Injury rehabbing players could determine Elias deadline moves

[wildcard]

While Elias and his staff explore the trade market for pitching, that is only one source of reinforcements for the O's pitching staff in the 2nd half.    The other source is minor league promotions and players coming back from injuries.

Starters

Currently the O's have 5 starters or is it 6?   Wells, Bradish, Kremer, Gibson are sailing along with Irvin coming off a good start vs the Twins.   It appears that GRod may take the 5 starter role to begin the 2nd half with Irvin moving to the pen.   I see no way Elias will deploy a 6 man rotation that would steal a spot from the pen.

Voth started 17 games for the O's last year with a 3.04 ERA and is reportedly throwing at this point readying himself for a rehab assignment.  The last update from Hyde said Voth's injury  was of a "low level of concern" with his testing on his elbow coming back clean.

So before Elias make a decision on a starter acquisition he could have 7 starters ready to pitch in late July.

Then there is Means schedule to be back in August.   That is 8.  So even if GRod and Wells need to head to the pen to conserve innings, the O's may have starter answers in house.

Relievers

The O's have 4 relievers that have been good to great throughout the 1st half.  Bautista, Cano, Coulombe and Baker have held up their end and then some.   The word on Baker is he is very good when pitching with enough rest.

Then there is the soft underbelly of the pen.   Baumann has a great fastball but its iffy if he can give the team a clean inning. Sometimes yes and sometimes no.   Vespi and Bazardo have just arrived and are untested.   We just have to wait and see on them.  

The 8th guy is IMO Irvin who would be the mid/long reliever.  A role he is not that used to but deserves a chance.

 Perez:  Hyde called his assignment to the IL as precautionary with a "low level on concern".  Sounds like a way to get him to the minors to get him straighten out before he rejoins the pen.   If that minor league stint gets him to pitch like he did last year.....watch out.  He could return as early as July 18th.

 Akin was pitching so poorly that it was IL him or option him.   He has not been reliable this season. But last year he put up a 3.20 ERA in 81.2 IP.   His injury is low back discomfort.   He went on the IL on June 30.  Look for him to begin a rehab assignment in the near future to see how he does at AAA.

Hall:  Been rehabbing in Sarasota.  Working on adding strength to his back and finding more velocity.   Great pitches he he can get healthy.  I have to think we will see him in Baltimore this season.

Darwinzon Hernandez:  Lefty with a great arm.  Experience pitching in the majors.  Healthy.  3.20 ERA and  1.18 WHIP right now in AAA.

Givens and Tate I am not going to count.   Too much going on there to think about them in the near term.

There are others like Zimmermann and Krehbiel that could provide help.

But there are 8 starters, some of which may find a role in the pen at some point and 11 relievers.   Elias will be including all 19 pitchers in his thinking as he decides whether he has to give up prospect(s) to boost the pitching staff by August 1st.

Edited July 10, 2023 by wildcard

[Sports Guy]

None of these guys should impact anything.

[wildcard]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

None of these guys should impact anything.

None of the 19?

[Pickles]

Just now, wildcard said:

None of the 19?

Typical dumbass hyperbole.

[Pickles]

I think he'll make a "minor" move to upgrade the bullpen.  Probably ship out a prospect in our 20-30 range to do it.

And I think he'd love to get a starting pitcher with team control who clearly upgrades the rotation.  But I don't think that guy is out there, so I don't expect them to do anything "major."

[Sports Guy]

Just now, wildcard said:

None of the 19?

No, none of them. They aren’t good enough or reliable enough for it to impact anything for 2023 and a run at a WS. The need for a starter is there with or without Means (although I definitely could see them passing on a starter)

The need for legit back end arms doesn’t change as we hope Perez regains 2022 form or Tate/Givens get healthy and produce.  

None of these guys currently profile as pitchers to rely on, so no, you don’t stop yourself from making a move because of any of these guys.

