After spending four prospects and a draft pick to acquire him, the Orioles have high hopes for right-hander Shane Baz. “He hasn’t fully tapped into his ceiling yet, so we see him as a front end of the rotation starter,” president of baseball operations Mike Elias told reporters this week, including Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun.
Baltimore landed Baz with a package headlined by recent first-round picks Slater de Brun and Caden Bodine. He’ll likely slot in behind Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers as the club’s No. 3 starter. Baz posted an ERA up near 5.00 in his final season with the Rays. Elias cited Tampa Bay’s home venue as the potential culprit. “We see a lot of underlying information in his statistics and his performance this year suggests that he had bad luck. A lot of it was driven by the ballpark that the Rays were playing in.” Tampa Bay played its home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field this past season due to hurricane damage at Tropicana Field.
Baz did have significant home/road splits in 2025. He posted a 5.90 ERA in 16 home starts, compared to a 3.86 mark in 15 appearances on the road. Baz allowed 10 more home runs at George M. Steinbrenner Field than he did away from the venue. Interestingly, Camden Yards graded out as a slightly better hitter’s park than George M. Steinbrenner Field this past season, per Statcast’s Park Factors.
The big key for Baz could be righty/lefty splits at his new home. George M. Steinbrenner Field ranked third in Park Factor for right-handed hitters this past season, while Camden Yards was 19th. The Orioles recently moved the left field fences in after having pushed them back, and they also lowered the enormous “Walltimore,” though that side of the field has still been tough on righty bats. Baz has reverse splits, allowing much more damage to same-handed hitters this past season. Righties slugged 55 points higher against Baz than lefties, while striking out far less often and walking slightly more frequently. Baz struck out lefties at a solid 28.2% rate, but punched out righties at a middling 21.7% clip.
The swing for Baz helps solidify Baltimore’s rotation, though that doesn’t mean he’ll be the last addition. Elias said the front office will “stay hard at work” to continue improving the unit. Dean Kremer is locked into a starting spot, but the depth chart gets murky from there. Tyler Wells made it back after an extended injury absence to make four starts in September. Injuries have limited him to 37 innings over the past two seasons. Young arms Cade Povich, Chayce McDermott, and Brandon Young had opportunities in 2025, but none of them delivered notable results. Swingman Albert Suarez is back with the club on a minor league deal.
Baltimore’s busy offseason has mostly focused on the hitting side, but the club was linked to Michael King before he returned to San Diego, along with current free agents Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, and Tatsuya Imai. The Orioles have also been connected to Freddy Peralta, Edward Cabrera, and MacKenzie Gore in the trade market. Free agents like Valdez and Suarez are now a bit more intriguing for the Orioles following the Baz trade. Both pitchers rejected qualifying offers, so teams will have to forfeit their third-highest draft pick to sign them. As Jake Rill of MLB.com points out, Baltimore would’ve ceded the No. 46 overall selection prior to the Baz deal. Now that the team has sent their Competitive Balance Round A pick (33rd overall) to Tampa Bay, the penalty for signing a Valdez or a Suarez would be the 83rd pick, softening the blow of losing draft compensation.
The Orioles made one of the biggest splashes of the offseason when they brought in Pete Alonso on a massive five-year deal. The move could potentially block Coby Mayo, though Elias expressed optimism about finding at-bats for the former top prospect. “There is still a lot of playing time available for [Mayo] on a team that has Pete Alonso now,” Elias said. “We have first base reps, we have designated hitter reps, and the exploration of other positions — whether it’s third or something in the corner outfield.”
Mayo was originally drafted as a third baseman. He spent ample time at both corner infield spots in the minors, though the majority of his big-league experience has come at first base. Mayo appeared in 70 games at first base this past season, compared to just three games at the hot corner. The 24-year-old hasn’t played the outfield as a professional.
