Perhaps the Orioles’ willingness to trade Manny Machado isn’t a death sentence to their 2018 playoff aspirations. Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports reports that although Baltimore is trying to trade their third baseman by the end of the week, they’re also “strongly pursuing” Royals starter Danny Duffy. It seems they could be looking to use a Machado trade as a means of retooling their major league roster, rather than go for an altogether rebuild. It’s all conjecture at this point, but in any case, the Orioles are in desperate need of good pitching, and although the southpaw Duffy spent some time on the DL last season, he posted quality results while on the mound despite a drop in strikeout rate from previous years. For the 2017 season, Duffy had a 3.81 ERA across 24 games started. Fangraphs estimated his value at 3.4 WAR.
A couple more items out of Camden Yards…
- Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com speaks at length about the Orioles in a video. At one point, he gives his insight on the dramatic shift in the O’s mindset regarding Manny Machado. “As late as Monday night, I talked to an Orioles official who said it was probably less than zero percent that Manny Machado would be traded before Opening Day,” Connolly says in the video. “And then… bam, everything changed.” Connolly wonders if perhaps the Orioles went into the winter meetings thinking that they had a great chance of improving their starting pitching (he mentions Mike Fiers and Tyler Chatwood as possible targets), but then felt disheartened when they watched their top choices go off the board. Since the Orioles don’t have the budget to play in “the stratosphere” of Jake Arrieta or Yu Darvish, they may have needed a new and bold strategy to get the pitching they’ll require to compete. One incredibly important disclaimer: Connolly admits he’s only speculating. Still, from my perspective, his logic adds up.
- Speaking of Machado, Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette says he’ll consider dealing the prized third baseman even to an AL East division rival (via a piece by Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun). Encina notes that the Yankees have shown interest in acquiring Machado, and I’d add that their farm system has some talented young pitching that could help the Orioles’ rotation. Baltimore isn’t a stranger to intra-divisional trades; as Encina points out, the O’s acquired Tim Beckham from the Rays at this past year’s trade deadline. He also includes quotes wherein Duquette mentions acquiring Andrew Miller from the Red Sox and Richard Bleier from the Yankees. Of course, none of these trades compare in magnitude to a hypothetical Machado swap, but it’s interesting to learn that Duquette is leaving the door wide open to this possibility. “I think you have to look at the entire market if you’re going to accurately assess the market,” he said in a video interview with the Baltimore Sun. “And the entire market would include teams in the American League East that we compete against.”
xscalabr
Signing Mike Fiers would be so O’s
Kylemc33
You know Fiers signed already, right?
jbigz12
Trading Machado then using those prospects to get Duffy. Let’s see how we try to walk this tightrope.
jwarden15
Trade machado for duffy (not serious). Seriously though, what prospects would they get for Machado and which ones would they be willing to exchange for Duffy?
mstrchef13
I think that these are two separate deals. Trading a not-that-far-off OF prospect like Mullins or Stewart to get Duffy would be independent of any Machado deal.
jbigz12
Mullins or Stewart would need to be part of a package of prospects we got from Machado in order to get Duffy. Duffy is a legitimate starting pitcher and he’s a lefty. If we realistically wanted to get Duffy now it’d take hays, Mullins + hunter Harvey or someone similar.
jbigz12
On that note the orioles should not trade hunter Harvey for anything at this point.
jwarden15
Whatever prospects the Orioles threw in trying to get Duffy, I wouldn’t mind seeing Hays included.
justinept
No question Machado is the better player, but Duffy has significantly more value due to the contract. A lot of it has to do with Machado facing FA and likely seeking around $300 million over 10 years. But a lot of it is that Duffy has pitched at an Ace level for the last two years and has 4 yrs left on his deal at just $60 million … TOR pitching at an affordable price for multiple years is significantly more valuable than one year of MVP caliber numbers.
So there’s no tight rope to be walked here. If both are traded, Duffy will bring back significantly more. There’s no chance the O’s can flip the Machado return for Duffy.
jwarden15
If they did that trade and machado went to the royals, would it be best to trade machado right away or wait to see how the team was doing?
Joseph Anderson
This would be a stupid trade from the Royals, so consider it inked in already lol. 4 years of Duffy at a reasonable price for a loaner 3B….there better be some prospects involved. I doubt DM would be that dumb but we’ve seen some pretty stupid things from him. If they trade Duffy away they’re considering the season a wash as he’s really the only pitcher left on the squad that’s worth a damn.
JV
Retool the MLB roster? Maybe Diamond Dave Dombrowski can offer Xander Bogaerts, JBJ, and Baltimore’s favorite son Eduardo Rodriguez….plus filler as needed! Meet everybody’s needs…..
jbigz12
In reality that would make the orioles better off. If we can somehow move Machado and get Duffy for no additional cost that’d be a hell of a thing to do. Don’t know if we’d be any good but we’d still have plenty of time to deal Duffy. And it might be nice to see a guy who can pitch a little bit in Baltimore.
Solaris601
A move like that makes a lot of sense for both BAL and KC. O’s send Machado to KC straight up for Duffy. Royals can then flip Machado now, at the deadline, or make him the QO after the season. KC is off the hook for Duffy’s contract, and BAL has a solid SP at a reasonable salary for years to come.
jbigz12
That deal doesn’t make sense for KC. Duffy and Machado should realistically bring in a similar return. Duffy may get a slightly better return because he’s controllable. He’s not necessarily cheap but he’s paid slightly under market value.
Joseph Anderson
How does this make a lot of sense for both? This would only help the O’s. If they keep Duffy, they have 4 years to try and trade him for a good deal. If they get Machado, they have less than a season to trade him for prospects. Big whoop on the QO, that’ll return one young player max as opposed to trading him for possibly multiple prospects. The money owed to Duffy isn’t going to break the bank considering they won’t sign anyone else to more than a couple mil a year. Gordon’s money will come off in 2 years (mutual option for 2020 with 4m buyout). If they need to dump off money, they could get rid of Kennedy and eat part of that salary and save some money that way. Even with Salvy getting a pay raise after next season, they still have money to play with. I don’t see a Machado/Duffy trdae but DM has surprised us in the past (most recently, Wade for that stellar Soler fella to save money lol).
koolga
Only if they get a negotiating window to sign him to a long term deal (and do it). Otherwise it’s a one year rental for all that talent.
adshadbolt
Why would the Sox trade Xander he is the king of player u want playing with machado no against
srechter
Lol what on earth? “No trade Xander. He king of player he is!”
countryjedi3
Xander is overrated if we can get rid of him in part to get Machado I’d do it without blinking