General manager Mike Elias said the Orioles took “some very big swings” leading up to Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline.
Justin Verlander? Eduardo Rodriguez? Dylan Cease? Another club’s closer?
Of course, coming away with St. Louis pitcher Jack Flaherty was more of a ripple than the big wave many fans and pundits imagined the AL-leading club making. The 27-year-old right-hander should provide competitive innings and help Baltimore more easily manage the workload of its young starters down the stretch, a need that became more apparent when struggling right-hander Tyler Wells was optioned to Double-A Bowie this past weekend.
Whether Flaherty will move the needle to a meaningful degree is another story as he’s now four years removed from the superb 2019 campaign that resulted in him finishing fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting. Since pitching to a sparkling 2.75 ERA over 196 1/3 innings that season, Flaherty has battled injuries and inconsistency in posting a 4.12 ERA over 264 1/3 innings.
His 4.43 ERA over 109 2/3 innings this season — which includes 8.7 strikeouts and 4.4 walks per nine frames — sounds closer to a younger version of Kyle Gibson than the top-of-the-rotation starter many coveted, but he’s allowed only 10 home runs over his 20 starts and his batted-ball data doesn’t look too bad despite an ugly 1.55 WHIP, meaning there is some upside. Elias is betting on the pending free agent getting a lift from escaping the woeful Cardinals and pitching in front of a better defense and the spacious left field at Camden Yards. It helps that Flaherty is also coming off his best month of the season with a 3.03 ERA in five July starts.
The addition could also earmark someone like Wells — assuming the planned rest he receives at Bowie does the trick — for the bullpen later this month.
The Orioles may not have markedly improved their World Series hopes with Tuesday’s trade, but they didn’t put much of a dent in their lauded farm system either, reiterating their desire for a long-term competitive window. Dealing intriguing 19-year-old right-hander Zack Showalter conjured some memories of Baltimore including future All-Star reliever Josh Hader in the Bud Norris deal a decade ago, but 24-year-old infielder Cesar Prieto and 23-year-old left-hander Drew Rom — who ranked as the organization’s No. 16 and No. 18 prospects, according to MLB.com — weren’t regarded as meaningful future pieces for a contending club. Of course, acquiring a more accomplished starter would have required parting with more lucrative prospects, something Elias was unwilling to do.
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Unfortunately, questions about the bullpen will persist with Japanese right-hander Shintaro Fujinami being the only July addition. The Orioles may have more relief options in the coming weeks such as Wells, left-handers John Means and DL Hall, and veteran right-hander Mychal Givens, but none are sure things for various reasons or are yet ready to join a bullpen leaning too heavily on All-Star closer Felix Bautista, who had to record five outs and throw 35 pitches in Monday’s 4-2 win after All-Star setup man Yennier Cano’s latest difficulties. Manager Brandon Hyde desperately needs to be able to lean on other arms to get meaningful outs late in games with Bautista now only 14 innings shy of last year’s workload with two months to go.
Should the Orioles falter down the stretch, Elias’ inability to add another high-leverage reliever will likely prove to be the greater offense than failing to do better than Flaherty for the rotation. If nothing else, many simply wanted to see stronger reinforcements for an Orioles club that has played remarkably well to deserve the boost to its World Series chances. After all, it was just two years ago this week that the Orioles began a nightmare 19-game losing streak on the way to finishing a 52-110 season.
In the big picture, the front office and — perhaps more importantly — ownership still haven’t pulled the trigger to make a bold move, once again focusing on lower-risk transactions to improve on the margins. That will surely need to change at some point — even if it’s as simple as signing some of their talented young players to long-term contract extensions — but it’s difficult to argue with the current approach as the Orioles improved to a season-high 25 games over .500 on Tuesday night. Much like the talented young players he’s drafted and developed, Elias deserves the benefit of the doubt entering the uncharted territory of a pennant race and what’s shaping up to be a long window of contention.
Many thought the time had finally arrived to connect on one of those big swings — especially after not doing it this past offseason — but the Orioles remained on a familiar path with the modest additions of Flaherty and Fujinami. They didn’t give up much to acquire them, but it remains to be seen whether those moves will be enough to really help come October.