After being overmatched in his brief 2024 debut, Mayo continued to struggle for the first few months of this past season. He turned it on in September, slashing .301/.393/.548 across 24 games to close the season. Nearly half of Mayo’s 11 home runs came over the final month of the campaign. The young slugger continued to strike out at a near-30% rate, but showed flashes of the power potential that helped move him up Baltimore’s system. The Orioles have Jordan Westburg penciled in at third base and several young options in the outfield. The club could find part-time work for Mayo if they’re determined to get him at-bats, but it would likely need to come at multiple positions.
Photo courtesy of Sergio Estrada, Imagn Images
Thank god it’s the Orioles that got Baz. I think the Orioles have built a very competitive team (at least they are going to). Alonso and Baz are great, but add some more buff to the team and it’ll be a scary team to face.
I hope you are correct about Baz, I don’t see him being all that tbh though, hopefully he will prove me wrong and be Trevor Rogers #2
The curve and the heater look to be terrific pitches. His stuff is pretty electric. Bradish, Rogers could be very good.
He’s not Trevor Roger’s but can be a strong number 4 or 5 on this team – assuming they land one more top of the rotation. The thing is you need 8 starters to make it through a season – if three are aces to very good, 3 are bottom of rotation and 2 are young guys with potential you will be successful.
I would rather they go for Imai than Valdez personally.
Totally agree. But I’ll add Ranger or Imai. As an Orioles fan, I want no part of Valdez. Head case.
Lots of innings, knows how to pitch and the culture in Baltimore is very much strong enough to handle him.
The culture in Baltimore was a weakness last season per recent reports. The kids were a problem and there wasn’t enough veteran influence to correct. Valdez’ personality is a risk. And that’s a problem we might not be willing to deal with
If the kids were the problem, why’d the team get better after shedding the veterans? Heard nothing but positive things about work ethic and leadership by example from Rutschman and Henderson
Omai is getting Dylan Cease/type money.
This one belongs to the Reds
The one that has played in the MLB is usually the safer choice, but not always the best choice. High risk, high reward.
The one that has actually succeeded in MLB is always the smart choice.
playing the age game here. 32 vs 27…and hes only getting a big pay day because slim pitching market, hes not an ace and too much of a contact guy. Imai can hit 99 and has a solid arm angle. I think Ranger is better than Valdez between those 2. I’d still go with the 27 year old over the 30/32 year olds, but thats just my opinion.
Ranger all the way. Too many Japanese starters have disappointed in the transition. Yamamoto is one of the exceptions.
Bring Eflin back for depth
Me too, Valdez throwing at his catcher last season was such an immature thing to do, Id be scared to commit to a player like that.
I wish the Pirates traded for Mayo instead Horwitz. I would still take Mayo on a trade if O’s and Pirates can get serious. O’s still could use more pitching (rotation preferred). Offer Ashcraft or Harrington, Mitch Jeb, and 3rd round pick for Mayo. I think Mayo is going to had the much need power the Pirates seek. He’d be cheap and controlled until 2030. I have no scouting report why O’s are reluctant to play him at 3B. His bat will be the selling point here though. Even if he remains a DH, Mayo would add some extra pop to that lineup.
O’s just trying to beef up the return on Mayo’s inevitable trade to the Marlins. I don’t understand why they never moved him. Could have gotten a truckload of talent for him. Now he’s just another maybe failed prospect.
Mayo for Norby and Stowers… who says no?
The orioles say no..they traded norby and stowers for rodgers
O’s
Same for Kjerstad.
Mayo, Kjerstad and Holiday monster trade package for a #1 starter
Mayo would cost substantially more. Jared Jones might be a realistic swap for both teams
The Mayo comments seem like an attempt to maintain some leverage for a trade. “We like him, we can definitely find at bats for him” and then two weeks later he’s traded for another starting pitcher. You can’t just say “yeah this guys blocked and hasn’t hit as well as we thought, we definitely need to trade him.”
