Although the Orioles are predictably at the bottom of the AL East as they embark on the first full season of their rebuild, the team’s front office is also looking at various ways to add some starting pitching depth, writes MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko. Alex Cobb and Nate Karns were recently moved to the 60-day injured list, while right-hander Dan Straily and David Hess have been hit particularly hard, leaving the club particularly thin at the moment.
Despite the struggles of Straily and Hess, manager Brandon Hyde stated that “this is what we have” in regard to the team’s current mix of starters. Hyde added that there are some pitchers in the minors who are generating some excitement among the team’s decision-makers but stressed the importance of not rushing a player at the expense of his development. Left-hander Keegan Akin, in particular, has had only nine starts in Triple-A (and barely more than 300 innings since being drafted).
Hyde also suggested that first-year GM Mike Elias and his staff are exploring other potential depth adds. “I know our guys are working hard to see what else is out there, also,” said Hyde. “I think we’re always keeping an eye on what’s going on around the league. “
As far as readily available rotation cadidates, though, there’s not much available in the way of players who’ve been designated for assignment. The Orioles themselves designated one potential starter for assignment yesterday in Yefry Ramirez and claimed another in Chandler Shepherd. The free-agent market has a few veterans still eyeing work. Baltimore isn’t in a position to add Dallas Keuchel, but James Shields reportedly threw for teams recently and Ervin Santana was cut loose by the White Sox not long ago.
A few options seem to hit the waiver wire every week, and while the O’s have passed on recently designated arms like Aaron Slegers (Rays) and Andrew Moore (Rays, Giants), Baltimore will still stand out as a decent speculative landing spot whenever a starting pitcher is designated for assignment. As the club with the game’s worst record, they’ll have first crack at any pitcher who hits waivers. For the time being, Straily and Hess will continue to pitch alongside Andrew Cashner, John Means and Dylan Bundy, but Cashner seems like an eventual trade candidate and the O’s will likely need additional arms to safeguard against further injuries.
Anyone is better than Dan Straily. Someone new has to come in the organization. Yefry had decent AAA numbers despite getting lit up in the bigs. Even he didn’t get hit as hard as Straily so I really don’t see the point. He has to go.
Yes it speaks to how bad things are that Straily is still pitching. Still some (very) nice things percolating in the Minors re pitching but it cannot be rushed. Best we can hope for is acquiring someone off the scrap heap who takes full advantage of his opportunity to pitch every five days. Doesn’t sound that promising but that’s the type of year we should’ve been expecting anyhow.
I agree it was to be expected but having a guy with a 9 ERA in the rotation after 8 starts isn’t acceptable even for a team who is rebuilding. I honestly don’t care who it is at this point. You just can’t keep rolling a guy out there who is that bad. There are other guys on the FA market/waivers that could at least toss up an era around 5. That’s at least not a complete joke.
I’m with jbiz. Everyone knows it’s a rebuild but I’d be trying to either put someone respectable on the bump or a guy with some upside that could put it together and give you a trade chip. Dan Straily is throwing batting practice out there
I think that the powers that be finally got fed up with Ramirez’ lack of control. In his last start he threw first pitch strikes to 8 of 19 hitters and threw more balls than strikes. At least Hess and Straily, as homeriffic as they are, are limiting the free passes.
Yefry’s ML control was especially bad but Straily’s 4.4/9 isn’t very good either. I get your point but I’d have to think the upside to a guy like Yefry is worth keeping over Straily. And that’s not saying Yefry has real upside but he still had an option left and years of control.
no ome cares how many walks you allow if your ERA is around 9.00
10 of Gleyber Torres 12 Home Runs this season have come against the Orioles. It might not have anything to do with this article, but that’s a ridiculous stat.
PS He is not in today’s lineup vs Bal.
And Dirty Sanchez has 9 HR vs. BAL. 2 have almost 20 HR vs. 1 team and we aren’t 1/3 through the season. Wow.
Sorry, 21 is more than almost. Math is hard. Smh
And here I was, thinking all these missed calls from a 410 area code were spam.
Take Chris Archer, please. He is so painful to watch. Take Steven Brault and Clay Holmes too.
Archer?
i mean if you’re just giving him away, im sure at least 20+ teams will take him as at least their 5th starter.
Did teams in the same league stop getting waiver claim priorities over teams in the other league?
That applied to the August trade waiver period, not to outright waivers in general throughout the course of a season.
Thanks for clearing that up Steve I thought priority went by league as well.
If the Padres are going to rely as heavily on the young arms as they are, they need to sore up the middle relief unit. Maton/Warren/Wieck/Wisler and Wingenter has had its fair share of hiccups this year.
