Orioles acquire Cole Irvin from A.J

The Orioles acquired a left-handed pitcher Cole Irvine In trade with the Athletics, ESPN’s Jeff Bassan says (Twitter links). Right-handed possibility Kyle Verbitsky He will also head to Baltimore while looking for leads Daryl Hernes Heading to the A’s. The clubs have since announced the deal.

On the one hand, the move comes as a surprise, since there was no previous indication that the A’s were shopping Irvin or that they were talking to the Orioles. On the other hand, it’s not shocking to see the club continue to tear down the roster, as they have been firmly committed to this path over the past year. Matt ChapmanAnd Matt OlsonAnd Sean Manea And Chris Bassett All traded just prior to the 2022 campaign, while Frankie Montas He was dealt with mid-season and Shaun Murphy this winter.

With the club apparently wanting to strip the roster down to studs, any well-known Auckland player is at least a speculative trade candidate. There was no real rush to transfer Ervin, as he still has 4 years in control of the club, but he will qualify for arbitration at the end of this season and start earning bigger salaries. It appears they received an offer they liked enough to pull the ripcord early and drop Irvin from the roster in another future-focused move.

The Orioles had been looking for rotation promotions all winter and they had been It said Still in search earlier this week. They haven’t run out of huge paychecks in recent years, so Irvin’s low salary and years of cheap control have certainly been attractive to them. They made one modest promotion to their rotation this offseason with the signing of the veteran Kyle Gibson to a one-year, $10 million deal but has remained quiet until today. Irvine would soon become the club’s second most experienced player behind Gibson.

Irvin, 29, was a recruit for the Phillies and made his MLB debut. He has appeared in 19 games over 2019 and 2020 but with a bulging 6.75 ERA in that time. But his minor league results were much better, and the senior player took a boost by sending cash considerations to Philadelphia to get him. The change of scenery has gone very well for him, as he has made 62 starts over the past two seasons with a 4.11 ERA over 359 1/3 innings pitched.

This new change of scenery will have risks for The O, though. Irvin has succeeded in Oakland over the past two years with a low strike and contact approach. He passed just 5.2% of the batters he faced over those two campaigns, which is a very strong number. For reference, the league average for rookies last year was 7.5%. But he only managed hitting hitters at an average of 16.8% for Oakland, which is well below last year’s league average of 21.6%. His 37.6% ground ball over that distance was also slightly below par. This type of profile has worked for him within the confines of a proper pitching Oakland Coliseum but may not be as effective in different circumstances. It is perhaps worth noting that Irvin has posted a 3.44 ERA at home over the past two years but a 4.88 mark outside of Oakland.

These splits are clearly unaffected by the O’s and have added Irvin to the starting mix, where he and Gibson should take two outs. The rest of the spin will be less certain, with options like Kyle BradishAnd Dean KramerAnd Tyler WellsAnd Bruce ZimmermanAnd Mike Bowman And Spencer Watkins over 40 men. Each of these guys has some MLB experience but inconsistent results have kept them from truly establishing themselves as big players. There is, too Grayson Rodriguezwho is considered one of the best prospects in the sport, but has yet to make his MLS debut and missed most of last year due to a late strain. John Means He could be a factor down the line but likely won’t be until mid-season due to him having Tommy John surgery in April last year. It’s a group with a lot of unknowns, but the club is hoping to gain some reliability from Irvin and Gibson as they sort through the rest and see who separates themselves from the pack.

More is coming.