To be clear I’m sure they “can” keep him. Just doesn’t seem like the best use of resources
I agree. I also think it’s intended to keep Mayo hopeful and feeling valued – we know he’s not above speaking out if he disagrees with how he’s managed, and we can assume he watched the Alonso signing with dismay.
If they don’t move Mayo, at least they haven’t soured him by their public comments.
Plus the appearance of internal value for potential trade partners.
I don’t get the trade at all.
Pretty simple – prospects for a starter. Area of have, for area of need.
whats your take on giving up on Grayson for 1 year of another OF when that seems to be what we draft in spades lol.
Read another article on that trade that made a lot of sense.
Grod – would be on an innings limit that would stretch the bullpen or make hi. Unavailable at playoffs or necessate a bullpen role at some point to conserve innings. He wasn’t pushing 180 innings after missing a year and half. So likely not a big or reliable contributor this year. At least not as a ft starter all year.
Ward there are like 13 rh above avg ops of hitters in all of mlb. Lefties were a problem last year that needed to be addressed. And we get a qo pick next year if he doesn’t stay. He’s basically a more sturdy version of what we needed out of O’Neil. Between him, O’Neil, and Alfonso we should have beefed up ops vs lefties sufficiently.
Grayson is oft-injured and immature af…That’s a terrible combo for a professional baseball player. The trade was shocking but it just looks like the team lost faith in him given his surprisingly immature perspective on rehab and lack of desire to pitch. He had all the promise in the world but just didn’t seem motivated to cash in. Good riddance
Huge upside prospects for a very mid level pitcher. They could have gotten much better return. Tampa rarely loses trades. Baz pitched in the AL East last year and struggled. Moving to an even more hitter friendly park. No reason to think he improves. So yeah that’s why I don’t get the trade. At all.
Myth. Remind me when the almighty rays wins anything (other than trades). The snell trade was a colossal disaster. They’ve made plenty of crappy deals. I do like how they draft though.
In reality, TB has been getting beat like a drum lately. This isn’t the old school rays anymore. Friedman went to LA and the org never recovered from his departure
OPACY is harder for right handed hitters. And that’s what Baz got hammered by at Steinbrenner.
Glad to know you’re out having convos with other GMs and know they could have gotten more with that haul. Great inside knowledge /s
baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/shane-baz-669…
We traded some good but not elite prospects who won’t be ready until 2027 or later for a good, young pitcher with 3 years of control because we are trying to maximize our chances of winning a championship in the next 3 years before Gunnar leaves in free agency.
It’s not really that complicated.
You say “good”… I say “eh”. That’s the part I don’t get. You guys seem to think I don’t understand that Baltimore wants to add to the SP for 2026. Not waiting on prospects to develop. No I get that part. I just see Baz as an incredibly poor return. Marlins would have said no to this package for Ed or Sandy? KC for Ragans? I mean I’m sure you’ll respond and say they have to had tried… but I see a package that could have rivaled what Boston gave for Crochet and you did not get a Crochet back.
Baz throws 97-100 as a starter and had a sub-4.00 ERA when he was pitching in actual MLB stadiums last year (with even better peripherals).
And no, the Baz return doesn’t really compare to what Boston gave up for Crochet. There was no Teel tier guy in the Baz return.
You mean a first round draft pick catching prospect who has had success in his first season of minor leagues? Yeah that’s Bodine. The package Boston gave up for Crochet is not that much more than what you’ve just given Tampa for Baz.
Teel was a nearly MLB ready top 50ish prospect. Bodine is not even a top 100 prospect and will not debut for several more years.
They are not the same.
Eh not at this point. Both were 50-55 FV after brief stints in the minors after being drafted. Teel took off after that.
Teel was top 50 on MLB Pipeline’s 2024 end of year rankings. He was the more well regarded prospect at the time of their respective trades and it isn’t even close.
