As the trade deadline approaches on Monday, everyone knows the main rumors going around, and what the playoff contenders‘ strengths and weakne ses are. That does not mean, however, that teams have to play along.Consider, for example, the Orioles, who lead the American League East by two games on the strength of a lineup that has hit the most home runs in the major leagues and a bullpen with the third-lowest ERA in baseball. Baltimore’s weak spot is the starting rotation, with a 4.94 combined ERA that is tied with the A’s for fifth-worst in the majors, better than only the Royals, Diamondbacks, Twins and Reds.MORE: Where does Buck Showalter land in Sporting News‘ manager rankings?So, what should Baltimore do? Find starting pitching help, right? Not so fast. The Orioles don’t have the pieces in their farm system to make a deal for Chris Sale work, if the White Sox ace is even truly available, or really Rich Hill of the A’s. The starting pitchers who are on the market are guys like Andrew Cashner (4.94 FIP this season), Jeremy Hellickson (19 home runs allowed in 125.2 innings) and Ervin Santana (strikeout rate down https://www.giantsedge.com/san-francisco-giants/matt-williams-jersey to 6.3 per nine innings, signed for two more years and $27 million). If you’re looking for help at the back end of the rotation, these are fine options. If you need someone to alter the very makeup of your pitching staff, this is not your market.Needing a difference maker and not seeing one available, the Orioles‘ best move would be to accentuate their strength: the bullpen.With Darren O’Day back from the disabled list to join Mychal Givens in front of Matt Williams Jersey All-Star setup man Brad Brach and All-Star closer Zach Britton, Baltimore knows that when it has a lead in the late innings, that lead is safe. The Orioles are 37-4 when leading after six innings, 45-2 when leading after seven and 48-0 when leading after eight.One weak spot: the sixth inning. The Orioles have begun the sixth inning with the lead in 45 games this year, and have ended the frame without the lead in eight of those. Adding another quality arm to the bullpen would allow Baltimore to crack down on such slippage and set up a strategy where anything beyond five innings from a day’s starting pitcher is largely a bonus.MORE: The most beloved player ever for every MLB teamIf that seems trivial, consider that the .828 OPS that opponents have posted against the Orioles in the sixth inning of games is the highest in the American League. The Royals of the last two years have shown the power of an elite bullpen to shorten games, and with a lineup that is capable of putting runs on the board at any time with one swing of the bat, Baltimore would be a particularly dangerous team if it had a lockdown group from the sixth on and in the playoffs, maybe even sooner than that.For the kind of help the Orioles need, they would not have to pay an Aroldis Chapman-type price, either. Baltimore could target arms such as Nate Jones of Juan Marichal Jersey the White Sox or Xavier Cedeno or Alex Colome of the Rays. The Brewers, with Jeremy Jeffre s, Will Smith and Tyler Thornburg, have multiple bullpen options worth considering. If the Orioles really wanted to aim high, they could see about Kelvin Herrera, part of the Royals‘ succe sful formula.The options are plentiful, with a variety of prices to allow Baltimore to find the best way to improve its outlook for October. The added bonus of adding to the bullpen is to ease some of the workload for the current relief corps, keeping the best part of the Orioles‘ pitching staff fresher for October.The Orioles have a good outfield and were in the market for Melvin Upton Jr., showing that they are not afraid of the concept of adding to an area of strength. Doing it in the bullpen could be what puts Baltimore over the top.
