The Orioles have inquired about the availability of Astros right-hander Collin McHugh, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com hears. Although McHugh could be the odd man out of a loaded Houston rotation this year, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported earlier this week that the reigning champions aren’t in a rush to trade him. Nevertheless, with multiple holes in their rotation and a reported unwillingness to spend big to address their staff, it makes sense that the Orioles are interested in McHugh. After all, the 30-year-old has been a quality starter with the Astros since 2014 and is under arbitration control at affordable prices through 2019. He’ll earn in the neighborhood of $5MM this season.
Here’s more from the American League…
- Indians outfielder Michael Brantley’s status for Opening Day is up in the air, Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com suggests on Twitter. Brantley underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle in October, which came on the heels of a 90-game season for the 30-year-old. It was the second straight abbreviated campaign for Brantley, who missed all but 11 games in 2016 on account of right shoulder issues. To Brantley’s credit, he fared respectably across 375 plate appearances last year (.299/.357/.444), leading the Indians to exercise his $12MM option for 2018 early in the offseason.
- Aside from keeping Brantley and signing Yonder Alonso, the Indians haven’t spent much this winter. Regarding the Tribe’s quiet offseason, one team’s vice president told ESPN’s Buster Olney, “They’re not spending, and that probably means they feel like they’re overextended [financially].” Even though the Indians have been among baseball’s elite in recent years, drawing fans to Progressive Field has still been a challenge. Thanks in part to that, Olney posits that small-market Cleveland may have difficulty maintaining its relatively high payroll going forward, which could soon force the team to engage in a sell-off similar to the one Pittsburgh has orchestrated this winter. The Indians will probably lose top relievers Andrew Miller and Cody Allen to free agency next offseason, observes Olney, who writes that rising prices for their under-control core players could make it tough for them to adequately address other areas of their roster.
- The White Sox have hired Dave Duncan as a pitching consultant, Scott Merkin of MLB.com tweets. This will be the second stint with the White Sox for the 72-year-old Duncan, who was previously on the team’s coaching staff from 1983-86. He’ll now join pitching coach Don Cooper as the second highly respected pitching guru under Chicago’s employ. Duncan is perhaps best known for his run at St. Louis’ pitching coach from 1996-2011, a period in which the Cardinals won a pair of World Series titles and regularly boasted one of the league’s best staffs.
I’m glad I’m not an Orioles fan. They have no sense of direction and at the end of the day, they just do nothing.
The pitching thing is so dumb. You play in a hitters park, but you don’t want to spend money on pitching, you spend on hitting to try and outbash the other team, and then what? Hedge bets on random luck that it gets you to the postseason? Pathetic strategy. Cobb, Cashner and Lynn turn this team into contenders, period.
Sorry JTO, but not Cashner
Cobb-Bundy-Lynn-Gausman-Cashner is a rotation that could easily get that offense over enough times to go several games over .500.
I like the others a lot more than I like cashner. I just think he’s had his shot and kinda flopped. Just my opinion.
However, I do agree that cxcx has no clue. Troll I guess
Adding Cobb, Cashner, and Lynn turns no team into a contender. Those guys are on par with Gallardo and Ubaldo.
No they absolutely, categorically, are not. Troll comment.
They’re not that bad. But they’re not you’re saviors either. And Baltimore will not go spend money on 3 SP’s. No way. They may sign one for cheap. And trade for one. But they won’t do that because he s afraid to make a bad move. He should sign one of those arms to bolster their rotation. Lynn or Cobb. Lynn seems a fit here. And trade for Archer or McHugh. Archer is good. That’s it. He’s good and shouldn’t cost the farm.
Who won’t cost the farm? Archer? If that is who you are referring to you can rest assured he will drain the Orioles already weak farm system. Archer comes with 4 years of control at an extremely team-friendly rate. The Rays are expecting, rightfully so, a very heavy package if they’re going to trade Archer.
Cobb and Lynn are quite clearly a tier, if not two, above Gallardo and Ubaldo.
You call him a troll because he has a different opinion?