Right but teel was drafted in 2023. Bodine was drafted this year and has not made it on the top 100 list yet either after one year. Both hit over 300 their first stint in the minors. More importantly both ranked 50-55 FV depending on the source. It is close. Very close. Again, both 1st round catching prospects. When Bodine cracks the top 100 next year we can revisit this and complain about the Rays ripping everyone else off yet again. Cheers.
Someone flagged me for using the “B” word. Cool guys. PG-13 unacceptable on a message board. Cool.
Bodine is very far away and may never even reach the high minors, while Teel was a nearly MLB ready top 50 prospect at the time he was traded.
The difference in their trade values is enormous. They are not interchangeable simply because they were both first round picks that play catcher.
And it was not me who flagged you. I’m from Baltimore so I know that snitches get stitches 😉
Bodine played 11 games!
Right. And Teel played 25 in 2023.
“Both hit over .300 in their first stint” – IT’S ELEVEN GAMES
Teel reached AAA in 2024, before he was traded.
Bodine’s value was nowhere near what Teel’s was at the time of his trade.
Guess we find out next year when he’s had a full season to make the top 100 list like Teel. Why can’t you grasp this? That’s what makes them similar at this point in their career. Both 1st round catchers with 50-55FV grades, had success with the cup of coffee they got their draft year. Get it through your dense head dude. Holy smokes. The trade was horrible. You got a regressing #4. But he’s young! But he played in a AAA park! But he was good that one time that one year! But! But! But! Give me a break.
Next year is completely and utterly irrelevant to what their trade values were at the time of their respective trades. No Teel tier prospect was included in the Baz trade because Bodine is not a Teel tier prospect. His current value is a fraction of Teel’s value was when he was traded, and that is because he is not an MLB ready top 50ish prospect like Teel was when he was traded for Crochet, and is in fact very far away from the majors, which actually has a negative impact on his trade value.
In terms of total trade value, Boston gave up way more for Crochet than we did for Baz. It’s not even particularly close because Boston also gave up a second top 50ish prospect in Braden Montgomery and an MLB ready SS in Chase Meidroth, who was himself a top ten-ish prospect in their strong farm system.
Given what it took to acquire Baz, what do you think would be the cost of a Joe Ryan/Mackenzie Gore type player? Both exponentially better than Baz. Are we talking 3-5 top 10 prospects? All star position player + 2-3 top 10 prospects? See the sliding scale here is near impossible to forecast because the O’s just gave up a package worthy of a Gore/Ryan type return for Baz.
I appreciate you attempting to move the goalposts back from Crochet, but the Baz return doesn’t get you Gore or Ryan either.
Replace de Brun with Beavers and Forret with Mejia or Gibson, and that might get you Ryan or Gore.
Lol Sean, you have no clue what Gore or Ryan are worth on the trade market. You’re projecting nonsensically. Yes the O’s paid a high price. But the ask for Gore or Ryan is likely aateonomical, which Baz’s ask is not.
That’s outrageous. At what point did we convince ourselves that #2 SP are worth this much? Gotta be fairly recent
Look at the insane deal Cease just got from Toronto.
Top end free agent SP prices are completely silly right now, so more teams are looking at controllable, high upside young arms that still have some room to grow, which is why a bidding war broke out over Baz that resulted in such a robust return for Tampa Bay.
Look I get the money. Especially for a place like Toronto where they have the telecom monopoly guy in charge. It’s the young talent that bothers me so much.
It’s a pick your poison kind of situation, and for small-mid market teams like the Orioles, the option that doesn’t risk years of dead money chewing up a huge chunk of your payroll is usually preferable.
Losing multiple recent high draft picks sucks, but the draft is only about 7 months from now and the Orioles have the 7th overall pick.
Sean, seriously, take a breath. All you’ve done is jump the gun, make assumptions, and act like you’re staring down your nose at everyone else because… of nothing. A loose fan opinion.
