BALTIMORE — Mike Elias and the Orioles certainly stayed active in the final hours leading up to Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline.
How much they really improved their chances in October is another question.
Four days after acquiring right-handed starting pitcher Zach Eflin, right-handed reliever Seranthony Dominguez, and reserve outfielder Cristian Pache in two deals with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia, Baltimore made four more trades involving major league players as well as a swap of minor-league talent.
It’s tough to appreciate — even accept — lesser moves after weeks of media and fan speculation surrounding big-name starting pitchers like Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet, and Blake Snell, none of whom were ultimately traded before the deadline. But Eflin was among the best starters dealt over the last week, represents an upgrade as the No. 3 starter, and remains under contract through next season, a plus with Kyle Bradish sidelined well into the 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
On Tuesday, Elias made another rotation addition by acquiring Miami left-hander Trevor Rogers in exchange for infielder Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers.
The sticker shock of trading two well-known prospects led to much head-scratching, especially with Rogers’ career having gone in the wrong direction since a 2021 season that included a trip to the All-Star Game and a second-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting. The 26-year-old owns a 4.53 ERA in 105 1/3 innings this season and has averaged 7.3 strikeouts compared to 3.9 walks, an underwhelming profile that also includes a drop in fastball velocity.
That said, the No. 5 starter role was still in question with the Orioles preferring to move right-hander Albert Suarez to a relief role and rookie lefty Cade Povich again struggling in his latest audition on Monday. The hope is that the coaching staff and player development department can make some tweaks to Rogers’ approach to get him pitching more like he did a few years ago, but even if that proves unsuccessful, there’s still value to adding a more stable back-end option who carries two more years of team control.
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It’s also worth noting that Rogers has been quite effective over his last nine starts, posting a 3.17 ERA over 48 1/3 innings.
In what turned out to be the seller’s market that many anticipated with few exceptions, the Orioles — and their fans — learned Norby and Stowers weren’t going to fetch the more lucrative returns many imagined. It’s also no secret that a path to a long-term starting role was unlikely for either player, which makes this deal much closer to “fine” than a bad one. No one is going to do cartwheels over a No. 4 or No. 5 starter who may not even factor into October pitching plans to a meaningful degree, but the Orioles still need to navigate these next two months, and Rogers should be helpful in doing that at the very least.
Until the roster dust settles over the next day or so, it’s tough to figure what to make of the additions of outfielder Eloy Jimenez of the Chicago White Sox and outfielder Austin Slater and infielder Livan Soto from Cincinnati. The oft-injured Jimenez, 27, is in the midst of a down season and has been a near-exclusive designated hitter this year, but his offensive track record is enticing, so he figures to see DH at-bats against left-handed starters. Though Soto was already optioned to Triple-A Norfolk, the 31-year-old Slater is an even more puzzling fit on the major league roster than Jimenez, so we’ll see what potential roster maneuvering is done, which could impact Pache’s status as well.
Of course, that brings us to the Orioles bullpen, which has been a point of major discussion since All-Star closer Felix Bautista injured his right elbow some 11 months ago. The acquisition of Dominguez was generally well received, but many were clamoring for Elias to add an even better reliever to go with him and give manager Brandon Hyde another serious option for the ninth inning, especially with veteran closer Craig Kimbrel in the midst of another concerning funk. Instead, Elias went with another maligned Phillies reliever in acquiring hard-throwing lefty Gregory Soto in exchange for minor-league pitchers Seth Johnson and Moisés Chace.
Much like Dominguez, Gregory Soto wasn’t having his best season in Philadelphia as the 29-year-old has posted a 4.08 ERA and averaged 5.1 walks per nine innings. However, the former two-time All-Star selection is striking out 11.2 batters per nine innings and offers the kind of swing-and-miss stuff this bullpen needs, especially facing left-handed hitters.
You can understand Elias not wanting to go as high as San Diego paid Miami to rent ex-Oriole lefty Tanner Scott for the remainder of the season, but the late innings figure to remain interesting — even unsettling — down the stretch, especially if Kimbrel doesn’t straighten himself out. And while Dominguez and Soto carry past closer experience to go with their swing-and-miss ability, both relievers are a couple years removed from being the best versions of themselves, making expectations for them quite volatile.
In summing up the 2024 trade deadline, Elias and the Orioles did their best work getting ahead of the market last Friday to acquire Eflin and Dominguez for reasonable returns. The trades that followed weren’t as favorable in terms of the talent surrendered or the perception of what was received, but the Orioles did stabilize the back half of their rotation, pick up a veteran right-handed bat, and add more ability to miss bats in their bullpen.
8Will that be enough to win the AL East and make a deep October run?
As was always likely to be the case, the players most important to accomplishing those goals were already part of this first-place club.
Those added Tuesday can certainly contribute to Baltimore’s success down the stretch, but their value is more likely to be on the margins than filling prominent roles.
And that’s certainly not what many Orioles fans were expecting in the weeks leading up to the deadline, leaving many observers underwhelmed on Tuesday night.
