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Possible but there is little downside to keeping a guy with options, regardless of health issues. If that was their thinking, that was a mistake and they should take a look at bringing him back.
This.
Hunter Gaddis has an MLB ERA of 5.59 and 1.39 WHIP over 66 career MLB innings. He was the 39th prospect in the Cleveland system prior to 2023 graduation (per Fangraphs). Smith was a 16th round pick who was ranked 27th in their system coming into this season.
Not sure why some folks are so sanguine on this potential deal, or even questioning why Cleveland would want to do it. If Nick Vespi and Andrew Politi had similar starts to this season for the O's, would any of us think we could get a top-100 prospect from another team in exchange? That's basically what we're talking about here...
Well, the kid posted .267/.396/.400 in AAA last year, and was at .333/.482/.595 prior to his call-up. I’m inclined to think he can hit AAA pitching just fine, he just has gotten a bit spun around during his major league call-up and needs a little time to regain his footing. In any event, it’s only been 8 games back in AAA and he does have a .385 OBP in that span. So, I’m pretty comfortable he’ll be acing AAA again pretty soon.