The Toronto Blue Jays are a struggling baseball team, barely resembling the squad we saw the past several seasons. As such, after you get past top starters Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt, it gets thin pretty quickly since they traded fourth starter Yusei Kikuchi.
In fact, the Jays used three very subpar starters in a four-game set in Baltimore — Yariel Rodriguez, Bowden Francis and Paolo Espino. While Espino wasn’t clobbered on July 31, the Orioles had their way with him for four innings. That marked a perfect time for heated-seat skipper John Schneider to get another look at a young high-velocity right-hander Yerry Rodríguez.
As with a lot of young hard throwers, they can have days when their mechanics fall apart, leading to the very poor results that keep them suspects at the same time they are prospects.
After retiring Ryan O’Hearn, Rodríguez walked Ryan Mountcastle and Cedric Mullins. He got ahead of Jordan Westburg with a four-seam fastball, but his next four-seamer ran in and hit Westburg flush on the back of his right hand. It didn’t look good from the moment it happened. Perhaps buoyed by James McCann’s He-Man act the other day, Westburg didn’t immediately leave the game.
Two pitches later, Jackson Holliday put on his big-boy pants and hit his first big league home run, a grand slam onto Eutaw Street. The score jumped from 4-3 to 8-3. Suddenly, it seemed that the whole season had changed, with the real Jackson Holliday around for the final two months.
That’s the good news. The lousy news is that Westburg’s jog around the bases after that home run would be his last contribution for the next several weeks due to a fractured hand.
One pitch destroyed the best-laid plans of Mike Elias, who had already lost Jorge Mateo to an ugly elbow dislocation and traded away Connor Norby. The GM thought Holliday’s time was now, leaving Westburg to handle much of the duties at third base.
The Westburg injury occurring a day after the trade deadline leaves Elias unable to bring anyone in via trade. The timing couldn’t have been worse.
Trader Mike Elias’ Interesting Haul
Speaking of the trade deadline, Elias accomplished some pretty good stuff in picking up four controllable pitchers — two starters and two high-octane relievers.
I’m not saying Elias was only looking toward 2025, but he needed controllable starting pitching if he was going to part with five prospects. The GM sent out Connor Norby, Kyle Stowers, Jackson Baumeister, Matthew Etzel and Mac Horvath for Zach Eflin and Trevor Rogers.
In Eflin, the Orioles are getting a real strike-thrower who proved to be a solid innings-eater with Tampa Bay. I believe Eflin will become the highest-paid pitcher in Orioles history in 2025, when he is scheduled to earn $18 million in the final year of a three-year deal.
Rogers is a bit more problematic if you look at what he’s done since a runner-up NL Rookie of the Year campaign in 2021. He’s been slowed by injuries, including a left biceps strain and right lat strain in 2023. However, he posted a 3.17 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in his final nine starts with Miami prior to being dealt.
I am going to guess that despite the recent lapses of Gunnar Henderson, the combination of the Orioles’ defense and the left field wall may add up to some decent results for Rogers, who is under club control for two seasons beyond 2024.
In Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto, the velocity options out of the ‘pen for Brandon Hyde just went through the roof. Both take some pressure off Craig Kimbrel and may lessen Hyde’s reliance on the veteran closer. Domínguez has an $8 million club option for 2025, while Soto is arbitration-eligible for the final time.
Right-handed-hitting outfielders Cristian Pache and Austin Slater appear to offer very little. Eloy Jiménez is an interesting pickup. Still only 27 years old, Jiménez was originally signed by the Cubs in 2013, when Hyde was part of the club’s player development staff. The Cubs traded Jiménez and Dylan Cease to the White Sox for lefty José Quintana in 2017. Jiménez has struggled mightily with injuries, but Hyde is intrigued to see if the Orioles can find some life in his bat.
With the injury to Westburg, the recently acquired Liván Soto will get a roster spot to kick off August.
Two Last Things …
I know it didn’t end smoothly for Austin Hays in Baltimore, but Mike Elias ended his July 31 presser by commending his former left fielder and pointing out how important he was in helping move the Orioles back to relevance. It was a sincere salute to an important player.
One last off-the-radar move was quite interesting, as Elias pulled off a prospect-for-prospect deal with the Pirates. Elias described the deal of Orioles outfield prospect Billy Cook for right-hander Patrick Reilly as a simple match of the Pirates’ excess of pitchers and the Orioles’ excess of position players.
Reilly, 22, has spent the 2024 season with High-A Greensboro. The 6-foot-3, 208-pound right-hander has made 19 starts this year, tossing 88 innings of 3.38 ERA ball with a 1.16 WHIP. Elias did well to bring a pitching prospect of this caliber into the organization. Reilly can take the place of Jackson Baumeister, who went to Tampa Bay in the Eflin deal and had spent the season at Aberdeen. Reilly will start his Orioles career at Bowie.
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