The Orioles are kicking left-hander Cole Irvin to the bullpen, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (X link via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). Baltimore will stick with a starting five of Corbin Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer, Albert Suárez and rookie Cade Povich.
Irvin has spent the majority of his career as a starter. Yet this is the second straight year in which he’s been squeezed out of the Baltimore rotation, at least temporarily. Acquired from the A’s going into the 2023 season, Irvin only started half of his 24 appearances a year ago. Baltimore moved him back into the rotation this year — in part because of injuries to Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells. He has started 14 of 16 outings.
The southpaw’s overall results are serviceable. Irvin carries a 4.13 ERA in 80 2/3 innings. His 16.1% strikeout rate is well below average, but Irvin’s game has never been built around missing many bats. He’s primarily a control artist and has continued to excel in that regard, walking fewer than 5% of opponents this year.
However, the vast majority of Irvin’s production came in the first two months of the season. He carried a 2.84 ERA through 50 2/3 innings into June. Opponents have teed off on him over the past couple weeks. Irvin was rocked for 6.30 earned runs per nine in 30 innings last month. His home run rate spiked to an untenable 1.8 HR/9 while opposing hitters put up a massive .341/.373/.591 slash line. Irvin’s three most recent starts have been especially poor. He allowed at least five runs in each without completing five innings in any.
The 30-year-old will try to sort things out in a multi-inning relief role. Hyde left open the possibility for Irvin to return to the rotation at any point. His chance of returning to starting could become more limited over the coming weeks. Acquiring starting pitching — ideally a third starter who could join Burnes and Rodriguez in a playoff rotation — should be a deadline priority for an O’s team holding a narrow advantage on the Yankees in the AL East. There might not be a robust supply of high-level starters this summer, which complicates things, but it’d be a surprise if the Orioles weren’t among the more aggressive suitors for starting pitching.
Irvin is playing this season on a $2MM arbitration salary. He’s out of options, so the Orioles can’t send him to Triple-A without putting him on waivers. Baltimore controls him via arbitration for two seasons beyond this one, yet it wouldn’t be surprising if they shop or even non-tender him next offseason. There’s an outside chance the O’s field trade offers on Irvin this summer (especially if they first acquire an impact stater who firmly blocks his path back to a starting job).
For now, he’s likely to serve in a long relief role in Hyde’s bullpen. Irvin had solid numbers in that capacity a season ago, working to a 3.26 ERA while striking out 23.3% of opponents in 19 1/3 frames as a reliever.
Guys fly ball rate has skyrocketed recently. He’ll should be much better in short spurts.
I may be in the minority on this but I feel that selling off prospects for a rental or even a player with 2 years of control is the wrong move for the organization. The fans there went through years of horrendous suckage, and to through it all in for one year deasnt seem right. I’d much rather be set up for years of contention and good quality baseball than taking a gamble on a grochett or skubal.
Apologies in advance for the grammatical errors.
With the system this deep the very top prospects don’t have to be in the deal necessarily.
Fair point
and what do they even do with a few of these guys. There is just nowhere to play them.
In modern terms- Norby should be enough to be the backbone of a good deal. He is 100% blocked
They seem to want to hoard prospects, but something has to give.
I wouldn’t say the Os are hoarding prospects. They cut a legit deal to get Corbin Burnes.
There just isn’t legit front rotation arms available. There’s no peak Verlanders on the market. Of everyone being talked about, they all carry some blemish or no track record. A lot of guys having good first halves but no guarantee it will continue.
2 things..first.both skubal and crochett have years of control so one could argue trading prospects for either is less of a gamble than gambling those prospects amount to anything at least these two pitchers have proven something at the mlb level while the lions share of prospects do not, even the best like baltimore may have. Second , skubal is probably the last player detroit would trade as he looks like a top 5 pitcher in all of baseball so you might want to forget him since the tigers plan to win sooner than later..maybe aim lower like flaherty
I’d love the trade for Skubal, but there’s really zero chance of that. It’s just hot stove fodder.
It depends on the specifics. A team that is getting close to contention could use Cowser and/or Stowers or Norby. It’s even possible Mountcastle could go, but that is a longshot. A team that is farther out on the rebuild may want Bradfield and/or Beavers. Maybe even Tavera, Arias, Liranzo or Almeyda. I don’t foresee them trading Basallo for anybody. And probably not Mayo either. I think they see both as future pieces to join Kjerstad, Gunnar, Westburg and Rutschman
that is what i was thinking only i do not think Cowser moves at all.
The current OF (sans Cowser who is in the mix) is either in their last year or 2nd to last year of control. So i could see a big league level swap to another contender- netting a releiver for Mullins, Mountcastle and/or hayes (i am sure the Os would love to get return for Hayes at this point). A team like the As always want mlb ready talent- and that is Norby and Stowers (both 100% blocked).
I think they look to extend/resign Santander, Heston is the oher long term OF- so they need Cowser/Banfield to man center (as those two are not good with the glove- santander is at least decent, but Heston is a mess in the field)
Os aren’t resigning Santander. It’s a fan move, that we’d see under Angelos. But would you sign players like him, if it hurt the overall picture of extending Gunnar and Adley long term? To me, Gunnar and Adley extensions are the top priority. Not relatively older supporting cast whose contracts may hurt yr chances to lock up the core.
