As someone who dreams of being a baseball general manager, the trade deadline is an exciting day of observing the chess moves executed around the league to try and either bolster playoff teams or rebuild struggling franchises. As a Baltimore Orioles fan, it’s become an incredibly stressful day.
At 50-54, the Orioles sit 6.5 games back of the American League East leading New York Yankees and 5.5 games back of the second wild card spot currently held by the Kansas City Royals. There’s no arguing that this has been a disappointing season for the Orioles. Manny Machado hasn’t hit as expected, though advanced stats such as hit speed argue it’s been a lot of bad luck for him. Mark Trumbo and Chris Davis aren’t hitting home runs at the pace they were signed to hit them, shutdown closer Zach Britton missed more than two months on the disabled list, and the starting pitcher has been an absolute disaster. Yet through all their issues, the Orioles somehow remain within striking distance of a playoff spot.
Many argue that the Orioles should trade some of their best players before today’s deadline. Closer Zach Britton, bullpen arms such as Darren O’Day and Brad Brach, and catcher Wellington Castillo are among the names that could be moved. I argue that the Orioles should hold on to everyone except Castillo.
On July 28th, 2015, the Toronto Blue Jays sat in 4th place of the AL East and eight games back of first place. They also were six games back of a wild card spot. That’s farther back than the Orioles are right now, yet the Blue Jays went out and made a huge splash by acquiring Troy Tulowitzki. That move propelled them to storm back and win the division. I don’t suggest that the Orioles go out and buy players today, but I don’t think they should trade Britton, arguably the best closer in baseball over the last two years.
Not only could the Orioles still contend for a playoff spot this year, with no major free agents this off-season, their best players will stay together next season. The biggest issue for the Orioles this season has been starting pitching. In the off-season, starters Ubaldo Jimenez and Chris Tillman are free agents and the Orioles have a club option on starter Wade Miley. Some might look at that as three holes in the rotation, but with the way those three have performed, it looks more like an opportunity to fill spots with the money they’ll have available if those three pitchers do in fact leave. If the Orioles can sign better starting pitching, and that’s a big if, the Orioles could be better than they are this season by holding on to Britton and company.
National writers look at the Orioles as clear sellers and have been reporting on Britton for weeks now. This weekend, Britton pitched in back-to-back games for the first time since April. However, he only pitched to one batter on Saturday and two on Sunday. Some writers saw this as the Orioles not trusting Britton’s health to pitch full innings, as that seems to be a concern among buyers looking to acquire him, but if they actually watched the games, they’d realize that wasn’t true. Kevin Gausman, who has struggled all year, had a shutout in the 9th inning and got the first two outs. Britton didn’t come in because the situation didn’t call for him until two men got on base and Gausman exited the game. On Sunday, the Orioles were again up by four, and Britton only came in when two runners got on base making it a save situation. Buck Showalter’s job is to win games, not to showcase trade bait. There’s also the possibility that the Orioles have decided ahead of the deadline not to trade Britton.
We’ll see how today ends up going, but hopefully the Orioles stay put and continue to battle for a playoff spot not only this season, but next season and for years to come.