Go O’s. I hope you’re wrong. Chill out and be glad the Birds are making serious moves at all. Yeah it’s an overpay, in the moment. But short-changing the move – in the moment – isn’t wise. Let’s get to the ASB before jumping to conclusions. It’s not really fun to argue with another O’s fan over literally just your own insistence on sticking to your beliefs.
Elias can’t wait for 3 years, so the prospects are of little concern for a guy who might lose his job if they don’t go to the playoffs next year.
Yeah to give up 4 guys you’d think they could get someone better than baz. I’m tired of the projects. Go get a guy. He better turn into 2025 Trevor Rogers for this to make any sense.
Baz isn’t really a project.
He had a 3.86 ERA with fairly excellent peripherals when he wasn’t pitching at the Rays temporary minor league homepark last year.
Everybody questioned Elias’s judgement when he made the trade for Rogers. Everyone hated that trade, and then Rogers turns into an unhittable beast. I’m not saying Elias is always going to be right; but I would give him the benefit of the doubt for right now. Baz could be a #1 or #2.
Baz has the most upside of anyone in the current rotation and a floor of a solid #3/4 SP. We have him for 3 years and we didn’t even have to give up Mayo or Beavers.
I’m absolutely thrilled about this trade. It’s great. Big props to Elias for finally working up the cajones to take a big swing on a trade for a young, cost controlled SP with team control and huge upside.
Nothing about Baz’s record says “front end of the rotation starter”.
His stuff is legit. I’m sure that’s what they are referencing. But point taken his ERA wasn’t good last year
No. It’s not. It’s mid to low level “stuff”. Need a lot more red to call it legit.
baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/shane-baz-669…
107 Stuff+, 98 Location+, 107 Pitching+ is above average overall
Yep. “Above average”. That’s his ceiling. Gave up a package that should have returned “elite”
It was definitely a good return for TB but a lot of people are wildly overrating it.
Forret was the only guy that really hurt to give up.
Thanks for the link! His stuff hasn’t played as well as it should, but look at the movement profile. 3 outlier pitches. That’s legit. They probably think they need to tweak the usage or sequencing to maximize it, but it’s there
His stuff certainly does, and his numbers away from the Rays’ temporary minor league homepark last year suggest that he’s at least a #3 SP.
What am I missing? What is the thought process behind swapping out Rodriguez for Baz?
Basically, four prospects and a pick for Taylor Ward. Strikes me as an overpay ….
And 1 year of Ward at that
Baz has made 40+ starts in the last year and a half.
Grayson hasn’t even pitched in a year and a half.
Baltimore is an even more hitter friendly park. His metrics suggest he’s regressing. Read his savant page. Nothing suggests “at least a #3 SP”. Not trying to be a jerk. It’s just facts. I think you gave up a package that could have returned an ace. You got back a guy you are putting very unrealistic expectations on. Overpaying for Cease would have been a much much better move for 2026 and beyond.
He got killed by RHBs at Steinbrenner Field in 2025 and OPACY is much tougher on RHBs.
I am much happier with trading for Baz than I would be if we had outbid Toronto’s insane deal for Cease.
Ok well I can’t argue with happiness. Unfortunately the rays are in our division and with these moves they’ve made recently, they are setting themselves up for another run. They just stacked their top 10 list and gave up nothing of real value.
They gave up 3 years of Baz, which clearly has a ton of “real value” based on the fact that a bunch of other teams were also pursuing him aggressively and the very solid return they ultimately got for him.
None of the guys we gave up will make any meaningful impact for them in the next couple of years, but Baz will pitch a ton of meaningful innings for us in the next 3 years, which is what actually matters right now.
Camden Yards is more hitter friendly than Steinbrenner Field, especially for LHB. Camden Yards had a 108 Park Factor for LHB and Steinbrenner Field had a 97 Park Factor for LHB. That matters because Baz is a RHP.
