The Baltimore Orioles have been atrocious this season, and the pitching side of things has led them to almost 100 losses.
The Orioles made a necessary move when they dealt superstar Manny Machado before the trade deadline. Furthermore, the team’s farm system was bleak as well until the trade. Now, the club has acquired a top-100 prospect in Yusniel Diaz and other valuable pieces, boosting their system for the better.
They also have other rentals such as bullpen arms Zach Britton and Brad Brach who could become dealt soon. The franchise is transitioning into a rebuild, and it’s the right time to start anew.
Yet the biggest problem in Charm City has been the pitching, something that hasn’t been right for the Orioles in some time.
The club ranks 28th in MLB with a 4.87 ERA. Right-hander Kevin Gausman leads the team in ERA with a 4.33. Yikes. Right-hander Dylan Bundy leads the team in wins with six. In related news, the club is taking calls on those two controllable assets as well, and they should be. Both were once thought to be long-term staples of the rotation, but neither have developed into anything more than a lottery ticket.
Baltimore would be wise to sell, sell, sell in order to get back as many young arms as possible. The Orioles have plenty of rental pieces to trade that can get a couple decent prospects.
Baltimore hasn’t been smart in signing free-agent pitchers, with Ubaldo Jimenez and Alex Cobb being two of the more recent examples. The club needs to start doing a better job of developing young pitchers from within the system and then building a core around them, something it hasn’t done since the days of Mike Mussina.
It’s been an extremely rough year for the Orioles, and they are a perfect example of why pitching matters above all else.