[Pickles]

4 minutes ago, wildcard said:

There are 20 days to go until the deadline.   Things will change.  We will see who has dumbass hyperbole comments.  You or me.  I will check back with you on August 1st.

I was actually talking about Sports Guy's comment.

[wildcard]

5 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I was actually talking about Sports Guy's comment.

Sorry,  That was unclear.   But before I post I expect that from him.

[Aristotelian]

24 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

None of these guys should impact anything.

Means and Perez could be factors. I agree neither should keep us from trying to upgrade the team. 

[Sports Guy]

3 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Means and Perez could be factors. I agree neither should keep us from trying to upgrade the team. 

You would have a total moron to actually want to rely on these guys in a year where they have accomplished nothing and you are trying to win a WS.

That doesn’t mean that they can’t get healthy and produce for you..then again, I said nothing like that.

However to say you would pass on players performing right now in case these guys get healthy and find the magic that they have shown in the past is the height of stupidity.

Luckily, I feel there is zero chance Elias would do this and he has openly talked about needing to upgrade the team, so he understands this.

[oriole]

15 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I was actually talking about Sports Guy's comment.

I don’t think it was a dumb comment. The only guys mentioned in the OP that are better than average are Wells, Bradish, Cano, and Bautista. Maybe you can include Coulombe and Baker in there too.

After those 6 players, any one of the mentioned players could be upgraded. Kremer has a gem once in awhile but overall he is no good, Rodriguez doesn’t look like the ace we all hoped he’d be anymore, no need to even get into Gibson or Irvin. I could see 3 SP and 3 RP spots that could be upgraded. Not saying they should do all that, you know someone like Gibson serves a purpose of back end innings eater and I’m not giving up on Rodriguez. But OP listed a ton of extra players that aren’t going to be an actual commodity. Voth mentioned as a starter? Hall being useful despite being so off course that he needed to be sent to Florida? The bar needs to be a lot higher. We need more players that play like Wells and Bradish and really don’t need to worry whatsoever about what Voth is doing. Voth could be DFA’d today and it wouldn’t make a difference.

[Aristotelian]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

You would have a total moron to actually want to rely on these guys in a year where they have accomplished nothing and you are trying to win a WS.

That doesn’t mean that they can’t get healthy and produce for you..then again, I said nothing like that.

However to say you would pass on players performing right now in case these guys get healthy and find the magic that they have shown in the past is the height of stupidity.

Luckily, I feel there is zero chance Elias would do this and he has openly talked about needing to upgrade the team, so he understands this.

I said they could be factors. That is different than relying on them. I don't see anything in wildcard's post to suggest relying on them. And like I said, they should not preclude us from upgrading the team. Did anyone say we should pass on players performing now? I did not. 

[LTO's]

1 minute ago, oriole said:

I don’t think it was a dumb comment. The only guys mentioned in the OP that are better than average are Wells, Bradish, Cano, and Bautista. Maybe you can include Coulombe and Baker in there too.

After those 6 players, any one of the mentioned players could be upgraded. Kremer has a gem once in awhile but overall he is no good, Rodriguez doesn’t look like the ace we all hoped he’d be anymore, no need to even get into Gibson or Irvin. I could see 3 SP and 3 RP spots that could be upgraded. Not saying they should do all that, you know someone like Gibson serves a purpose of back end innings eater and I’m not giving up on Rodriguez. But OP listed a ton of extra players that aren’t going to be an actual commodity. Voth mentioned as a starter? Hall being useful despite being so off course that he needed to be sent to Florida? The bar needs to be a lot higher. We need more players that play like Wells and Bradish and really don’t need to worry whatsoever about what Voth is doing. Voth could be DFA’d today and it wouldn’t make a difference.

Ok whether or not you think those guys are just extra players, they are definitely going to impact things. It's incredibly stupid to think otherwise. 

[Bahama O's Fan]

Voth? Starting? I hope we never see that happen again

[ArtVanDelay]

1 minute ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

Voth? Starting? I hope we never see that happen again

Nobody wants to see that except Wildcard.