As first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Baltimore Orioles have reached an agreement to send AAA infielder Cesar Prieto and LHP Drew Rom, along with low-A pitcher Zack Showalter, to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for RHP Jack Flaherty.
The news came just about 10 minutes prior to the 6 PM deadline, as Orioles Twitter was on the verge of a complete meltdown after the team seemingly sat on its hands all afternoon.
Flaherty, 27, has struggled with injuries and control, but gives the Orioles another middle-of-the-rotation starter at a time when they desperately need someone to eat some innings. This season, he is 7-6 with a 4.43 ERA in 20 starts, with 106 strikeouts and 54 walks in 109.2 IP. His career high in IP was back in 2019 when, at age 23, he threw 196.1. Mike Elias and co. must be confident that he is physically ready to well eclipse the low innings number he racked up over the previous three seasons (40, 78, 36), thanks to those aforementioned injuries (oblique, right shoulder).
The pending free agent has spent his entire career with the Cards, racking up a 41-31 record and 3.58 ERA in 118 starts spanning seven seasons. His lifetime numbers are 10.0 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, and 1.2 HR/9. He instantly slides into the rotation in Tyler Wells‘ spot.
The Birds gave up their #13 prospect in Prieto, their #15 in Rom, and #16 in Showalter, according to Baseball America. Showalter showed some promise in the FCL (0.90 ERA in 10 IP) and low-A (3.10 ERA in 20 IP) this year, after being drafted in the 11th round in 2022.
Prieto has a nice bat, but most see him as a defensive liability. With so many names ahead of him (six infielders in their Top 12 prospects, plus Gunnar Henderson), Prieto was always going to be blocked. It’s actually a bit surprising that Elias didn’t do more to clear a bit of this infielder logjam this deadline. Rom had a cup of coffee in Baltimore earlier this season, but never got into a game. He’s logged a 5.34 ERA in 86.0 IP for AAA Norfolk this season, and it seems his future is, at best, as a lefty specialist or other short reliever. That’s something Elias can find elsewhere.
Overall, many O’s fans are left wanting more. Flaherty has struggled a bit this year, but has been better lately. Hopefully the O’s pitching lab can help him recapture some of what made him so good a few years ago. They didn’t give up a lot; what they got back remains to be seen.
