Orioles Acquire LHP Cole Irvin from the A's for Darrel Hernaiz

[Can_of_corn]

14 minutes ago, ArtVanDelay said:

His career minor league ERA was 3.05.  Never doubt Roll Tide’s ability to just make stuff up. 

For a second I thought I had to defend Roll Tide.

Kyle Virbitsky has a 4.49 ERA in the minors.  I think Tide saw his 5.06 RA9.

[ArtVanDelay]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

For a second I thought I had to defend Roll Tide.

Kyle Virbitsky has a 4.49 ERA in the minors.  I think Tide saw his 5.06 RA9.

So I misunderstood but he was still incorrect. 

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, Ven6 said:

I like it. It seems smart to me.

Hernaiz was a long shot to survive the gauntlet of prospects ahead of him.

Some of Irvin's numbers I like:

• 4 years of team control
• 1.16 WHIP last year
• less hits (174) than innings pitched (181)
• 3.56 SO/W ratio 
• 30 starts, 181 innings suggests an average of 6 innings a start

I think it's more than a suggestion!  

[RZNJ]

57 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

Why? Kremer was our best SP last year? I’m not saying he is some lock to continue to be but I can’t see on what grounds he has not already earned a spot. 

Right.  I think they are going with pitchers they can count on to be decent AND give them innings.   Kremer, Gibson, and Irvin all figure to do that.  Bradish might do it.   GrayRod might do it.   Wells might do it.  Voth might do it.    The question marks get pushed down the ladder.

[Just Regular]

4 minutes ago, btdart20 said:

If things break right with Grayson/Kremer/Bradish, then Irvin's 4 years of team control "should" mean no Lyles/Gibson-types next year.  

Plus will make it easier to let John Means walk.

Fangraphs Roster Resource has reacted to the transaction by moving Grayson Rodriguez off the Projected MLB Roster (DL Hall was already not there).

Irvin is a classic "baseball is a war of attrition, and what's attrited are pitcher's arms" type.     With Irvin replacing Grayson, the 13 pitchers now projected to the roster threw about 1275, almost all, MLB innings last year.     Andrew Politi's ~70 in the minors I think the only exception.

B-Ref currently has DL Hall at 36 days of service time.    I believe about 170 is needed for a full year of service, so Norfolk until Memorial Day would be about the size of it for the Club to perhaps acquire control of his 2029.

[HakunaSakata]

18 minutes ago, Spy Fox said:

I like this. Better than signing Wacha or Greinke because you have him for four years if he pitches well. Giving up Hernaiz doesn't impact the system much. 

We can complain that the upper tier FAs would have been better (they would have and we should have gotten one) but in isolation this is a strong move.

Agree with this. It's certainly better than wasting money on Wacha or Greinke, but I'd stop short of using the word "strong". A strong move would have been not putting themselves in the position to have to trade for a fringe MLB pitcher like Cole Irvin in the first place. Even if we're hamstrung by monetary constraints (as we suspect) I still don't know why Elias seems so averse to making an impactful trade. I feel like we have the pieces to make a bigger move than this one without compromising our pipeline of young talent. 

[George Zuverink]

52 minutes ago, interloper said:

An interesting note: 

I think Hernaiz has to be protected from the Rule 5 after this season. Will be interesting to see if he does enough this season to warrant a 40-man spot on the A's roster. 

Looking ahead, there's no way the O's would have protected him going into 2024. 

That is a great point. Hernaiz wasn’t going to see the majors this year, we would have been hard pressed to put  him on the 40 next year, and it might have been tough to give him minor league playing time at the right level this year. To get anything resembling a major league starting pitcher for someone we couldn’t use and couldn’t keep seems like a win to me.

Edited January 26, 2023 by George Zuverink
Said could when I meant couldn’t

[AnythingO's]

23 minutes ago, btdart20 said:

If things break right with Grayson/Kremer/Bradish, then Irvin's 4 years of team control "should" mean no Lyles/Gibson-types next year.  