Disagree personally. Even that starting rotation is below average, their defense sucks, they play in a still-strong division, and their best reliever is already injured. Unless you buy that Tim Beckham’s actually good, Chance Sisco’s ready, and Schoop’s truly a 4-5 win player, I’m not sure I see how this team contends even with some SP upgrades
I love when posters bring up the worst case scenarios for certain players, but ignore that Chris Davis had an unsustainably bad year. Well SURE if everyone plays bad, they will be bad. But if you think the O’s offense/position players don’t have high ceilings, then you are foolish.
Buck Showalter is how. He’s a good manager and with a few good pieces we’ll be talking about how surprised we are they’re in first place in July/August.
Showalter gets a lot of flack for not being in Britton against the jays. He doesn’t however get credit for getting the most out of the Ryan Flahery’s, Steve Pierces and other just average to below average players. Year in year out him a Duquette find guys to stay competitive it’s a shame the owner has handcuffed these guys. I’m sure they know that the best move moving forward is probably trading Machado earlier in the winter instead of losing him a year from now.
The Orioles will be in 1st place come July/August??
It’s certainly one thing to be optimistic about your favorite team, or a team in general, but there is a FINE LINE between optimistic and downright delusional…With that being said, I am afraid you sir, you have crossed said fine line, crossed it, kept going, and never hesitated to look back..lol
To reach your equivalent level of crazy, that is like me saying the Braves are going to be in first place come July/August…
As much as I’d love the Braves to shock the world and surpass the Gnats this year, it just is NOT happening…
So, let us turn around, walk a few miles, and come back to reality. Reality says the Orioles should finish either 3rd or 4th in the AL East. Easily ahead of the Orioles are the Red Sox, the Yankees, and even arguably the Blue Jays. Heck, taking into consideration their inept front office and their lack of creativity, the Orioles have set themselves up to be lucky to even finish a fairly distant 3rd.
Cashner? He cant stay healthy. He is no good. He would not be a good signing
Amen
We have struggled as of recent. But let’s not forget Baltimore won more games than any American League East team from 2012 to 2016. Their GM must have been doing something right then.
Other AL East teams took turns competing for titles before that time frame, then struggled for a season or two, and now are ready to compete for another championship..
During that whole time, Baltimore has just stayed the course, and they have consistently hovered around mediocrity.
Even when they are faced with losing the face of their franchise, they are still avoiding a rebuild, and that’s why they will continue to hover around mediocrity for the foreseeable future…Until they decide to change their “strategy,” if you can even call it that, nothing about Baltimore is going to change amy time soon..
I’m so frustrated with them right now. Mistakes occur every offseason. Constantly keeping the wrong players and never doing anything to fix the rotation. You could make a better team with guys they should’ve signed vs guys they have now. Minus Adam jones, nearly every move has been a disaster
I can not understand why the Indians are the only ones who do not see that the chances of Brantley being injury free for the next few years are close to zero. There was no need to give him 10 million plus for this year. Brantley is a good hitter and it is time to look at him as a full time DH . Indians should try and send EE to the Red Sox as soon as Brantley is ready to play
yeah that was a head scatcher signing Brantley …at least he comes off the books next year. no way they trade EE he is right handed bat which the indians do not have a lot of
Uh, you pay $10M for 2 WAR all day. Doesn’t matter how many games it comes in.
2016 – 0.0 fWAR
2017 – 1.6 fWAR
he is in no way guaranteed to even provide the 2 WAR you stated… and with his injury history, the odds are he’ll fall short once again now he’s on the wrong side of 30.
he is good in name only. a once really good player that simply doesn’t have the body to stand up to an MLB season. sad, but it happens.
Ok you so are just being an immature mindless hater against him, got it.
2.1 bWAR in 2017, he’s a sold player even with the injuries, and has a sky high ceiling if healthy. Stop talking.
You sound foolish. Cherry pick your stats and he’s still under 2 war (or 2.1 by yours). Injuries are the point.
I agree with you but I did think that the Indians would have been better off trying to work out a extension with Brantley say a 3 year deal where he would get paid * mil this year 10 next and 12 or 13 in the last year and built some bonus in the deal that would let him earn an additional 3.5 to 5 mil per based on performance and games played or ab’s.
Brantley would have never made 12 mil if the Indians do not pick up that option.