Cashner in that swing role to bridge the gap from the 6th to the 8th possibly is intriguing. He always pitches well in short spurts, has never been a real innings workhorse so I don’t know why a team wouldn’t consider it.
If Baltimore paid down a bit of Cashner the Padres could afford to give up an arm that could slide in Baltimore’s rotation, like Luis Perdomo or Matt Wisler plus a flier like Brett Kennedy or Robbie Erlin.
I suppose it would be considered sarcastic to suggest Gore or Patino for Cashner???????
Lol AJ Preller hung up the as soon as Macke- left Mike Elias’s mouth.
Ubaldo is waiting for the call.
Astros have 3 AAA SPs ready to contribute at the ML level, but the orioles have nothing to offer to a contending team. I would imagine Elias would want to pick through the Astros system, similar to Stearns did with Milwaukee a few years back.
I think Mychal Givens would hold appeal to the Astros. That’s probably it on our entire team though. The Astros don’t have many holes to begin with though. They really only need another starter to bolster them in the playoffs.
I don’t see the appeal in Givens, but the Astros traded for Ryan Pressley and I didn’t get that at the time of the trade either… and yea, I think the Astros will trade for a SP specifically for the playoffs. I think that SP will be Stroman. At some point though, I think the Astros and Orioles pull off a trade, specifically bc of the ties between Elias and the Astros system. He drafted a lot of the talent in the system.
Givens had a 2.99 FIP before the last time he pitched. He throws 97 and generates a lot of swings and misses. The Stros were rumored to have interest in him in the past. He’d certainly be an upgrade to anyone’s pen. If there’s a trade to be made between Baltimore and Houston it’s certainly going to be around Givens.
Mancini might be better for Houston cause they have a great bullpen but if Brantley gets hurt or Springer is out for a while that could work
Peter Angelos is worth 2 billion dollars
What really makes it worse is that the minuet Cashner or Bundy throws a decent game, Elias is getting phone calls from some pitching- needy contender.
Time to dip into the AAAA class….. or call BIG SEXY!!!!!
I’m a Yankee fan, but I’d love to go to an orioles game and shout “get him Bart””Let’s go Bart”
They can have Wacha for a bag of half eaten peanuts and a cold hot dog
Cold dog?
Mychal Givens to the Twins for Nick Gordon, Tyler Wells, and Zach Littell.
O’s get their 2B/SS of the future and some high floor/backend SP depth to go with it.
Josh Rogers was up last year and I think a double header this year. Have no clue how he’s doing but he could be an option? Regardless, it’s safe to say whoever they put in won’t be shutting it down
His ERA in AAA is nearly 7. He’s not fooling AAA guys, I’d hate to see what he does against ML’ers.
Take Vince Velasquez and send us 3 bats
itd be worth trying him in the pen before totally cutting him loose. however, if his existance in the system entices the team to move him back to the rotation at any point for any reason, then yes, get him gone.
You could probably cut the word “depth” off the headline.
I’ll quit my job and give you guys some innings if you need to. League minimum is perfectly fine.
You’re in!
Shields is the perfect solution for Baltimore. His ERA will be somewhere around 5 but he’s proven throughout his career that he’ll give you 6 innings. That’s really all the O’s need. You just can’t ask your bullpen to go 5 innings 3x a week. And that’s the reality. God forbid Means or Cashner give you a real clunker and then it’s that much more you have to get out of them. (The BP itself is also a disgrace aside from Givens and so far Armstrong and Fry)
Givens is also a disgrace after blowing two saves and giving up five runs on Monday and one on Thursday. If this is how he will be to contenders, than teams may not want it
Two words, Big Sexy.
Shields and Big Sexy will reunite in Baltimore and win the division, I’m calling it.
What is it about Baltimore being where pitchers go to die? They haven’t developed a high end pitcher since, what, Mussina? And when they bring in pitchers, they all implode.
Are their scouts or pitching coaches really that bad?
The owner is really that bad, he won’t sign anyone.
Our starting pitching suck but when we have a decent starting pitching game then the bullpen ruin it so is not only about the starting pitching, it is the whole pitching situation, I only trust Cashner, Means and Bundy depending their mood but Givens? Who is gonna take Givens? I would probably put him back at short, he may be able to hit better than Martin
Shields and Santana would be good pickups. Could even trade them at deadline should they bounce back.
I don’t want to see any of the young starters up here this season. Let them get as much experience as possible in the minors.
We’ve seen too many young arms ruined by bringing them up too early. I think it would be bad to have them around all this losing too. Let the vets take the lumps and maybe even flip them for something later.
Derek Holland anyone?