Austin Hays traded to Phillies for RP Dominguez, OF Pache

[ThomasTomasz]

Orioles traded OF Austin Hays to the Phillies for RP Seranthony Dominguez and OF Cristian Pache.

I don’t understand this one. Dominguez, even with a higher ERA this month, looks like a different pitcher since April, but I am not sure he’s the high leverage arm that we need. Pache is a right-handed batter, but he’s not going to bring the offense that Hays did in an outfield full of lefties.

 

[Dead2009]

He also has postseason success, has like a 1.10 ERA in 15 playoff appearances, and with the way our bullpen has been going we needed a spark. We werent getting the kid from the A's, especially now that he's hurt, and apparently the Orioles made it known that the veterans are expendable.

 

[Dead2009]

Also people wanted some of the vets gone so the prospects could come up and get playing time. Now that one chip has fallen, the fanbase is acting like the sky is falling.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

Orioles traded OF Austin Hays to the Phillies for RP Seranthony Dominguez and OF Cristian Pache.

I don’t understand this one. Dominguez, even with a higher ERA this month, looks like a different pitcher since April, but I am not sure he’s the high leverage arm that we need. Pache is a right-handed batter, but he’s not going to bring the offense that Hays did in an outfield full of lefties.

On the surface, this trade seems to make more sense for the Phillies as well (since Hays can become the right-hitting half of their LF platoon, consider Brandon Marsh's extreme L/R splits this year). However, I can see several ways that this "addition by subtraction" trade could make sense for the Orioles:

• Dominguez may be a bounce-back candidate based on advanced stats (notice that his expected ERA of 3.25 is noticeably lower than the actual ERA of 4.75. If his ineffectiveness this season so far can be mostly attributed to his sinker that used to be good in 2022, maybe the idea here is to either have him throw it less or fix the pitch)
  
  
• Pache would definitely be a downgrade from Hays as a right-handed batter-- but if the idea here is to get younger and limit Pache to the role formerly held by Ryan McKenna (i.e. defensive sub with some speed), that might be fine (especially if the departure of Hays means giving more playing time to Kjerstad in LF). Besides, there is the always option of DFA-ing Pache (in order to send him back to AAA) and bringing up Stowers, who would otherwise be blocked by Hays.

(The interesting question is who would Dominguez replace on the active roster? We already know that Nittoli will be DFA'ed as a result of the trade for Zach Eflin that was just announced, but that still leaves 14 pitchers.)