Heston is fundamentally sound in the field with a strong accurate throwing arm. And his sprint speed is nearly identical to Cowser’s, who has a wild arm and is poor fundamentally.. Neither is a legit CF. People have gotten carried away with Cows’ sss on OAA, but that is an algorithm that does not measure things like bad fundamentals, not backing up plays, poor, non-competitive throws and misjudges catch percentage often. Cowser is the real mess in the field, but his decent foot speed leading to catches has bouyed his OAA far above his real-life performance of giving/taking away runs from opponents.
Gunnar is the one you lock up. He was the one to lock up when he was in Norfolk. Adley is too old to consider locking up as he will be moved off Catcher mostly by the time he hits free agency. You don’t need a light-hitting first baseman controlled at $25MM per year in his mid-30’s.
The Cubs traded away the number 1 prospect in baseball for a couple months of Aroldis Chapman. And that might have looked like a terrible decision except they won it all the only championship they have had in 100 years.
Flags fly forever. You play to win the game. Prospects are fun but winning is what matters over everything else.
The hope is to be more like the Astros then the Cubs. Still you can spin your wheels every year like the Rays. Be good, but never get that big piece to put you over the top.
Sure the Astros would be the ideal scenario. Of course some might say the cheating tarnished their legacy.
And when you try (nelson cruz rental), you might crash and burn (for joe ryan)
It didn’t
The Orioles could trade Holliday and still have a loaded system with lots of young talent left. They don’t have to go all in.
@baseball;
Flags Fly Forever! As the loud Chris Russo says, prospects are suspects until they prove themselves.
Skubal isn’t a free agent until 2027
I agree with most of what you said, but I do think they should shop around for players that have at least one season of control beyond the current one. But you’re right — a rental for a few months is the wrong move.
The problem with this organization has been their unwillingness or inability to draft high ceiling starters. Their focus has been mostly on position players, which isn’t a bad thing *IF* ownership is willing to go out and augment the core with high caliber starters — much like Riz and the Lerners of the Nats. However, that dirt bag John Angelos was never going to do that. Hopefully this new ownership does.
Great topic. I’m so on the fence. On the one hand I do want to see years of success but on the other I want a WS championship NOW and whatever it takes. 1983 fellas, friggin 1983 since our Birds were kings of the baseball world. Enough!
Tonight they picked up as good a starter as they can get in a trade. What they need are two bullpen arms.
Nobody talks about the loss of Danny C or that Wells would also be in the pen.
Crochet would fit nicely but I could see them settling for Erik Fedde to keep more of the top prospects.
Would Trace Bright and Connor Norby be too much for 1.5 year of Fedde?
maybe since it is a really cheap Fedde- he is only getting like 7.5m per year when he is worth 20…. so there is a ton of excess value in that short term. Weirdly, he is a guy i would be willing to go norby, stowers and some lottery tickets.
There is NO chance the O’s trade or DFA Irvin.
O’s 2025 rotation is going to be littered with Rookies (McDermott, Povich, Johnson) + GROD and Kremer. If O’s are lucky, they’ll resign Burnes to stabilize things, but wells and Bradish are on the IL and Means is a FA. Suarez has been a wonderful find, but you can’t expect him to repeat this years performance next year (if he resigns). So, at a minimum, Irvin is long man in bullpen and rotation depth. If the rookies struggle, he’ll be a starter from opening day.
You’re not great Governor, but you’re all we’ve got.
The likelihood of the Os resigning Burnes is almost nonexistent. It was nonexistent with the Angelos dirtbag at the helm. Maybe the likelihood with the new group went from zero to five percent. Either way, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. This has been a dumpster diving club since the last window closed, and I suspect the status quo will be continued.
They may not resign Burnes but this new ownership appears to have much deeper pockets than the old ownership. They seem to be more ambitious too.
Yep, I agree. He sticks. And I was at the Guardians debacle. Oof, man was that hard to watch.
Bottom line. A durable arm, which he has, goes a long way in today’s game .
Fortunately, the Orioles gave up essentially nothing to get Irvin.
Didn’t they give Oakland their starting ss?
Darrell Hernaiz. He was their OD SS. Also played some 3rd. But he really struggled at the dish beforehand going on the IL.
I love the Baltimore team. Just do not know if they have enough Starting Pitching to beat out the Yankees for first. So far, so GOODA!
The Yankees rotation has been less than impressive as of late.
Irvin was good for the first several months of the season (much like several of the Yankees’ starters), but we knew his success was not sustainable over the duration of the season. He was bound for a return to the pen.
I’m actually fine with a rental.
We have to realize that rentals wouldn’t cost as much. Many of the quality players on the trade market with controllable years will require an Os top 5 prospect, and then 2-3 prospects more.
Contract year rentals stand a better chance of trading for them without touching those guys. Think players like Norby, Stowers, Fabian, Dermott, etc..Consider that we were able to protect Holliday, Basallo, Mayo, Kjerstad and still get Corbin Burnes. That’s what that rental year cost can mean.
Right decision
One thing about Irvin is that when he’s just a little bit off, his movement really drops off and he gets hammered. He’s also never been great with the third time through the lineup. He could fill a role where if a starter gets lit up, pitching 3-4 innings through the middle of the game and allowing the offense to catch up and saving the typically highly utilized guys in the ‘pen. I’ve never seen him as much more than a fill-in starter.