I didn’t trust Duquette. For as successful as DD was, the trade deadline was not his forte.
When buying, he gave up Josh Hader, Eduardo Rodriquez, even Jonah Heim. When selling, his deals for Gausman and Machado turned up as duds.
My point is that trades with prospects involved are a crapshoot, but the O’s don’t have a great track record. This is what concerns me about grow the bats, buy the arms… Are we actually going to be able to buy arms?
While Elias was aggressive and did very well dumping Mancini and Lopez, I think he’s going to be gun-shy as a buyer at this deadline. Like he was in Free Agency, he assigns a value and sticks with it, even if the market says otherwise. Elias was too disciplined for his own good and we got left with nothing because he wasn’t willing to overpay. Just like free agency, there’s risk involved and some bad options with only a few good ones mixed in. We can’t afford to be wrong but can’t afford to just sit back and watch.
Considered pitchers that I’m glad we didn’t get: Degrom, Rodon, Thor, Quintana, Taillon, KLuber,
Considered pitchers that I wish we had: Eovaldi, Wacha, Eflin
So yes, there are more bad deals than good ones, so Elias can say he avoided a mistake, but we also didn't have a chance at a starter either. With more buyers than sellers, prices will be high and I don’t trust Elias as a buyer because I don't think he'll pull the trigger. But if I he does get aggressive, I think he'll be more successful than DD was. What do you think?