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Panic in the bullpen: Contenders will be scrambling to find relief help
The price for Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman keeps rising.Baseball’s best available relievers despite reports to the contrary at this point, know that the Yankees would be crazy not to move them if the right offer comes along have gone from a luxury trade addition to a near-nece sity for a handful of teams that are World Series contenders, or at least consider themselves contenders.MORE: 50 best players in baseball | All-Star rosters setThe Cardinals, for example, are scrambling. Closer Trevor Rosenthal make that former closer Trevor Rosenthal is trying to find some sort of consistency and hard-throwing lefty Kevin Siegrist is on the DL with mono. Rosenthal, who has allowed 37hits and 22 walks in 29innings (not a misprint), is probably the bigger worry at the moment.For whatever reason, he’s going through a trial right now, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said after Rosenthal failed to record an out on July 3 in a non-save situation. He’s being tested. He’s going to have to really dig deep to figure out what kind of minor adjustments he needs to make.Obviously, the best- https://www.dodgersedge.com/los-angeles-dodgers/cody-bellinger-jersey case scenario for the Cardinals is that Rosenthal makes the adjustments and goes back to being the All-Star-caliber closer who saved 93 games from 2014 to 2015. If he doesn’t, though, the front office is going to have to decide if a trade is the best option. And it might have to make that decision fast, because other teams will be looking for answers soon, too, and that includes bidding up Miller and Chapman.Here are the bullpen ERAs since the start of June for teams with records of .500-ish or above Red Sox: 5.25Blue Jays: 4.80Rangers: 4.78Yankees: 4.66Cubs: 4.25Orioles: 4.18Mariners: 4.14Tigers: 4.01Marlins: 4.00Giants: 3.94White Sox: 3.78Nationals: 3.70Mets: 3.65Royals: 3.46Cardinals: 3.40Indians: 3.24Astros: 2.64Dodgers: 2.21As you can see, there are a lot of bullpens that need improvement.And even for some of the teams with decent numbers, the need is real. The Royals just put Wade Davis on the 15-day disabled list with a right forearm strain, though the hope is he’ll be back in two weeks. Granted, their need isn’t Miller/Chapman, but Davis‘ injuryunderscores the need for depth.The Giants have only lost 12games since the start of June, and the bullpen as a group has 10 blown saves. The latest was Tuesday night, when starter Madison Bumgarner threw six shutout innings and left with a 2-0 lead, but the bullpen gave up seven runs in an eventual 7-3 lo s.Some of those lo ses featured multiple blown saves, and a couple of the blown saves came in games they wound up winning, so it’s not like the bullpen cost the team 10 different wins. Still, the 10 blown saves are the worst in the bigs in that stretch, which is quite a bit le s than optimal https://www.dodgersedge.com/los-angeles-dodgers/jackie-robinson-jersey . MORE: Players under 25 that could be next legendsThe Cubs have been connected with late-inning help since pretty much forever. It hasn’t always been about the ninth inning; closer Hector Rondon has a 1.59 ERA, but he has blown three of his past five save opportunities. Trevor Cahill (2.37) and Travis Wood (3.03) have solid ERAs, but their FIPs (4.20 and4.66, respectively) paint a slightly different picture.Justin Grimm has a 5.79 ERA, Clayton Richard (on the DL) has a 7.30 mark and Adam Warren (in Triple-A) has a 4.56 ERA.As for the Rangers, Shawn Tolleson lost the closer’s job earlier this season (he was 11for15 in save opportunities) and though Sam Dyson has been effective (17for19), the Rangers don’t have a slam-the-door reliever in the ‚pen (Matt Bush has the lowest reliever ERA on staff, at 2.59) like Miller or Chapman. After the way the Rangersexited the playoffs last October, you know GM Jon Daniels and manager Jeff Banister would love an option like those two.The Nationals, like the Cubs, have a World Series-or-bust feel this year. Are they ready to roll with Jonathan Papelbon (who just came off the DL, by the way) as their primary guy in the ninth inning? His ERA is 3.16, the highest it hasbeen since 2010, and his 7.4 K/9 ratio is the lowest of his career. The bullpen’s month-by-month numbers are trending in the wrong direction.You see that recent bullpen ERA for the Red Sox, and it’s not pretty. Closer Craig Kimbrel’s ERA is higher than normal (3.66), but hestill has been really good in save situations (1.45) and has struggled in non-save situations (6.75). Former closer Koji Uehara is still striking out a ton of batters Julio Urias Jersey (12.8 per nine), but his ERA is 4.83 and his FIP is 4.15.For the Blue Jays, closer Roberto Osuna has been solid (2.39 ERA, 16for18 in save opps), but getting him the ball in the ninth with the lead intact has been a series of Hardy Boys chapter-ending cliffhanger adventures. They really need Drew Storen to find his pre-Papelbon groove. Trade acquisition Jason Grilli has been good (2.31ERA) in a Toronto uniform.
