Jack Flaherty acquired for Cesar Prieto, Drew Rom, and Zach Showalter

[bluedog]

Just now, ChuckS said:

Anyone know why Flaherty’s walks are up so drastically this season (and last in 36 IP)?

Really the ugliest part of his line. K/IP pretty good, not giving up a ton of homers. 

Maybe he's gun shy from having a .346 babip and a bad defense behind him so he's trying to pitch away from contact?

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

Kept trying to find relievers?!? How come someone else found Robertson???

In regards to this trade, my initial reaction is that including Showalter sucks and I don’t like it for that. But we need to see what adjustments the Orioles can help Flaherty with to see if they can coax better performance out of him. 
 

We didn’t address the bullpen and that sucks the most. 

They did address it..they just moved Wells there.

They have Hall, McDermott and Povich in AAA and they all could come up and help.

I wanted pen help too but not just any arm. Either something real at the back end or not. 
 

I think they missed the boat on Chapman but that’s it. I’m not worried about anyone else they missed out on. Barlow would have been good too but he basically cost an upside arm like Showalter although I don’t know if we had that guy to give.

[MikeAD]

6 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Flaherty’s statcast numbers are pretty good.

He is slightly below average in missed bats but not by much.

BABIP against him is a very high 345, so he has been unlucky. 

He’s still only 27 but he has had some injury issues the last few years and is pitching the most innings he has thrown since 2019, so we have to see if that becomes an issue.

The BB rate is the real issue. If he can throw more strikes, he stands to be in good shape. 

He’s kind of like Gioloto. Maybe Gioloto is more of a sure thing but they both aren’t as good as they were in the past and both represent a lot of upside if they can find some of their old magic.

At the very least he will have slightly better run support and substantially better defense.  Lots of potential upside and the floor is most likely good enough. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

They did address it..they just moved Wells there.

They have Hall, McDermott and Povich in AAA and they all could come up and help.

I wanted pen help too but not just any arm. Either something real at the back end or not. 
 

I think they missed the boat on Chapman but that’s it. I’m not worried about anyone else they missed out on. Barlow would have been good too but he basically cost an upside arm like Showalter although I don’t know if we had that guy to give.

Chapman was definitely a missed opportunity. Rangers made a smart move getting him earlier.

[Sports Guy]

You either trade upper echelon prospects for pitchers who may not be better but are performing better in the first half of the season or you trade Zack Showalter.

I know which one I’m choosing.

[Hank Scorpio]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

You either trade upper echelon prospects for pitchers who may not be better but are performing better in the first half of the season or you trade Zack Showalter.

I know which one I’m choosing.

Zack Showalter?

[emmett16]

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=flaheja01&t=p&year=2023#111-122-sum:pitching_gamelogs
 

Stats since 5/15.  He had a rough start to beginning of year and a 10 ER stinker.  The BABIP suggest he’s been a bit unlucky.  In that span he has given up 25 xbh in 274 ABs.  That’s impressive. He’s an upgrade over our bottom 3 SPs.  Slots 3rd into rotation.   Not sexy but don’t see how anyone can not like the move.  The FO is confident on their guys ability to address the pen.  Wish we got a closer type, but we might also have lightening in a bottle with Hall out of the pen.  If Hall doesn’t work out, we have other  options and 2 months to find out who will be the guys to step up.  

Edited August 2, 2023 by emmett16

[deward]

12 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

They did address it..they just moved Wells there.

They have Hall, McDermott and Povich in AAA and they all could come up and help.

I wanted pen help too but not just any arm. Either something real at the back end or not. 
 

I think they missed the boat on Chapman but that’s it. I’m not worried about anyone else they missed out on. Barlow would have been good too but he basically cost an upside arm like Showalter although I don’t know if we had that guy to give.

Would you have traded Povich for Chapman? That's basically what the Rangers did. 

[Rbiggs2525]

I don’t think this is the price Elias wanted to pay but when others were asking for top echelon prospects this is the price he had to pay. Prieto and Rom were not a part of our future. Showalter has promise and is the reason the deal got done. Is what it is. After 2021 Flaherty probably had as much value as any young starter in the big leagues. Our Analytic department can usually help a player improve on their strengths. 

[Frobby]

Some further thoughts now that the full return for Flaherty is known.  That’s a little more than I would have liked to have given up for a rental.  However, we didn’t give up anyone who was likely to be a significant part of our future.  Rom will reach the majors, but his upside is pretty limited and he could be a AAAA type.  Prieto was going to be buried behind our other IF prospects.  Showalter is interesting and has more upside than the other two, but we’re years away from knowing if he can be a decent major league pitcher.  

Back to Flaherty, he’s a very useful acquisition for us.  He has a 3.45 ERA over his last 12 starts, averaging 5.86 IP/start in that span.  He allows us to be patient will Wells, and to give any other starter who needs a breather over the last two months.  It keeps Irvin in the pen and we can move Wells there if need be, which will alleviate some of our bullpen issues.   

So is it super-excited about Flaherty?  No.   Is he a huge upgrade to our rotation?  No.  Did we give up a little more than I liked?  Yep.  But the team is a little better than it was before, and we have a bit more flexibility and depth.  

 

[CharmCityHokie]

51 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Can we get Cano put back into the machine and turned back into April/May Cano?

unplug and plug it back in again?

[wildcard]

42 minutes ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

Rom and Prieto were definitely good pieces to deal now. A 40-man crunch is coming and they weren’t going to survive it. Prieto is a decent prospect but low ceiling given the lack of power and uncertain defense, and he had no future here even if we were to trade more IF this offseason. Rom is never going to be a SP considering his inability to develop a CH and lackluster FB velo. He could potentially be a good RP, but the FB would really need to play up. I think there’s a good chance we look back at this trade and think it’s clear we cashed in both of these trade chips at the peak of their value. 

Showalter stings and certainly feels like the trade could have gotten done without him, but he’s a A ball RHP who was not a heralded draft prospect and has a lot of reliever risk in his profile. Not a guy to lose a lot of sleep over. 

The problem is Flaherty is adequate but thoroughly underwhelming. Maybe we can unlock something more there, but to me he falls right around the Gibson/Kremer quality level. He’s more depth and we’ll likely be glad we have him if there’s an injury or Bradish/GRod/Kremer fade the way Wells has with the increased IP, so I’m glad we did something to support the playoff push. But it’s not going to be fun holding your breath if he’s taking the mound in a playoff game. 

Prieto does not need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft this off season.

[sportsfan8703]

What is Flaherty going to be worth on the FA market? 5/100?  So if we gave him that deal would people be happy because it was a FA deal and not a trade?

Tradinf Showalter hurts, but that should let us know that this whole grow the bats then buy pitching with it is a little harder than we think.

Overall, we keep our stockpile of prospects and that allows us to be “good” over a 162 game season for a long time. 

[baltfan]

The more I read about Flaherty and how his injuries kept him off the field consistently for two years, the more I like this trade. This guy looked like he was going to be a future Cy Young at one time and is still just 27.  It’s worth the chance that they took and he seems to have some upside.  

[wildcard]

Very happy with Elias getting Flaherty.    Fills the need in the rotation and did not give up a top 10 prospect.   

The starter market was hot.   I would rather have Flaherty then have kept Prieto, Rom and Showalter.  Hope Flaherty stays healthy because if he does he will help the team for the next 3  months.

Good Job.