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Baltimore Orioles: Three players likely to be moved at the trade deadline

By Nick Stevens

BALTIMORE, MD - AUGUST 23: Anthony Santander #25 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrates with Ryan Mountcastle #6 after the game against the Boston Red Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 23, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - AUGUST 23: Anthony Santander #25 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrates with Ryan Mountcastle #6 after the game against the Boston Red Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 23, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Alex Cobb is healthy and producing for the Baltimore Orioles.

With every good look Baltimore Orioles fans get of Alex Cobb this season, the talk about trading him off now intensifies. As the 2020 MLB trade deadline approaches and with Mike Elias looking ahead to set up his roster for a future of dominance versus winning immediately, Alex Cobb seems to be one of the likeliest candidates to move this week.

The biggest roadblock to a possible deal is Cobb’s big contract. Cobb signed a four-year/$57 million deal ahead of the 2018 season and has since put up a 5-15 debut season in Baltimore and made just three starts in 2019 due to injury.

Cobb isn’t going to turn the tide for a team just outside of a playoff chase, but it appears that he’s now fully healthy and can be a stabilizing arm in a beaten-down rotation like that of the Atlanta Braves or New York Yankees.

Based on recent deals the Orioles have made to shed salary (Jonathan Villar, Dylan Bundy), it’s unlikely that the Orioles will eat much, if any, of Cobb’s salary, but a big market team in dire need of pitching might just be willing to cough up the money.

Through his first six starts, Cobb is 1-2 with a 3.73 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP, his lowest WHIP since 2014 with the Tampa Bay Rays. Thanks to the re-emergence of his splitter, Cobb has produced a 58% groundball rate, something he hasn’t done since 2012, his first full season in the major leagues.

It originally appeared as if Mike Elias was going to be extremely hesitant in bringing up his rookies, but Ryan Mountcastle is now in the big leagues and positive reports on Keegan Akin, Dean Kremer, and Bruce Zimmermann may lead to more rookies making their to the big leagues over the final four-five weeks of the regular season.

The Orioles already have a lot of innings available to for these rookies and moving Cobb only opens up more innings for Elias to evaluate his rookies against big league competition, versus practices at the team’s Alternate Site in Bowie.

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