Even with the Orioles in a tailspin over the last six weeks, executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette said it was “a little premature” to consider whether or not his team will be sellers at the trade deadline, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun writes. If anything, the O’s are still considering making an upgrade to their struggling rotation.
“Our pitching hasn’t been up to standards,” Duquette said. “We’re going to keep our eye out and try to get our pitching back to a competitive level, and see if we can make some additions to the team and see where we are in terms of contending for a playoff spot.”
The Orioles held the top spot in the AL East for much of the early part of the season, and had a 22-10 record after a victory on May 9. Since that date, however, Baltimore has just a 13-28 mark. Some notable injuries (Zach Britton, Chris Davis, Darren O’Day) have been a factor, and top hitters like Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Mark Trumbo have been below-average contributors at the plate.
The Orioles’ biggest weakness, however, has been a lack of reliable starting pitching. Baltimore starters have combined for the second-worst fWAR (1.6) and ERA (5.79) in all of baseball, ahead of only the Reds in both categories. Orioles starters aren’t missing bats (6.69 K/9, third-lowest of any rotation in the league) while also posting a league-high 4.13 BB/9.
The O’s have acquired the likes of Wade Miley, Scott Feldman and Bud Norris in deadline trades under Duquette’s time running the front office, and the summer trade market is flush with pitching options for teams looking for rotation help. On the other hand, as Meoli notes, the Orioles’ farm system is thin on major trade chips for opposing teams.
Of course, there won’t be any buying at the deadline if the Orioles don’t turn things around in fairly quick fashion. Welington Castillo will only return in 2018 if he exercises a player option, so the Orioles could consider moving him as a rental for other teams. For bigger-picture moves, Meoli points out that Machado, Jones, Britton and Brad Brach are all free agents after 2018. While dealing Machado or Jones would portend at a larger rebuild, it’s possible Baltimore could explore trading one of the relievers for prospects and then keeping the other as the closer for next season (when the team would presumably be looking for a quick return to contention).
One bright side for the Orioles is a crowded American League table, so Baltimore entered today’s action six games behind the Red Sox in the AL East and just 3.5 games out of the second wild card spot. The question would be how much the O’s want to invest in midseason trades when a best-case scenario might be the one-game playoff, though for Duquette, the wild card is still an attractive target.
“If we get a little bit more time, maybe the second wild card gives a lot of teams hope,” Duquette said. “And once you get into that playoff situation, a lot of teams have advanced from that wild-card spot and done well in the playoffs. There’s more baseball to play, and our aim is to try to get back to playing the kind of baseball that fans are used to from the Baltimore Orioles.”
Shame they want to add pitcher but don’t have a farm
Shame rooting for team that’s been around for 48 yrs n hasn’t won d#ck
Yes, because the Orioles 34 years is much more impressive.
Baltimore has won three World Series…..n has a fan base that supports NFL football. I luv SD….surfs up….
LOL SD fans supported football. What they didnt support was the owner spanos and how he messed with the city over the years. In fact, the vote for the new stadium was left up to San Diego residents as santee el cajon la mesa etc residents didnt get a vote. Not every fan was given the ability to vote. It was left up to “san diego” residents.
Youve just embarrassed yourself commenting on something you clearly have 0 understanding of. I suggest looking things up before commenting next time Lame Argument Sam. Not going to list off all the stuff spanos pulled. Go educate yourself. Dont be LAme Sam.
Also Orioles won a world series 3 years before the padres even became a team lol. 1966 vs 1969. Hard to win it when you’re not even in the league lol. Lol real easy to win a ws in 1966 when 10 teams from today werent even around.
World series from years ago mean nothing esp when the orioles last ws was in 83 and theyve added 4 teams since then rays dbacks rockies and marlins. As it stands with the current structure of the league baltimore has just as many ws titles as the padres-0.
Why don’t Baltimore fans support there baseball team though?
wtf are you talking about?
