Orioles "Appear to be the Leading team of interest" to Get Samardzija

[Stotle]

Hey, I advocated Gausman for closer this year.

It just seems to me that Bundy has more in the way of "pitchability" imo. Gausman has a great changeup, but the slider is unimpressive and he appears to rely heavily on locating a fairly flat 4 seam fastball at the bottom of the plate. I know there's great potential there, I'm just not that impressed with the overall package I'm seeing right now. I see stotle is online, so he'll probably rip me.

I don't take issue with anyone's personal feelings about players. I think Gausman gets downhill pretty well and gets knocked by the fan base on limited struggles, but my views certainly aren't the only ones floating around!

[CA-ORIOLE]

His ERA would be higher facing AL hitters. What if the FO makes that deal costing

Gausman, Bundy plus Rodriguez or Harvey and Jeff winds up a number 3/4 in the

rotation? You happy with the deal then? Sorry, I just think that would be a bad

move by the FO. IMO

I doubt anyone is advocating that.

[MrOrange82]

I don't take issue with anyone's personal feelings about players. I think Gausman gets downhill pretty well and gets knocked by the fan base on limited struggles, but my views certainly aren't the only ones floating around!

To what do you attribute his struggles this year? I agree with CA's assessment of Gausman's arsenal. He looks like a mid/back-end starter, or a higher end reliever, to me at this point.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I don't take issue with anyone's personal feelings about players. I think Gausman gets downhill pretty well and gets knocked by the fan base on limited struggles, but my views certainly aren't the only ones floating around!

He reminds me a lot of Kevin Brown. I just don't see him getting there anytime soon, if ever.

[Three Run Homer]

Trading two of our top four pitching prospects for Samardzija would be an awful move.

Here's the thing--if Tillman and Ubaldo were pitching to their ability level, we'd consider our starting rotation to be a strength, because Norris/Chen/Gonzo have all pitched about as well as you could expect this year. If we trade for Samardzija, he would presumably bump Gonzo, who has been a pretty effective starter for us since 2012, including this season. Is upgrading from Gonzo to Samardzija for 1.5 seasons worth giving up Kevin Gausman, let alone Gausman plus (say) Ed Rod?

Trading for Samardzija barely moves the needle on our postseason chances, in my view. If we trade for him, we're still going to have Tillman and Ubaldo in the rotation, and our team's playoff chances are still going to mostly depend on whether Tillman and Ubaldo can get it together and pitch like the frontline starters they are supposed to be.

[Enjoy Terror]

Personally, I think the Orioles have the pitchers on the farm to immediately upgrade the rotation via trade. We would be looking at one of the worst farms in all of baseball and we don't even have a first or second rounder this year. But this doesn't appear to be a strong draft, so maybe that was by design.

[Camden_yardbird]

Toronto was considered the front runner before this. I tend to think this is posturing on the orioles part to bring up the price. Maybe if the cost lowers enough they will make a trade.

[Stotle]

To what do you attribute his struggles this year? I agree with CA's assessment of Gausman's arsenal. He looks like a mid/back-end starter, or a higher end reliever, to me at this point.

He wasn't right in early April and then had to throw on short rest in his call up. Last four Triple A starts he's been fine.

20.2 IP

15 H (5 XBH, 1 HR)

4 R

7 BB

24 SO

[WEAVERMAN]

Rather keep who they have than make a trade for Samardzija.

Right, there is absolutely no way I would trade KG, Bundy, E-Rod nor Harvey for this guy.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Toronto was considered the front runner before this. I tend to think this is posturing on the orioles part to bring up the price. Maybe if the cost lowers enough they will make a trade.

You never know, but everything I have heard thus far is that TOR has no more stomach for giving up top prospects and are not in on Samardzija. I did hear they were in on Hammels though.

[Can_of_corn]

Right, there is absolutely no way I would trade KG, Bundy, E-Rod nor Harvey for this guy.

I would trade E-Rod but then again I am not certain that his stuff will play at higher levels.

[Enjoy Terror]

The Orioles have never had a strong farm, and I think it's DD who understands that our farm can't be relied upon for the expansion of this team. I certainly see the value in outsourcing talent to compete.

[mdbdotcom]

Would EdRod and Wright get it done? Is he worth them?

[Stotle]

The Orioles have never had a strong farm, and I think it's DD who understands that our farm can't be relied upon for the expansion of this team. I certainly see the value in outsourcing talent to compete.

That would be terrifying if the guy in charge of running the baseball side of the organization has no faith in the ability of the organization to develop top five overall draft talents. Yikes!

[canonfaz]

Doubt that would get it done, but I would make that deal in a heartbeat.