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The Rays Left An Asset Unprotected And A Division Rival Noticed

By TC Zencka | May 23, 2020 at 12:02pm CDT

It’s no secret that the Baltimore Orioles need pitching. While GM Mike Elias and company work on building a development pipeline, the O’s are spending a lot of time scouring other organizations for excess talent to skim off the top. 

Take 30-year-old right-hander Cole Sulser. Baltimore’s waiver claim in early October doesn’t jump out as an impact move, but there’s potential beneath the surface for Sulser and the birds. Before digging into Sulser’s prospects, let’s cover the backstory. 

In December of 2018, the Indians, Mariners, and Rays engaged in a three-way deal that shuffled around first baseman candidates. In this rare three-way challenge trade, each team came away with a major-league first baseman. The Rays chose Yandy Diaz, the Mariners Edwin Encarnacion, and the Indians actually snagged two first basemen in the deal: Jake Bauers and Carlos Santana. Tagging along, Sulser went from the Indians to the Rays, for whom he made 7 scoreless appearances last season. But the Rays are no longer in line to be the beneficiaries of a potential Sulser breakout. 

Granted, it’s suspect that the Indians and Rays – two organizations with strong reputations for identifying and developing pitching – both passed up on the opportunity to roster Sulser. Sulser isn’t locked into a roster spot with the Orioles either, but he should have an easier time carving out a role with the pitching-needy Orioles than he did with either of his previous organizations. The short season very well may expand rosters, too, giving Sulser a greater opportunity to toe the rubber in Baltimore. 

So where does the optimism for Sulser come from? Last year Sulser made 49 appearances (4 starts), spanning a robust 66 innings with a 3.29 ERA. His peripherals look good with a 12.1 K/9 to 3.3 BB/9. He put together similar numbers the year prior while in the Indians system (3.86 ERA over 60 ⅔ innings with 14.1 K/9 to 2.5 BB/9). Those numbers were helped by including a 9-inning scoreless stint in Double-A, without which a 4.53 ERA in Triple-A doesn’t look quite as impressive. 

It is, however, a positive sign to see Sulser improve year-over-year when repeating the level. The Dartmouth grad doesn’t have overwhelming stuff, but he’s made himself into a double-digit strikeout-per-nine guy over the last couple of seasons. Sulser could yet turn himself into a late-blooming bullpen piece. He’s probably not Nick Anderson, but there’s value to unearth from an arm like Sulser. Breakouts for players on the wrong side of thirty aren’t exactly commonplace, of course, but late bloomers often emerge in the bullpen.  Sulser doesn’t have to become the next Kirby Yates to add value to the O’s organization. With 5 appearances in spring training with a 1.53 ERA and 8 strikeouts in 4 ⅔ innings, he was off to a good start. 

The Orioles may not have a lot of crucial innings to lockdown, but if they can help Sulser establish himself as a reliable arm, he could become the type of cost-controlled asset teams in contention ask after. For the Orioles these days, that’s more-or-less the goal. 

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Baltimore Orioles MLBTR Originals Cole Sulser Mike Elias

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29 Comments

  1. Tom84

    5 years ago

    Not surprised he didn´t last long on waivers, he could compete for a spot on most teams

    Reply
  2. DarkSide830

    5 years ago

    Rays were foolish to give up on him

    Reply
    • stymeedone

      5 years ago

      Ok Darkside, who from the Rays would you cut to make room for him?

      Reply
      • jdgoat

        5 years ago

        Roe or Drake both make sense but they both have a little bit of upside or at least reliability as well.

        Reply
      • hOsEbEeLiOn

        5 years ago

        Cut?

        Trade was a possibility as well. It’s not secret teams are always looking for relief pitching.

        I’d vote cut or trade Jaleen Beeks.

        Poche and Alvarado are lefties out the pen

        Yarborough and Snell are lefty “starters”….though Ray’s don’t always utilize a traditional starter.

        And have two very good young lefties in McKay and Mcchalahan.

        So Beeks would be my vote.

        Reply
        • Royalsfan12

          5 years ago

          What about Trevor Richards? He was just a throw in piece in the Nick Anderson trade and has already been optioned to AAA.

          Reply
      • DarkSide830

        5 years ago

        thsy should have at least traded him. to lose him for nothing was unreasonable. the fact that he’s 30 but the worst team in baseball wants him clearly shows he could have gotten some trade return.

        Reply
        • Ashtem

          5 years ago

          If the Rays knew they were getting something they would have gotten it also this transaction was made on the last day of the season not much room to work with

          Reply
        • JustCheckingIn

          5 years ago

          Lmao. Doesn’t 2 competing teams cutting him and only the worst team in baseball taking him in mean he likely didn’t have much trade value……… You really think the Rays just.. didn’t check?

