Baltimore Orioles need to capitalize on trade value of Dylan Bundy
It’s no secret that the Baltimore Orioles consistently struggle to develop their top pitching prospects. Time and time again, first-round talent has come through the Baltimore farm system only to struggle in the low minors, battle injuries, or get rushed to the big leagues only to embark on a mediocre career.
Chalk it up to bad luck, failure on the part of the Orioles, or whatever else lets you sleep at night. But the list of failed pitching prospects is a long one for Baltimore. And one would think they would have learned their lesson by now.
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But they haven’t. Every winter, and every July, teams inquire about Orioles pitching prospects. The only one the front office has every utilized to bring in big-league talent was Eduardo Rodriguez, who was perhaps the lone pitcher that hadn’t fallen on hard times in the minor leagues for Baltimore. But all the big question marks (Gausman, Harvey, Hobgood, etc.) have stayed. And so far, nothing’s come of it.
That leaves this winter a crucial one as it pertains to prized Orioles arm Dylan Bundy. The former first-round pick made his big-league debut as a 19-year-old in 2012 in Boston, but has fought injuries each of the last three seasons and hasn’t thrown a major-league pitch since. Teams have asked for Bundy in trades, but the Orioles have continually held onto their top young arm in hopes that he can blossom into the first ace Baltimore has seen since Erik Bedard.
But Bundy is going to be out of options in 2016, and at age 24, seems more likely to compete for a bullpen spot than one in the rotation in Spring Training. Considering the caliber of talent that Bundy could bring in on the trade market, it seems his value to the Orioles is significantly higher as trade bait than as a flame-throwing middle reliever.
Baltimore stands to potentially lose Chris Davis, Matt Wieters, Wie-Yin Chen, Darren O’Day, Steve Pearce and Gerardo Parra on the free agent market this winter. That leaves the team with holes at first base, catcher, the starting rotation, the outfield and the bullpen, any of which Bundy could be shipped out to address.
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Potential trade scenarios involving Bundy are endless, as rebuilding clubs like Atlanta, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Oakland, and others could all show serious interest in the young power arm. But with every nick and scratch that Bundy suffers, his value slips away that much further. And if the Orioles want to salvage it whatsoever, they would be best off looking to market the top prospect hard this winter before it’s too late.