Means, Hall, Johnson, Povich are more likely to prevent "inning-eater-syndrome" but your point is still valid. Maybe WC has some of Holt's magic fufu dust he can sprinkle on Irvin but since he has already declared Voth-Wells to be superior I doubt he can spare it. (jk, imagine green font, )

[btdart20]

10 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Plus will make it easier to let John Means walk.

Fangraphs Roster Resource has reacted to the transaction by moving Grayson Rodriguez off the Projected MLB Roster (DL Hall was already not there).

Irvin is a classic "baseball is a war of attrition, and what's attrited are pitcher's arms" type.     With Irvin replacing Grayson, the 13 pitchers now projected to the roster threw about 1275, almost all, MLB innings last year.     Andrew Politi's ~70 in the minors I think the only exception.

B-Ref currently has DL Hall at 36 days of service time.    I believe about 170 is needed for a full year of service, so Norfolk until Memorial Day would be about the size of it for the Club to perhaps acquire control of his 2029.

Completely forgot about Means!  

The MiLB options will be valuable this year...  

[Yardball85]

9 minutes ago, HakunaSakata said:

Agree with this. It's certainly better than wasting money on Wacha or Greinke, but I'd stop short of using the word "strong". A strong move would have been not putting themselves in the position to have to trade for a fringe MLB pitcher like Cole Irvin in the first place. Even if we're hamstrung by monetary constraints (as we suspect) I still don't know why Elias seems so averse to making an impactful trade. I feel like we have the pieces to make a bigger move than this one without compromising our pipeline of young talent. 

At the risk of being a broken record - they should have signed Eovaldi or Bassitt.  It was stupid not to - both are better pitchers with significantly better K rates than Irvin.  That said, acquiring Irvin is fine in a vacuum.  I just think the rotation needed bigger upgrades than the marginal ones Gibson and Irvin will provide.

[RZNJ]

1 minute ago, Yardball85 said:

At the risk of being a broken record - they should have signed Eovaldi or Bassitt.  It was stupid not to - both are better pitchers with significantly better K rates than Irvin.  That said, acquiring Irvin is fine in a vacuum.  I just think the rotation needed bigger upgrades than the marginal ones Gibson and Irvin will provide.

Can you count on Eovaldi to be both better and give you as many innings as Irvin?

[Roll Tide]

53 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Tough crowd. If we signed Irvin as a FA for 3/21 then everyone would be impressed. I think people just want to see us spend millions. Hernaiz is probably a utility guy in the minors when Holliday is in Bowie for the 2nd half of the season. 
 

This trade was the very definition of trading from a strength. Hernaiz’s value is at SS. He was never going to be a SS for us. 

Umm …no I wouldn’t  be. Don’t care about the player we gave up. We need quality not quantity acquisitions. This is just more for the trash pile. Another 5 starter and a never will be minor league player.

[maybenxtyr]

1 hour ago, interloper said:

Upside strikeout guys: Grayson, Bradish, and Kremer

Innings eaters: Gibson and Irvin

Swingmen: Voth, Wells, Hall

Emergency: Zimmermann, Baumann, Watkins

Late season reinforcement if things go well: Rom, Povich if he moves quickly out of AA

 

Could all change quickly but that's how I see it. 

Definitely add Means into the late season reinforcements category.

[Just Regular]

Here was a pretty good comment poking around an OAKLAND commentary section....

 

Someone needs to come off 40 man roster to fit in Jesus Aguilar. I thought maybe a trade with Kap but he’s injured, This is a surprise, Cole figured to be opening day starter. We do have a lot of starting pitcher depth.

[Roll Tide]

42 minutes ago, ArtVanDelay said:

His career minor league ERA was 3.05.  Never doubt Roll Tide’s ability to just make stuff up. 

Must you be a troll with every smart ass post? 
 

Irvin “ 4.00 ERA pitcher with a terrible K per 9.“

 

Virbitsky “And a 5 era minor leaguer” 

 

So Irvin’s ERA in the majors in career (4 seasons) is 4.40. I could care less what his minor league numbers after being up for 4 MLB seasons. 
 

Virbisky is the minor leaguer with the 4.49 ERA.

So what did I make up?