Im also not a big fan of the Yonder Alonzo signing there is already alot of if’s on this team goiing into this season and Imo they extended one and signed another then you
Will Kipnis stay healthy and hit
Will Chisenhall hit
Upton – will not even go into that stupid move just what we need is a discontent problem child on the team thats going to cry everytime he’s not starting like he did at his last 2 stops.
which Gomes steps up to the plate this year.
Kluber – back issues is it still a issue
Salazer – Starter or Reliever ????
Will Urshela or Diaz hit ??
lots of big ??? for a contender going into a season where you are about to lose
Cody Allen — Could Danny Salazar be groomed to close or set-up he definatly has the stuff.
Adam Miller
Lonnie Chisenhall
Brantley
Josh Tomlin
all the above will be gone after this season
Yeah I agree. They have limited finances and don’t even know if he is healthy. I would have just spent a few million more on Bruce, or grab Melky Cabrera. Both are far more durable guys and likely to have better seasons next year.
I think it was the one year that appealed to them, they may view 2018 as the end of the current window to contend and didn’t want to lock into someone like Bruce.
I’ve been waiting on hearing about the Astros and Orioles talking about McHugh for awhile now. It makes too much sense. McHugh is the 7th starter for the Astros. They could try him in the pen, but he’s never done much out of the pen in the majors.
The Orioles‘ spend is a strength and that’s one of the only arguments against the Stros. Swap McHugh for a solid Orioles RP and it’s a solid deal.
The Astros really don’t need to do it though because the SPing depth is huge and if Keuchel and/or Morton don’t come back then McHugh potentially has a spot next year.
The Astros and Orioles have done great throughout the years with trades. We have a lot of good bullpen guys and trading one for him would be a good deal. Hope they work it out.
I always thought he was a solid pitcher. Maybe a trade to ATL would be good for him. It’s his home and they could use another vet.
Ooh I like him to ATL. Solid #3 anchor after Teheran and Folty..
I don’t see a reliever from our pen for mchugh working out. Britton is hurt which only leaves us brach or oday. There’s no way you’d get Mychel givens for mchugh. Don’t know if we’d deal brach right now either because he’s likely our closer. Oday for mchugh? I don’t know if the Astros want to do that. I don’t really see it.
McHugh will be used as a starter ahead of Peacock. The Astros really like Peacock and his stuff in the bullpen.
“a reported unwillingness to spend big to address their staff”
My god this team is infuriating. I hope they lose 100 games every season until they get a new owners and a new Front Office.
Is this your team?
I don’t have a team. I make rent following all 30 teams.
You don’t have a clue either.
so you’ve been living on the street for quite awhile..alrighty then…
How do you “make rent” following 30 teams
As an oriole fan i wouldn’t mind that trade. We need pithing and he would definitely help in that spot. We need to start making some kind of moves because right now they are seriously showing us that they don’t give a s–t about this year. DO SOMETHING!!
I love when people bash the orioles as lost. No team won more games from 2011 to 2016 making the playoffs in 12, 14 and 16. How many teams have made the playoffs 3 times in 5 years
One of the issues is the fact Angelos refuses to engage the top end of the FA SP market, as well as the IFA market. Right off the bat, the Orioles are anchored by his stubbornness.
I believe it’s because of fear. Fear of getting burned.
Yet Peter keeps getting burned by waiting too long, acting impatiently and then pissing away $$$…in this case on a HR hitter who strikes out way too often, does not hit for a respectable average AND plays poorly in the field.
Then Angelos goes into his corner an mumbles I told you so.
Agreed.
They are though. They aren’t trying to win, and aren’t selling. It looks like it’s going to be a lot of years of mediocrity going forward.
In that division besides the Yanks and Sox who else is really “trying to win”?
Umm literally every other team? What new fans like yourself need to realize is just because a team isn’t making a bunch of flashy trades for big name players or signing overpaid free agents to long term deals does not mean teams are trying to win. Are the Yankees and Redsox the clear favourites loaded with young talent? Yes? Baseball is a long season though and couple of injuries to key players could change the fortune of team wuite easily. Given the way the wildcards shake out every year you only need to be around .500 at the deadline and can fill some holes and can play your way into a playoff spot down the stretch. Every team in the East has a chance to be around .500 with the orioles being the least likely imo.
