Baltimore Orioles: Three Potential Left-Handed Starter Trade Targets

The Baltimore Orioles are rumored to be seeking a left-handed starter to shore up their rotation – who will they end up with?

The Baltimore Orioles want a left-handed starter, but that’s a tough market to crack this July. The best left-handers are on contending teams, and even if the Orioles were interested in making a blockbuster deal for say, a Chris Sale, how could they ever afford it? Their farm system isn’t exactly loaded, and they are not a big-market team in terms of payroll.

This puts the O’s in a precarious position. They have to get a lefty at the deadline in order to prop up their struggling rotation and stay in contention. So far, they’ve gone with an all-right-handed starting five. That’s okay in some cases – see the Cleveland Indians – but it works a lot better when the pitchers have some of the best arms in baseball.

The Orioles don’t necessarily have bad pitchers, but they don’t have outstanding ones, either. That is demonstrated in their 4.22 team ERA, which is ranked 17^th in all of baseball and tenth in the American League.

Of course, the right package will be needed to entice a team into trading one of their lefties. Both of the Orioles’ top pitching prospects – Hunter Harvey and Dylan Bundy – have seen their brief careers marred by injury issues, and most of their other prospects are still a long way from the majors.

Bundy is currently pitching out of the bullpen for the O’s, and it’s hard to imagine Baltimore giving up on him and dealing him after patiently waiting on him to stay healthy for so long. His value also isn’t very high at the moment, given his injury history, but he could become a key starter again sometime down the line. Reliever Mychal Givens is pitching better than most of the O’s arms, and could be a good trade chip – but if they lose him, it would leave a huge hole in their bullpen.

The Orioles do have several position players at the top of their prospect rankings, all of whom could be interesting trade chips, but it will certainly be a challenge to come up with the right combination to acquire one of the following left-handers:

Next: The Lefty Veteran

Rich Hill

The Oakland Athletics are not going anywhere, and luckily for the Orioles, left-hander Rich Hill has turned his career around this season. The 36-year-old is 8-3 with a 2.25 ERA, and has struck out 74 batters in just 64 innings of work. Currently, he’s on the disabled list with a groin strain, but he’s slated to make a rehab start on Monday and will return to action long before the trade deadline.

Last season with Boston, Hill made a change to his delivery, throwing from a slightly different spot on the mound. He made four starts with the Red Sox in September of 2016, posting a 1.55 ERA in 29 innings, and notably walking just five batters.

Hill is only signed to a one-year contract, so it’s hard to envision him costing much in terms of prospects despite how well he’s pitching. Think back to the Athletics’ Scott Kazmir or Tyler Clippard deals in 2015 – while they acquired some talented prospects, it wasn’t as though they took the entire farm system. A trade for Hill would likely net them somewhere in between what they got for those two players, and the Orioles would be able to manage that even with a weak system.

Hill has already proven he can pitch in the AL East after his brief stint with the Red Sox last year, so that shouldn’t be much of an issue. The biggest question with Hill is whether he’ll be able to sustain this level of success all season, and if other teams believe in him. If they do, there could –unbelievably – be a lot of competition for his services.

Next: A Slumping Pirate

Drew Pomeranz

When the San Diego Padres dealt for Drew Pomeranz this winter, it didn’t cost them much. For Yonder Alonso and lefty reliever Marc Rzepczynski, the Padres got a young left-hander with plenty of team control left.

Pomeranz was a key prospect in the blockbuster deal that sent Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez to the Cleveland Indians several years ago, but he failed to flourish with the Rockies or, later, the Athletics. He had such a rough time with the A’s that after one particularly bad outing, he broke his hand while taking out his frustration on a chair in the locker room. Suffice it to say, Pomeranz’s turnaround has been a long time coming.

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The lefty finally appears to be living up to his potential, owning a 6-7 record on a very bad Padres team, but also posting a 3.00 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 81 innings.

Just like with Liriano, there are two primary concerns with a Pomeranz deal. One is whether the Orioles would have enough to acquire him. He’s worth far more than he was when the A’s dealt him, and the fact that he won’t be a free agent until 2018 makes him more expensive than most other names on this list. The Orioles have expressed interested in him, and the Padres certainly have no reason to hold on to their players, but it’s hard to envision what a deal between the two sides would entail.

The second concern revolves around Pomeranz’s reliability. He has a fairly lengthy injury history, and has never pitched more than 100 innings at the major league level. He also has a tendency not to go deep into games, which has contributed to his low innings totals. While he could help the O’s in terms of the rotation, there’s a very real concern that he could tax the bullpen in return.

Next: Red Sox Trade Deadline Preview

The Orioles are rumored to be most interested in Pomeranz and Liriano, but Hill is an equally good option for a small-market team without an overstocked farm system. Regardless of which one they choose, Baltimore must make a move here if they hope to stay in contention.