The Orioles have had some offensive struggles over the last week or so and may need to make a deal at the deadline in order to improve at the plate. The team also might want to find a reliable starter that can give the rotation more depth.
Baltimore doesn’t have the pieces to make a big acquisition like Johnny Cueto or Carlos Gomez, but they could find a trading partner in Oakland.
The A’s have made up some ground in the AL West but will still likely miss the playoffs, so Billy Beane might choose to make a deal while he can for next season.
Oakland has a bunch of players that could be useful in Baltimore. However, the perfect scenario in my mind would be for the O’s to acquire pitcher Jesse Chavez and utility player Ben Zobrist.
Chavez had floated around with a few teams in the MLB until he latched on with Oakland in 2012. The right-hander posted a 3.92 ERA in 2013 and then a 3.45 ERA in 2014. This season, Chavez has a 3.20 ERA and has walked just 25 batters in 95.2 innings, according to baseball-reference.com.
Zobrist is well-known by Orioles fans after his days with the Rays. He’s batting .267/.354/.450 on the season and has the ability to play just about any position on the field. His numbers should jump up as well, as he spent some time on the DL in late April/early May and should be getting fully healthy.
Oakland will obviously want a decent return and so the Orioles would have to be willing to deal away a few players. A likely scenario would be trading Miguel Gonzalez, Ryan Flaherty, and Josh Hart.
Gonzalez and Chavez are similar pitchers but the Orioles would have to give up more in order to receive Zobrist. Oakland might find use for Flaherty, who was forced down to Norfolk once Jonathan Schoop returned, but was already brought back today when Nolan Reimold went on paternity leave. Still, with Schoop back, Flaherty’s at-bats will decrease.
Hart was the supplemental first-round pick by the Orioles in 2013. The outfielder is only 20 years old and is putting together a nice season in Single-A Frederick. However, he’s a few years away from even coming close to the MLB and could really interest the A’s.
This scenario might seem like the Orioles are giving away a lot (and they might have to give up even more) but Chavez will pitch just as well as Gonzalez and Zobrist would be a solid addition to the lineup.
The Orioles are in win-now mode and need to make a deal like this in order to take control of the AL East and get deep into the playoffs.
Do you agree?
[cardoza_wp_poll id=”109″]
6 Responses
This would be a terrible move.
Give away the only pitcher worth a shit…I don’t think so
Chen & Ubaldo both have ERAs under 3, but OK.
Miguel is better than Chavez. Zobrist wouldn’t have anymore of a role than Flaherty does now and I’ll take Flaherty’s production and age combo over Zobrist. And then to give up a high prospect as well? No thanks.
So you want us to trade two very solid MLB contributors we have several years of control left on and a prospect for a pitcher not as good as the one we’d be giving up and a utility player that is a free agent after this year. Is there a way to stuff the “no” vote box on this trade proposal like a Royals fan stuffs an all star ballot box?
My favorite pitcher. Absolutely not.