The O’s were 4th in tv ratings last year and were 2nd earlier this year. Not sure what they are now after the recent struggles.
what in the world are you saying. the orioles are one of the wort fan bases in baseball.
He has no idea what hes talking about. He just wants attention
They couldn’t sell out in the middle of a playoff race last year. It’s really to bad cause they probably won’t have much meaningful ballgame a in September in the next few years
That is a ridiculous statement from someone who roots for a team on the other side of the country. What is your evidence?
They really do have some nice pieces they could trade, could be an express rebuild if they decide to go that route, which I think a lot of people think they should…
It makes way too much sense not to, except for the fact that Duquette seems allergic to acquiring prospects. They could get a huge return for the guys hitting free agency after next year if they wanted to.
…except for the only person that matters, Peter Angelos. He will never sign off on a Loria-style gut and rebuild, which is what so many fans of other teams who want our star players seem to be asking for.
Will never sign off on doing exactly what he has signed of on in the past in the late 90’s.
As much as i hate to admit, gotta offer up Machado to the Pirates for the farm ……
Why would they want machado? They’re 6 games under and 4 behind a Chicago team that has struggled all year.
that wouldn’t be smart if the pirates to do
Im not bothering to look up specifics so excuse the exaggerations but Jordy Mercer probably has a better batting line than Machado and costs about 1/4 as much, even without Kang available Freese and Harrison have been more than serviceable at 3rd, Neal Huntington has never dealt a major prospect haul for anyone and Bob Nutting wouldnt sign off on the payroll increase. Machado to the Yankees to play 3rd might make sense though…
By adding pitching he means crap off the waiver wire.
I think their sandbagging. What are the odds that the entire starting rotation falls off like they did, and Machado suddenly forgets how to hit?
I don’t know they were throwing Miley, Jimenez and Asher out there regularly and they’re all bad. Tillman you never really know what he’s going to do and bundys really ever been good as a starter for about a 1 month stretch. Gausman sucking this year has really been the only surprise for the pitchers
I’ve never been all that impressed with Gausman. He’s another Oriole that has been built up to be the next Walter Johnson. The O’s have needed consistent starting pitching for years and they go out every off-season and add home run hitters. No speed, no pitching, just homers. They just need a better game plan. They have made some amazing trades over the years (the Trumbo deal and the Adam Jones trade immediately come to mind).
He wasn’t built up by the O’s to be that, he was built up by national experts including guys like Keith Law, noted Oriole hater. He was a #4 overall pick. There was a reason for optimism.
He’s not an oriole hater lol. Literally every fan base has people who thinks he hates them.
So Keith Law hates the orioles and the way he expressed that hate was by heaping praise on one of the team’s prospects? That makes sense.
orioles window is closed due to a lack of pitching. And they have none on the way either. They should fire sell this offseason but they won’t.
For all the pitching to be bad, one must consider if the problem is the pitching coach. Gausman really fell off this year and it seems like Tillman is relying on breaking balls to no avail. Jimenez shouldn’t be in the MLB.
yes I question the coaches ability as well. Tillman on the other hand is most likely still injured. I think he rushed back knowing he was needed and is hiding something. His velocity is way down and he seems to be pitching from a lower arm slot. I also call in to question Castillo’s ability to call pitches, as the case for Gausman. Maybe they don’t mesh. some of Gausman’s best performances this year have been with Joseph behind the plate.
After the one game loss in the wildcard game and. It using Britton but instead ending with Ubaldo, thought it was time to shake things up with players and coaches. I was totally in support of #firebuck. Can’t make monumental mistakes in a one game playoff like and keep your managerial job.
They need to trade Machado and Britton to rebuild the farm system
Mediocrity is good enough for Oriole’s ownership.
All pitching is bad this year with a couple exceptions. Why do you think the score ofnevery game is 16-7.
They need to trade brach hes there biggest trade chip right now