JULY 27: Duquette reiterated today that he does not see any circumstances in which the Orioles would turn into sellers before the deadline, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports (Twitter links). “We may make some trades, but anything that we do we’re gonna try and improve our ballclub for this year,” said Duquette.
There had been some suggestion that Baltimore could switch into sell mode after slipping under .500, but the team’s top baseball decisionmaker certainly did not appear to leave any room for that possibility with the deadline just days away.
JULY 22: Orioles executive vice president/general manager Dan Duquette held court with the Baltimore media prior to today’s game and definitively said that the club will be buyers at the trade deadline regardless of how the team plays over the next week (via Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun, on Twitter). Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets that Duquette specifically said that the team needs better production from its outfield and pitching depth. Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com tweets that Duquette said the team is not looking to trade right-hander Kevin Gausman, but he’s the type of piece that other clubs will routinely ask about. (As Encina notes, Duquette’s comments don’t necessarily squash the rumor that he’s willing to listen to offers on Gausman.)
The Orioles are currently a .500 club at 46-46, which places them five games out of the division lead in the American League East. The Yankees are presently in the division lead, with the second-place Blue Jays just a half-game ahead of Baltimore.
Outfield production has indeed been a problem for Baltimore in 2015. A year after letting Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz walk as free agents, Orioles left fielders are batting a putrid .219/.289/.344. Baltimore right fielders have produced a more palatable .285/.321/.440 triple-slash, and Adam Jones, of course, has contributed his typical brand of strong offensive output in center field.
Duquette and the Orioles hoped that the combination of Alejandro De Aza, Delmon Young, Steve Pearce, Travis Snider and David Lough would sufficiently cover their corner outfield needs, but that hasn’t been the case. However, De Aza and Young were both designated for assignment, with the former headed to Boston via trade and the latter ultimately getting released. Pearce hasn’t come close to reproducing his 2014 breakout, Snider’s offense is down significantly from 2014, and Lough’s value was always going to come more from his ability to prevent runs than his ability to create them.
In the rotation, Chris Tillman, Bud Norris and Miguel Gonzalez have all struggled, although Tillman’s shown signs of life over his past four outings, posting a sub-2.00 ERA with a 24-to-3 K/BB ratio in 24 1/3 innings. Ubaldo Jimenez. who is enjoying one of the best rebound campaigns in all of baseball this season, has been an unexpected bright spot as well. Nonetheless, Baltimore’s rotation has turned in a collective 4.22 ERA that ranks 22nd in the Majors. What’s worse is the fact that Baltimore starters haven’t pitched deep into the game, either; the team’s 523 innings out of the rotation is the fourth-lowest total in all of Major League Baseball, leading only the Rockies, Royals and Diamondbacks.
The Orioles face an uphill battle if they’re to add a significant piece to their big league club, as the Baltimore farm system is commonly regarded as one of the worst in the league. (Forfeiting two picks in the 2014 draft to sign Cruz and Jimenez, plus failing to sign their second-round pick in the most recent draft haven’t helped matters.) Duquette’s comments seem to suggest that the Orioles aren’t actively shopping Gausman, though as Encina noted above, he also declined to make a definitive statement that Gausman is off the table. Perhaps that’s reading too much into his comments, but I’d imagine that with scant depth in the farm, teams would be intrigued by an MLB-ready arm such as Gausman.
To this point, the Orioles have been connected to many of the impact bats on the market, including Justin Upton and Carlos Gomez. Jay Bruce’s name has surfaced as a target as well. Things on the pitching side of the equation are a bit murkier, though one name that’s been tied to the Orioles is Cincinnati’s Mike Leake.
However, can you really be buyers if you don’t have much to sell? Not knocking B-more, but isn’t their farm system ranked pretty low and two of their top prospects hurt? So what would they sell?
They’d sell those hurt prospects and Kevin Gausman by the sounds of it. Don’t know if that’s enough when Gausman is out of options after this year and is basically in a make or break environment wherever he goes.
They definitely could sell them, but selling Bundy that low wouldn’t be wise. At least give him the chance to rebuild value before you move him.
if his Value ever comes back !
I agree, Gausman isn’t pitching that well and Bundy and Harvey are hurt.
Gausman just needs put in the rotation and left alone. He’s a really special talent. I hope he gets traded somewhere that will do just that.
They have plenty of pieces. At the major league level they have Paredes, Flaherty, and Gausman. In the minors they have Bundy, Harvey, Mike Wright, Tyler Wilson, Dariel Alvarez, Christian Walker, Trey Mancini, Jomar Reyes. They don’t have a lot of stud prospects but the farm is deeper than the masses think
You can always “buy” bad contracts to go along with the players you are acquiring. Not sure Baltimore would do that, but they have a ton of money coming off the books this year with all the free agents they are losing.
Weird that Baltimore and Toronto are buyers and Detroit is sellers, even though all three are within a game of each other.
Complete these three hypothetical equation (for a fair win/win deal please):
1. Price = Gausman + ________
2. Cespedes + ________ = Gausman
3. Price + Cespedes = Gausman + ________
It’s not weird at all since the division is within their reach, while Detroit has no shot at a division
The major difference between them are the divisions they are in. The East is still wide open, while the Tigers are over 10 games back of the Royals. The wildcard game isn’t something you want to bank on, because baseball can be such an unfair game. If the Tigers don’t trade the major assets they have right now, their window will be shut after this season. They hope to acquire some pieces that can keep that window open another couple years.
