Friday’s trade deadline passed without the Orioles moving any of their most attractive chips, but general manager Mike Elias did make two smaller deals with playoff contenders.
After trading Triple-A Norfolk relief pitcher Shawn Armstrong to Tampa Bay for cash considerations earlier in the day, Baltimore sent injured shortstop Freddy Galvis to Philadelphia in exchange for minor league pitcher Tyler Burch and cash right before the 4 p.m. deadline. On the 10-day injured list with a right quadriceps strain since late June, Galvis began and has spent most of his professional career with the Phillies, who traded him to San Diego after the 2017 season.
Signed to a one-year, $1.5 million deal in late January, Galvis will receive a $250,000 bonus for being traded and is expected to be ready to play for the Phillies soon after rehabbing in Sarasota since the All-Star break. The 31-year-old batted .249 with nine home runs, 12 doubles, 26 runs batted in, and a .720 on-base plus slugging percentage in 274 plate appearances, but the recent play of current shortstop Ramon Urias made Galvis even more expendable as someone who was unlikely to return in 2022.
Burch, 23, is a Lewis-Clark Stage College product who had a 3.99 ERA with 49 strikeouts and eight walks in 29 1/3 combined innings for Philadelphia’s High-A and Low-A affiliates this season. Signed by the Phillies as an undrafted free agent in 2019, Burch has pitched to a 2.63 ERA with 83 strikeouts and 14 walks while posting a 1.031 WHIP in 65 career innings.
After a brutal start to the 2021 season in which he posted an 8.55 ERA in 20 innings for Baltimore, Armstrong was designated for assignment in June and outrighted to Norfolk where he had pitched to a 3.18 ERA in 17 innings for the Tides.
Despite reported interest in left-handed relievers Tanner Scott and Paul Fry as well as first baseman Trey Mancini and starting pitcher John Means in recent days, Elias elected not to trade any of these players who are all under club control beyond 2021. Mancini is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2022 season while Means, Scott, and Fry each carry three more years of club control, meaning the Orioles felt no urgency to make a deal by the deadline if not receiving an appetizing return.
Trading the 29-year-old Mancini would have been a difficult move from a fan outreach standpoint, but that doesn’t mean Elias and the Orioles won’t look to deal him this winter if a contract extension isn’t in the cards.
In a more disappointing development, Elias announced Friday that celebrated pitching prospect D.L. Hall isn’t expected to pitch again this season after further testing on his left elbow revealed a stress reaction in the bone. The 22-year-old lefty and 2017 first-round pick hasn’t pitched since June 12 and had posted a 3.13 ERA with 56 strikeouts and 16 walks in seven starts spanning 31 2/3 innings at Double-A Bowie this season. Hall is widely regarded as a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball and the second-best pitching prospect in the Baltimore system behind right-hander Grayson Rodriguez.