Fungo, it wasn’t lefties that were teeing off on Baz. It was righties. And OPACY is absolutely not more RHB friendly than Steinbrenner.
If he’s not reached his ceiling, nothing about his stats would quite capture front rotation ability yet. That’s the part where experts are looking at the pure stuff, and making an evaluation based on that, why he’s not getting it reflected in his stats yet.
There’s underlying deeper stat trendlines w Baz. He could pop in the next year or two, similar with what they did with Trevor Rogers. Elias’ FO tends to track and identify 25-26 yr old former top prospects, those who might be a little bit behind the shine of the latest wave of hype, and evaluates from there. Sometimes there’s a god reason they’ve not yet made their mark. Sometimes they’re just taking longer to adjust to the majors, and there’s unseen trends there to take advantage of.
Quality post. Maybe they unlock something. It’s absolutely possible. He is in fact young. And was indeed a highly regarded prospect. So a trade package that should have secured an ace, instead got a lottery ticket 3/4 guy. That’s what I didn’t understand. At minimum this package gets Peralta. If not Cabrera or Sandy. I definitely prefer that the O’s got Baz over those guys. Last thing we need is Baltimore getting quality SP. Don’t love that Tampa retooled their top prospects for nothing substantial these past couple days.
This is a bit, right? No one could possibly judge a pitcher by ERA in the year of our Lord 2025.
Now do home/road splits on all of those when he wasn’t in a minor league park that flattened pitches to boot.
Playing outdoors in Florida gives pitches more depth, more movement. If the Rays had played the season indoors at the Trop where the air is dried by air conditioners you would have had a point.
While the other minor league field in use in the majors, Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, was a good hitters park, Steinbrenner Field plays close to even with a 102 Park Factor.
Oh so all the frontline starters are off the market? News to me!
Hay mucha incertidumbre en esa rotación por lo q deberían ir por Framber Valdez.
κι εμένα μου αρέσει να επιδεικνύομαι με τις γλώσσες!
31 starts 0.4 bWAR not too impressive
They need Valdez for it to be a truly successful offseason.
@mr bigs
I’m hoping for Ranger Suarez
Because you want a pitcher with chronic back problems ?
He pitched 150+ innings the last two seasons and in 3 out of last 4. He must be one tough hombre to do that with chronic back problems…maybe move onto something new?
Mayo for peralta ?
given the hauls they’ve given for trades the last couple years….it would take mayo and a whole bunch more
If the Brewers do decide to trade Peralta, they aren’t getting drastically more than they got for Burnes.
Starting pitching in free agency is outrageously expensive. Good on Baltimore for trying to add decent pitching via trade. I think they’ve finally learned not to prospect hug.
But is it even decent? On the fence. Came in with some success before anyone had his number. Then plateaued and regressed even
I get your point; but it seems teams must overpay just to get a team to trade away a controllable starter.
And and and, FA starters are generally older. Getting controllable starters via trade gets them before, or in, their prime years.
Yeah, I”m much happier with trading for Baz than I would be if we outbid Toronto for Cease.
You are still focused on ERA? Assume you also think pitcher wins matter. SMH
Baltimore fans: Has Jordan Westberg proven enough to solidify himself as a keeper at third base? Or is there still question marks about him enough to where he could be traded or may not be a sure thing? Just curious thanks.
Westburg is a solid horse. He’s a sure fire keeper.Os fans would be surprised and upset if he gets dealt.
His only question mark has been health. It’s honestly not been an overriding concern, but it surely derailed his season last year. He never really got going. So recency bias may skew his value somewhat there. But when he’s doing his thing, he’s one of those quiet soft spoken guys who tends to get underrated until you wake up one day and realize how great he is. He gives you long professional ABs, legs out everything, takes the extra base, and guts out key game ABs. He’s defensively and offensively consistent player.
