Buyers? Sellers? Trade Deadline Thread.

[skinz2winz]

The Orioles “appear to be willing” to consider including highly-regarded young righty Kevin Gausman in a deadline deal, Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports on Twitter.

Baltimore’s lack of movable, high-level prospects has been discussed often this summer, as the team has dealt with injuries to Hunter Harvey and Dylan Bundy. While Gausman is no longer a prospect after seeing big league time in each of the last three years, his value lies primarily in the future.

Unless it is a BLOCK BUSTER deal to land the likes of Tulo or someone of that caliber, I say no way you trade Gausman. Even that deal would have to include Hardy, multiple other farm hands and a 1st round pick. I would only do this trade because Tulo is under team control through 2020. If we could find a way to resign Wieters and move him to 1B, the infield would consist of (Machado, Tulo, Schoop, Wieters). Likely one of the best in baseball for the next 5 years.

 

[all4ripken]

Awesome start for Gausman...LOL

 

[all4ripken]

Like I've said, I think he's a bust, so if we can get someone to overpay for him, by all means do it.

 

[all4ripken]

LOL, Gausman spotting them pitches right down broadway.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

Fire sale. NOW.

(No, seriously... If Gausman is turning into a question mark as well, this team would have no rotation in 2016 by standing pat.)

 

[all4ripken]

Fire sale. NOW.

(No, seriously... If Gausman is turning into a question mark as well, this team would have no rotation in 2016 by standing pat.)

Speaking of standing pat, did you all realize that every single FA they signed in the offseason are no longer with the team? I found that incredibly shocking. Fact is, they didn't do a god damn thing to improve in the offseason, and that fact is shining ever so bright right now.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

Speaking of standing pat, did you all realize that every single FA they signed in the offseason are no longer with the team? I found that incredibly shocking. Fact is, they didn't do a god damn thing to improve in the offseason, and that fact is shining ever so bright right now.

This might sound controversial... but sometimes I wish that the Orioles were managed like the Ravens, and vice versa:

• If the league has a hard salary cap (e.g. NFL), overpaying anyone is generally a bad idea because it means not being allowed to spend as much on other players. This favors a strategy of maximizing cost-effectiveness across the board.
  
  
• If the league has no hard salary cap (e.g. MLB), you can make up for cost-ineffectiveness (say, a higher salary-to-WAR ratio) by overpaying for good players as long as the franchise's owner can afford them.

 

[all4ripken]

They certainly don't do the ladder, even Angelos has plenty to spend.

 

[all4ripken]

Solid start for Jimenez, hit walk walk...lol

 

[all4ripken]

3-0 already...game ova

 

[hattersgonnahate]

[Decides to make the bad decision of checking the score]

No rotation in 2016, indeed... with Jimenez falling back to earth as well, there are now officially FIVE question marks for next year. Time to aim for 56-106 by trading everyone so that they can pass the Phillies for dead last (and thus rebuild quicker)?

 

[skinz2winz]

Well, the pitching on this team doesn't really stand up to anyone at this level and I mean 1-5. We simply can't compete with this level of pitching. It may be time to turn the page and completely retool this team with the pending FA we have and the lack of pitching we have always had. Add to that, it is time for DD to move on and time to hit the reset button in Baltimore!

 

[jeffro151]

Yep, time to pack it in. Chen could probably fetch a decent return. Everything else would just be getting rid of dead weight.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

Yep, time to pack it in. Chen could probably fetch a decent return. Everything else would just be getting rid of dead weight.

I'll go one step further by saying that trading Chen would be probably be doing him a favor... because he deserves better than this organization (!) as long as the Orioles upper management isn't willing to pay for quality. (The inaction in the 2014-15 offseason and selling off a draft pick this year says it all.)

With apologies to Ronald Reagan: "Mr. Angelos, SELL THIS TEAM!"

 

[all4ripken]

That first inning was a perfect summation of this team. 1st and 2nd, 1 out, strikeout, strkeout...

 

[Blitzville]

All this talk about the O's being buyers before the dead line. The problem is that if given the choice a top player will avoid coming to Baltimore . If they do land a key player or two (like the Miller trade last year) they won't stay. The key players that are needed are two top tier starters, who is available? The front office talks about how solid the pitching is, well look at their stats when they are playing good teams vs bad teams. A series win by the Rays might just doom them for the season.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

Since Chen is starting today, I looked up a few of his stats just out of curiosity...

What would happen if we look at qualified Orioles starters between 1991 and 2015 (n = 19)? Here are Chen's ranks in a few pitching categories:

• 2nd in WHIP (after Mussina; Miguel Gonzalez is 3rd, Jeremy Guthrie is 4th, Chris Tillman is 7th, and Erik Bedard is 8th)
• 3rd in ERA (after Mussina and Gonzalez; Bedard is 4th, Guthrie is 6th, and Tillman is 7th)
• 3rd in FIP (after Bedard and Mussina; Tillman is 6th, Guthrie is 12th, and Gonzalez is 13th)
• 4th in ERA-, which is league- and park-adjusted (after Mussina, Bedard, and Gonzalez; Guthrie is 5th, and Tillman is 8th)

Conclusion:
While Chen is definitely not an ace, he's still arguably the best Orioles starter since Mussina. Unless the front office can find someone better at a similar price during the 2015-16 offseason, they need to seriously consider re-signing Chen to a long contract (e.g. something along the lines of $15M per year for 5 years) even if it requires unloading Jimenez.

"But Angelos will never agree to that! He's a Boras client, after all."
"Fine... do you want history to repeat itself? Just look at what happened after Mussina left!"

• Orioles with Mike Mussina (1991-2000): Average win % = 0.516 (equivalent to 84-78); 5 winning seasons, 2 postseason appearances
• Orioles with Mussina pitching for the Yankees (2001-2008): Avg win % = 0.432 (equivalent to 70-92), no winning seasons

If the Orioles front office absolutely can't / won't re-sign Chen, they need to trade him to a National League team ASAP (preferably, a team that would re-sign him to a long contract)... so that he wouldn't end up playing for the Yankees and keep us irrelevant until 2020 or so.

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

Two series wins out of 3 on the road... even if it results in a 4-5 record. All is not lost.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

We have to sell. This is not a team that is going to contend for anything from what I've been seeing the past 2-3 weeks. We have a lot of guys whose contracts are up that are likely not coming back as well so I say have a fire sale and load up on young guys that are ready for the majors that we can keep around for a while. Because we definitely need a lot of OF help, 1B, C and a top of the line starter. I'd be willing to trade just about anyone on the team not named Machado and that includes Adam Jones. But I would not hesitate at all trading the three Boras guys whose contracts are up this year: Wieters, Davis and Chen because those are probably the guys we can get the most for.

 

[mikeytheman247]

Agreed I they need to trade Chen, I'm sure they can get a decent return for a sub 3ERA starter. Our minors is ranked 29th in all of MLB. We need good prospects.