          Reply
        • bigdaddyt

          5 years ago

          LMAO. someone doesnt know how waivers work

          1
          Reply
        • JtS12

          5 years ago

          Not really Darkside. If the best teams in baseball wanted him then that would show he had trade potential. If the worst team in the league wants him they think he is an upgrade over what you are calling the worst players in the league since they are on the worst team.

          Reply
        • DarkSide830

          5 years ago

          he’s 30. why would the worst team in baseball pick up a guy that is 30 if they dont think he can actually become useful? Baltimore has a lot of younger guys who would seem to have more upside than most 30 year olds.

          Reply
        • JtS12

          5 years ago

          I never said Baltimore didn’t think he could become useful. I only said that just because the worst team in baseball wanted him doesn’t mean he has trade value to the best teams in the league or for that matter any other team in the league.

          Reply
        • Sarasotaosfan

          5 years ago

          It is a mistake to frame the transaction as a “worst team” pick when the reality is they were the first team to have a chance to pick him up. There is no telling who else might have, unless the O’s put him on waivers or trade him.

          Reply
        • JtS12

          5 years ago

          I agree completely with you. I was using the language used by the other folks who were discussing it with me. Another person could argue though that they were the worst team since waivers works in reverse order of standings.

          Reply
        • JustCheckingIn

          5 years ago

          I know very well how waivers work. Didn’t think I had to explain This to you, but I’ll go slow

          Tampa is very well run

          They don’t lose valuable assets for nothing

          They would try to trade said player for a non 40 man player before setting him on waivers.. because they’re well run

          Anyone who think Tampa of all organizations wouldn’t gauge his trade value before putting him on waivers it out of their mind

          The fact he hit waivers means no one wanted to give up anything of value for him. It’s not complicated

          Congrats Balt claimed him. We all know they have top pick. That doesn’t mean Tampa missed the boat and a really great trade was just out there. Cmon

          Reply
        • reyah

          5 years ago

          They talked about it in the article but it’s possible if he does well he could be traded for additional value. That makes sense for a team like the Orioles that have no intention of competing this year.

          Reply
  3. NY_Yankee

    5 years ago

    Almost anyone would improve Baltimore’s pitching. The only major league caliber pitchers they have are Means and Givens ( and I do not trust him in a big situation).

    2
    Reply
  4. Quinn_Sk

    5 years ago

    IIRC, Tampa needed to make room for Yandy Diaz to come off the 60 day DL for the wild card game and options were pretty limited. You can’t cut a guy like Roe who had a spot on the postseason roster

    1
    Reply
  5. JustCheckingIn

    5 years ago

    He’s a nice piece for a bad team and a questionable piece on a contender

    Not shocked teams wouldn’t want to pay for him when they know the rays will have to do something…. he’s not a piece you “pay a premium” for. He’s a AAAA strikeout guy..

    Reply
  6. richt

    5 years ago

    For yet another MLBTR writer who doesn’t know how to use commas: chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Com…

    1
    Reply
    • JtS12

      5 years ago

      Does it really matter? Be glad you have something baseball related to read.

      Reply
    • cecildawg

      5 years ago

      Richt? Thank you for the clue. Much needed and useful. Try to ignore the Neandertals as they seem afraid someone might be more on the beam then thy are. Some are frightened they didn’t know such a beam exists.
      Sad sack?.
      Baseball or not we always learn. JtS12 yes it really matters. Try not yo be so guarded.

      Reply
      • Sid Bream Speed Demon

        5 years ago

        Can’t tell if this is satire or not.

        Reply
  7. The Human Rain Delay

    5 years ago

    Rays are always going to get killed on the 40

    The natural action would be to consolidate some prospects for some Nice Big League players but those said players cost money and we all know Tampa doesn’t do that

    Ill never shed a tear for them having “40” problems- Spend some Money or toil in your forever loop, just dont expect us to think its novel anymore

    Reply
  8. bobtillman

    5 years ago

    Laugh at the Giants’ GM all you want, but this is exactly what teams like the O’s have to do. Let’s face it; they’re terrible. It’s likley that most teams’ 40th guy on the depth chart is better than the 30th guy on the O’s. Especially vis-a-vis a talented roster like the Rays.

    Nobody should pass by them on the waiver wire. Will it “harm” team chemsitry? Probably; nobody wankts to work in a turnstile. But winning 50 games harms it more.

    Reply
  9. dragongrave

    5 years ago

    it isnt about Sulser it is about flipping him into a new asset.

    Reply
  10. Ghost Pepper

    5 years ago

    Its about Santa Clause.

    Reply
  11. Melchez

    5 years ago

    The stats you gave were AAA numbers. He only pitched 7 innings total in the majors. He did very well, but it was 7 innings in 7 games.

    Reply

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