He’s had some odd injuries not all should be long term concerns. Assuming he stays healthy he provides ss level good defense at 3rd, back up ss when gunner or 2b when holliday needs a rest. Ie versatile as came up as ss but moved around with gunner and ortiz at the time as the end home wasnt defined at the time. He’s at times a good patient hitter but has potentially 30 hr ability. Sneaky fast.
Westy was not injury prone in the minors so these problems at MLB are, I think, just bad luck. He’s realistically the most reliable hitter on the team and the most level-headed of the core players. He’s a keeper. Frankly I’d rather keep him than Gunnar or Holliday or Cowser or Adley. He’s the glue.
I would rather keep Gunnar, and I’m higher on Westburg than most I think. But…let’s be real here, Gunnar is a superstar when healthy and Westy is a very good starter.
I hear that, but I think Gunnar has an attitude problem
I think the fact Baltimore gave 5 prospects for Baz says a lot. I think Baltimore really believes he can be a #1 or #2. That was quite a haul of prospects for just a #4 or #5.
I think the path forward right now for Mayo staying an Oriole might be to turn him into something from the late 2000s/mid-2010s Rays playbook. Turn him into a version of Ben Zobrist, a quality bat that can play multiple positions.
Based on how Mayo could ideally project, he could be more power/less defense than Zobrist was. Not saying that’s what he becomes. Just saying that’s possibly his ceiling. But some version of that would have value.
I really think people are undervaluing Baz. He was as hyped, if not more hyped than grayson was. And hes only had 1.5 years of pitching full time in the majors. Yes he haa had TJ surgery, but this is his second full year out from the procedure (typically when pitchers get back to full strength). The Orioles gave up a lot for him, but the people who complain about it are the same who complained we didnt trade enough last year. And while it was alot, none of them were a top 5 prospect in our system.
Now the orioles need to get that top of rotation arm. I prefer Imai, but think it will be hard to top the big market teams who are competing for him. I think framber is slightly above ranger in my book. Hes a head case, but gives consistent innings. Ranger is too injury prone considering we have 3 guys in rotation like that already.
Still will need another high leverage arm for the pen and part time center fielder.
Look there are plenty armchair GM’s in here. Everyone runs right to baseball reference and says Baz isn’t good. Look at Dylan Cease first 3 MLB seasons. What happened when he hit 26 years old with a little bit of health? Watch one video of this kid pitch. There are not 10 starting pitchers with better stuff. Orioles regime when in Houston made this same trade for Gerrit Cole. He came off back to back 4 ERA seasons. I’m not saying he’s Cole but he has TOR stuff. Rays announcer 3rd game of the season was saying he will be competing for CY Young’s.
Mayo is a keeper. Pete should DH – Basallo and Mayo split time- plus Basallo will catch 50 games.
I agree he’s a good enough athlete to learn to play some RF. I’ll take him over ONeil.
I like mayo. He struggled unless he was given consistent at bats. I hope they dont screw him up by bouncing him around and with inconsistent playing time. Given a full season, he would produce at least the same numbers as Ward typically produces.
Been a weird offseason where moves the orioles make contradict moves they make later. To me, mountcastle and ward still make no sense and are redundant.
Ward makes plenty of sense.
Mounty does not.
@web
Baz took the playing in a little league park on the chin. His away splits were much much stronger.
3.86 ERA away
5.90 ERA in Steinbrenner’s little park
He pitched half of his game in a little league ball park in Florida summer heat, let’s calm down a bit.
I put Ranger Suarez at the top of the list of pitchers to add. An enormous part of a potential front of the rotation guy’s value is how he plays in the playoffs cause its almost two different games, regular season MLB postseason MLB. When a guy is a lights out SP in the playoffs you can feel like he is worth 70M. In 42 postseason IP Ranger has a 1.48 ERA. Think he is that ideal guy that you sign to intend to have him be your Game 1 starter and win that game. I feel he is that last piece that has them as a real serious contender for the AL.