The East is not as wide open as it was a few weeks ago, the Yanks have an 8 game lead in the loss column. O’s can’t be sellers because they a losing too many players to free agency.
No way should it take more than Cespedes to get Gausman. He doesn’t have the trade value that he had in 2013-14. He is still a good young starter with high potential, but I don’t think anyone thinks he is still an “ace” prospect. I think he still has enough potential to get Cespedes in a 1 on 1 deal though.
Josh Reddick to the Orioles just makes too much sense, it seems like. A year and a half of a 3+ WAR (over a full season) corner outfielder seems right up their alley
Josh Reddick make a lot of sense for the A’s too. The A’s are still planning on competing next season. Billy Beane would have to be blown away to trade Reddick.
A”s says he’s not available. Their will be deals but at the moment some of the Prospects aren’t available that like Phil’s want for Hamels.
Still waiting for something to actually happen. Seems like the entire AL has declared themselves “buyers” but no one is actually buying.
Once one of them makes a move qthe rest will follow suit.
I wonder if a Charlie Blackmon for Gausman deal could happen? I know the Rockies have loved him for quite a while.
No way the Rockies do that trade!
As an Orioles fan, I think they should trade Pearce and Norris for a mid-tier prospect or two. I also dont think they should trade Gausman who has a lot of upside and is still young.
At the moment Pearce and Norris are not netting anything more then a bag of baseballs in a trade….
Those players have absolutely no trade value.
Justin Upton… not interested because of his free agency
Carlos Gomez not interested because we already have a a Cf’er
Jay Bruce…. meh, no
Mike Leake…how would he help? N… O…NO!
It’s either we get CarGo and then somehow we get Latos for fair value. Or the O’s do nothing. End of Story.
I understand why you are against Justin Upton given his pending free agency, so why are you so keen on Latos?
And you think CarGo is suddenly going to morph back into the 2012/13 version of himself by leaving Coors field? Why you have been trumpeting an overpaid injury prone Coors field product every chance you get is beyond me.. His ops+ this year is 96.. 96!! That means moving from Coors Field will be bad for his stats.. Just for a bit of clarity, that is a bit below average.. For comparisons sake Carlos Gomez ops+ is 113 and Justin Upton is 114.. Both clearly superior to CarGo.. You need to get over your man crush and realize that he isn’t the same player he was when you first fell in love..
A deal around Gausman and Schwarber? Theo could probably get something with Gausman.
What??
Schwarber isn’t playing the OF and there’s a long way to go on his defense behind the plate. He should be a DH and a cost controlled arm like Gausman is just what the Cubs need. The Cubs front office isn’t silly enough to look at Gausman’s results while being handled poorly, they would value him highly.
Just an idea that would make sense for both teams, of course it’s not likely to happen.
Why not Duquette, u get to leave after the season for a division rival. They should be trading Chen, Davis, Wieters, Oday, Norris, and Tommy Hunter. Chen is a #2 lefty and would bring a nice prospect. Davis is a power hitting middle of the order bat that can play 1st or right well. Oday is a professional all star and would make any bullpen better without risk. Those three could bring a haul of prospects for an Orioles team that has few. Sign some free agents to compete for next year (you still have a nice core to build around) and the following seasons the farm will be ready to fill the voids.
Instead they will give up Gausman for Cueto and they will lose the wild card game…season over and Gausman gone. I guess I’ll look forward to the three comp picks.
I’m with you on everyone on that list except O’Day. Don’t see that happening, but you never know. Maybe the upside is better than him not returning. You’ve got to think that the team can extend at least two or three of these guys on last year deals.
I’m starting to think that all of this talk about being buyers might just be a smokescreen (albeit not a clever one) to helping move some guys.
O’s Management Talk, Talk and Talk some more .They will do nothing !
Hahaha… true.
Just like his GM meeting last December. All DD did was wander around aimlessly and then hold phony press conferences about fakes trades.
Would like to see Upton and Kennedy sent to the O’s for Gausman and low level prospects
I’m sure most Padres fans would love to see that. It would be a disaster for the Orioles.
Duquette is killing his team. The O’s are ok now, but they have a terrible farm system and a ton of players leaving for FA. If he’s a deadline buyer, the team will find itself with a subpar major league squad and literally no farm system come April. He needs to sell and do it now.
cue every team saying their player should be traded to the o’s for gausman or bundy
Braves could do a deal, Jose Peraza and Nick Markakis for Hunter Harvey, Chance Sisco and Tommy Hunter.
Nick Markakis for Kevin Gausman and Chance Sisco.
I’ve said it before, but Colorado needs to be in on Gausman.
Sometimes being a buyer can harm more than being a seller. I really think that might be the case with the O’s. Their playoff chances at this point aren’t very good.
O’s look to be in trouble short term and long term, they have players underperforming, top prospects who are hurting, and many free agents that they most likely won’t sign.
I’d like to think seeing what Arrieta and Rodriguez are doing with their new teams might convince the O’s not to give up a good young arm for any sort of rental. This team is going nowhere this year. Move some of the guys that won’t be resigned and try to convince Tillman, Chen and O’Day to stay.