s such a bad trade for the Orioles lol cargo had almost no trade value.
He’s a 2.5 win player on a one year deal. He has plenty of value.
He’s projected for 1.7 fWAR and making 20 mil. That is negative value.
Lol straight up???
Carlos Gonzalez for a setup pitcher?!!? Ha ha ha ha ha
He was impressive last year, its comparable to the revere storens swap last year, but obviously these two players are better. Would BAL take on that entire salary? That would give the Rockies another $18M in payroll flexibility for the year, which could be huge
I think the O’s should trade Schoop while he still has strong value. They don’t need to lock up yet another player who has trouble getting on base/no patience at the plate, and he’s about the worst OBP offender of all their starters. I love Adam Jones, but I think they should trade him too while they’re at it for the same reason, plus the fact that he’s an at best average center fielder now.
So your suggestion is to trade Jones, and Schoop. Are you intending to trade Manny, and Britton too? 2017 is a win now season for the O’s. After this season there will need to be major roster moves.
This is a tough spot. The O’s simply aren’t good enough and if they resign Trumbo he is going to be an albatross for years to come.
If Trumbo get 14 million a year and hits 30 to 40 hrs for his contract. How is that an issue? I don’t think O’s should resign Trumbo but if it happens it’s not a big problem. The big problem will be if the O’s don’t trade Britton or Machado and they aren’t able to resign them.
Cause Trumbo sucks. Have you seen his OBP? He’s projected for about 1 WAR next year. I wouldn’t give him more than a one year $10 million deal. Orioles would be extremely foolish to waste any money on him.
My point is while I think Manny and Britton definitely help the O’s win now, Jones and Schoop are more of a liability because they swing at everything despite their power. I would love to see the O’s trade Schoop and someone else to the Twins for Brian Dozier. That would be a great win-now move. The question is do the O’s have anyone else the Twins would want short of Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman and Cody Sedlock. Even if the O’s couldn’t trade Scoop for Dozier I think it’s possible they could trade Schoop/Jones for some players that help them win now.
So the O’s need to trade their key players while they are trying to contend? While they’re at it why don’t they trade Tillman, Gausman, Bundy, Davis, Machado, Britton, and how about Castillo even though they just signed him. Or just trade the whole 25 man roster to another team for their 25 man roster.
Will they be able to financially handle Machado’s arbitration years?
Yes, it’s arbitration, he’s not going to be getting 20 million in arbitration. However extending his contract may be to much money for the O’s.
No problem with Machado. He’ll be a Yankee soon !
He actually will be getting $20m in arbitration next year, right?
In my opinion Schoop isn’t quite a “key player”. If he had a decent OBP he’d defiinitely be one, but he’s a hacker on a team of hackers. And he doesn’t hit quite enough to offset it. He has more value in a trade imo. Would love to see the O’s try and trade him in a package for Brian Dozier. Jones is a key player but less and less of one. I think the O’s should try and move him while he still has trade value. We all love Adam Jones, so it it’s hard to think of trading him, but I could see the O’s being a better team even now with a younger, hungrier center fielder.
Schoop is like the last player who should be traded. He would bring back very little, would leave a huge hole on the roster, and is under affordable, year-to-year control through his best years. Like the last player you would want to trade…
I’d put Machado up as trade bait before School, the O’s can probably afford to resign Schoop,they have a snowballs chance in hell to resign Machado… just my opinion!
Damn spell check! Schoop! lol
Don’t see why the Cardinals don’t at least make a 1-2 offer for Alvarez.. that guy absolutely raked at Busch Stadium. They could probably get him on a 2 year deal around 8-10 million to add some diversity at first and major pop off the bench. Just need to figure out what to do with Adams…..
You would have to learn to love 175 Ks, 25-30 errors, .310 OBP
and 0.5 WAR.
Brach for Cargo would have been a ridiculously one-sided deal for Colorado. Yes, Gonzalez greatly improves the O’s outfield but he also carries a $20m price tag for 2017. Unless Gonalez arrives in Baltimore at a cost lower than $14-15m then Brach going in the other direction is not a trade that works for both sides — especially when you add in the fact that Brach has two years of team control remaining vs. Gonzalez entering a walk year.
But Gonzalez will be offered a QO, whereas Brach will never get one, so that’s an $8-$10M value for the O’s. It’s probably a fair deal for both sides
All I ever have to do is look at CarGo’s numbers outside of Coors and I immediately pass. I’d rather Blackmon.
And his lengthy injury history.
Personally I think a Brach/Gonzalez swap would work well for both teams if they could agree on financial terms that worked for both sides. The AL East has four of the ten friendliest hitters parks in the league, so I truly don’t think his numbers would suffer greatly leaving Coors (he played roughly 30 road games per year at Petco, AT&T, and Dodger Stadium for the Rockies). Brach would be a much needed back-end piece for Colorado’s pen, and this move could allow them to move Desmond back to the outfield and perhaps go after a free agent 1B.
Too many of the same bat on the team. If you’re going to bring Trumbo and his low OBP back, maybe look into dealing one of your other low OBP guys. Schoop is one of them but the most valuable. Cheap, young, upside, glove and controllable. Hardy being the hardest to move. Old, expensive, low numbers everywhere offensively, good glove. Package Hardy