MLB trade rumors: Three big questions heading into the winter meetings
With that pesky CBA busine s in the rear-view mirror, baseball’s front office types have had a few days to fully prepare for the annual winter meetings, which unofficially open Sunday and run through Thursday.Some teams didn’t wait until the festivities kick off near our nation’s capitol. The Astros, for example, continued their aggre sive offseason by signing veteran DH Carlos Beltran to a deal on Saturday.MORE: Worst MLB free-agent signings of all timePretty much every move that happens starts a bit of a cascade that puts pre sure on other teams. With Beltran off the market, now the Red Sox have one fewer option to replace David Ortiz at DH, and slugger Edwin Encarnacion has one fewer team bidding for his services.So let’s take a look at three of the oh-so-many questions that are being asked as the meetings begin.What are the Shawn Kelley Jersey chances a legit ace gets traded?You’ve heard the same names bandied about for a long time now. Chris Sale might get dealt. Chris Archer could be moved. Sonny Gray might have a new home park in 2017. Justin Verlander could be asked to accept a trade out of Detroit.Why do we keep hearing these names over and over? Partially, because baseball fans love to dream big. They love the idea of superstars wearing their favorite team’s uniform, so writers (like me) will report and research and write on those po sibilities. That’s one reason.The biggest reason, though, is because contenders looking to dramatically improve the top of their rotation just don’t have any real options on the incredibly thin free agent market.MORE: Tracking the moves of every MLB free agentLook at the starting pitchers who have changed teams so far this offseason: 43-year-old Bartolo Colon, 42-year-old R.A. Dickey, bounce-back (from injury) candidate Charlie Morton, bounce-back (from struggles) candidate Edinson Volquez, bounce-back (from struggles) candidate Jaime Garcia and bounce-back (from struggles) candidate Andrew Cashner.You get the point. Not exactly awe-inspiring stuff.So, yeah, teams will continue to try and put together packages that will land Sale or Archer or Gray or Verlander. And those teams would love to make a deal like that happen sooner than later. The thing is, because it’s such a seller’s market (when it comes to starting pitching), the White Sox, Rays, A’s and Tigers don’t have to hurry to accept any offers. The longer they wait, at least Ryan Zimmerman Jersey theoretically, the better the chances they get the return they desire.Because, as you know, all four of those guys are under club control for multiple years. They don’t HAVE to trade those guys if they don’t get the right offers, and that’s why I expect we’ll hear more about rumors than finalized trades. But, hey, rumors are fun.Will the Tigers move an All-Star?Yep, this is probably going to happen. If not during the winter meetings, shortly after the meetings based on the groundwork done in D.C.The Tigers have a ton of guaranteed money on the books for the next several years five players are making between $18 million and $30 million in 2018, for example and that’s probably not sustainable. So they’re looking to shed some of that payroll.MORE: Which Tigers stars are most likely to be dealt?If it was just about getting rid of money, they’d deal Miguel Cabrera (his eight-year, $248 million extension kicked in last season) or Justin Verlander (he’s making $28 million each of the next three seasons). But they both have full no-trade protection, which complicates any potential deal, and finding a trade balance between prospects and money won’t be an easy task. It’s more likely that we’ll see second baseman Ian Kinsler or outfielder J.D. Martinez moved soon. Both are still very productive, and https://www.nationalsedges.com/washington-nationals/daniel-murphy-jersey both are relatively bargains. Kinsler has two years of club control remaining ($11 million in 2017, club option for $10 million in 2018), and Martinez is making $11.75 million in 2017 before becoming a free agent.Will we be stunned by any out-of-nowhere deals?Hopefully. Those are the best, aren’t they?Remember in 2007, when the Marlins traded Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit? That happened during the winter meetings. Or in 2009, when the big three-way deal between the Tigers, Yankees and Diamondbacks deposited Max Scherzer in Detroit, Curtis Granderson in New York and Ian Kennedy in Arizona?MORE: Why Andrew McCutchen is different than anyone else on the marketMaybe we’ll see some of those fireworks. Imagine the reaction if, let’s say, the Pirates wind up trading icon Andrew McCutchen to the division-rival Cardinals. Or if the Orioles decide they can’t afford Manny Machado when he’s a free agent in two years and trade him now for a ma sive return. Or if the Diamondbacks decide that Paul Goldschmidt is more valuable to the franchise as a trade chipand deal him for a Machado-like return.Do we expect any of those three things to happen? Nope, but they could, and that’s what makes the winter meetings so very intriguing.