Many
And what do they have to show for it? Zero titles. Not to mention they’re set up to be bad for a long time with a really weak farm system and some terrible contracts with Davis and Trumbo. They missed their window to win with Machado.
Who hasn’t?
Bucs
Several teams, throughout the past 50 years, have had stretches of making the playoffs 3 out of 5 years.
yeah that was a head scatcher signing Brantley …at least he comes off the books next year. no way they trade EE he is right handed bat which the indians do not have a lot of
Hope legendary Duncan can help with decades of wisdom to Kopech/Hansen/Dunning/Cease, etc as the high hope prospects make their climb to join the 3 others Coop already has starting 2018.
Agreed. That’s a very nice pickup for the Sox.
I like the hire. We have plenty of reclamation projects for Coop/Duncan to try and fix as well as the prospects. Just need to pick up LoMo to spell Jose at 1B/DH & CarGo for OF versatility, trade Shields & Yolmer back to SD for Tatis, Jr. Lol. Then we are ready for 2018. 2020 W.S. Champion Chicago Palehoses baby
Duncan as great as he has been was never great at developing pitchers but tremendous at reclamation projects
Orioles aren’t gonna change until Angelos croaks
Do you really see Cleveland trading Lindor/Ramirez/Kluber/Carrasco I don’t. This is their best chance to win a World Series if they ever could.
It just seems like that’s what the Orioles ever do, inquire. They never do anything. They’ll put together a scrub rotation with a gimme high era. Try and keep players healthy and that’s their whole season. Done before it starts.
I wonder how Coop will react to the hiring? I imagine he isn’t too happy about it. Then again, he’s never exactly very pleasant about anything it seems.
Don Cooper said he is very excited about bringing in Duncan and looks forward to working with him. Keep in mind, he’s only a consultant and is in his 70’s. He’s not replacing anyone.
Old school who know how to get it done. What a great time to be a ballplayer for this club. ++
Duncan was one of the best pitching coaches of all time, he can only help the young Sox.
And the old Sox
After what the O’s pulled on the Astros at the trade deadline last year I’m surprised Luhnow will even take a call from them.
what would the Indians get for a Cody Allen? I think it’s hard for markets like the Indians to lose two big time pieces like Allen and Miller for nothing. From the outside they’ve got depth in pitching and the going rate for RP seems like you can get a decent return. Cardinals would likely be interested. This probably won’t work now as a lot of teams have filled their pen needs. Indians are the clear cut favourite in the Central I think they can turn the roster over a bit and still be first come July and address needs at the deadline.
The Indians will not be trading any major pieces the window maybe closed after this season as far as World Series contender but that does not mean that playoff contender window is closing and once in the playoffs anything can happen.
The Indians will not Trade
Kluber – who they just tied up last season
Carrasco
Lindor
Ramirez
Clevgr
Zimmer
those will be the next building blocks along with guys like
Coming to a stadium near you in the next 24 months.
Greg Allen / Francisco Mejia / Bobby Bradley / Brady Aiken / Triston McKenzie / Shane Bieber / Will Benson
Even though I do not agree with the Moves or the non moves this off season I do see the hope in the future
If the Indians would drop out of playoff hunt guy that will be traded
Cody Allen
Andrew Miller
Edwin Encarnacion
Danny Salazar
Josh Tomlin
Jason Kipnis
Lonnie Chisenhall
Yonder Alonzo
Trevor Bauer
Yan Gomes and maybe even Roberto Perez with Mejia ready
The above are the most likely to leave by trade
There is virtually no shot they fall out of the playoff picture. The Twins and the Indians should be able to pick up a ton of games against the Chisox and the Tigers who should both be terrible again.
Royals will be worse than Chisox in 2018 & Tigers will be awful. Twins pitching staff & lineup isn’t scaring anyone especially minus Ervin Santana to injury & Sano to a 1-2 month suspension. Indians should clean up on the whole division.
How about a swap with the Braves with Baltimore getting Julio Teheran and Arodys Vizcaino, Braves’ top starter and closer, with Chance Sisco, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander and Yefri Ramirez going to Atlanta. Two proven MLB pitching stalwarts ready now for prospects.