“The Orioles need more starting pitching,” the angry mob has yelled since April. No kidding.
On Tuesday afternoon, the O’s acquired starter Scott Feldman and minor league catcher Steve Clevenger from the Chicago Cubs for starter Jake Arrieta, reliever Pedro Strop and international bonus money. The deal was first reported by ESPN’s Keith Law and then confirmed by everyone else that covers Baseball (there are lots of people).
It’s great to see the Orioles add a starter without giving up a prospect and Feldman has been a fantastic bounce back story this season. I’m still one of the few believers in Arrieta, but understand parting ways with a project pitcher for a guy that should help the team now. As for Strop, we saw what he was capable of in the first half of last season, but inconsistency and lack of command has plagued him ever since.
FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal tweets that Arrieta could make the Orioles look bad “if he figures it out.” That’s certainly true, especially considering the fact that Feldman will hit the free agent market after this season. However, the Birds have been waiting for Arrieta to figure it out for four years.
The deal seems fair for both sides and I’m most interested to see what Feldman looks like back in the American League. With the Cubs this season, Feldman has pitched to a 3.46 ERA, 2.68 K/BB and 1.143 WHIP over 91 innings pitched in 15 starts. Feldman has recorded nine quality starts this season, however they’ve come against the Marlins, Padres, Rangers (his former team), Nationals, Mets (twice), White Sox, Angels and Brewers.
Last season, Feldman struggled against the American League as a starter with the Rangers. Opponents hit .279/.321/.745 against him and he recorded a 5.48 ERA as a starting pitcher with Texas.
Dan Duquette has pointed to Feldman’s postseason experience as part of the reason the Orioles targeted him before the trade deadline. For more information and opinion on the deal, check out Avi Miller’s take.
I like this move. Certainly not the “Ace” (or Pink unicorn) that some on this site and in Twitterverse clamored for, but a solid guy who should make the rotation of Chen, Tillman, Gonzalez, Hammel, look even better.
This is the kind of starter you get for cast offs, fellas. Not Clayton Kershaws or Cliff Lees.
Nice, solid move, though nothing spectacular.
I completely agree. There wasn’t an ace that we could afford. We got a solid starter and got to keep Gausman and Bundy. I like it.
I wish Jake and Pedro luck in Chicago. I liked them both a lot but I don’t think they were going to overcome their mental problems here. There was too much pressure. I hope both of them turn out to be what we hoped them to be.
It’s not that we couldn’t afford an Ace , it’s that Angelos will not pay for one…………..
The only aces that are available right now are all on teams and have contracts so it’s got nothing to do with Angelos spending money. The only way to get an ace RIGHT NOW is through a trade and we don’t have enough pieces we would be willing to give up to get one. In the off season, when there are free agents you can argue that Angelos needs to spend more money but that’s not the problem right now.
It’s all about Angelos not spending the money,,,,,,,,,are you not paying attention , you can’t wait for the crisis and then just go get an Ace , you have tp acquire your Ace when one is available in the market place or by trade,,,,,,,,,the O’s have had many years to purchase their Ace and the one stumbling block has been ” I will not pay for a pitcher to pitch once every five days” , guess who said that ?
If you don’t realize Angelos is the problem there is nothing that can be done for you as you are most likely incapable of thought…………………
I usually agree with you but not this time and it’s not about getting an Ace…………….we rented this pitcher who will have difficulty against the teams we play and we gave up two pitchers who may or may not ‘make it’,,,,,,strop probably not but Arietta could and if he does it will look pretty bad,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,For Arietta’s sake I hope he does , even if it looks poorly on the O’s , it wouldn’t be the first time………………
I agree with mystery man,,,,,,,,,,,,,,can you believe it ?
Yep it will work as long as Big Danny Burns keeps his mitts off it!!
I guess we’ll see if this is a good move or not. From what I have seen he has gone 6 IP or less an a large portion of his games so he should fit in nicely to this rotation.
Adding a solid starter to the rotation so we don’t have to give the ball to Britton/Gausman/Garcia every fifth day is a good move in my book. Allow Gausman to work more in AAA and use Britton when needed.
This move hopefully gives the O’s some instant gratification without messing with the team’s chemistry. IF the O’s make it to the play offs with beam me up Scottie they look like geniuses. IF he is simply a loaner for three months DD looks like a turd. It’s a roll of the dice but so is walking across Coastal Highway during the summertime.
O’Day was just on The Fan, he was in Feldman’s wedding and said he’s a great guy. He also played for Buck a little bit and was in AAA at the same time as O’Day, Teagarden, Davis, and Hunter so I think he’ll fit right in.
Also, if he does well for us I really think it’s time for all of Birdland to sign a thank you card and mail it to the Rangers corporate offices.
Yea , but there are plenty of double Ds on coastal highway , so the gamble is worth it…………………..I love OC…………………..