Baltimore Orioles: Evaluating Monday’s Pitching Deals

Aug 23, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Brian Matusz (17) pitches during the twelfth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Minnesota Twins defeated the Baltimore Orioles 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

The Baltimore Orioles had a very active Monday with a variety of deals relating to pitchers, including the trade of Brian Matusz to Atlanta.

At the end of the day, the Orioles have one less pitcher in the organization (Matusz) along with the remainder of his $3.9 million contract, one less draft pick (trading the 76^th overall selection), and two less international signing bonus slots.

On the other hand, they have gained four pitchers for the minor league system … a veteran who could possibly make a comeback, and three young pitchers with some decent statistical numbers.

You can put me down as calling this an overall good day. It will take some time to see how it all plays out on every end. If Matusz becomes the next iteration of a Cy Young winner like Jake Arrieta, this will look dumb. But there is no reason to bet on that one. And maybe none of these four new arms in the system ever contribute in Baltimore, but right now, we can’t say that Matusz is helpful or will be anytime soon. The money saved can be better used elsewhere as well.

The Brian Matusz move is not a total surprise, especially to us here at The Baltimore Wire. We suggested just days ago that he could be a guy who could benefit from a change of scenery.

It is pretty great that Dan Duquette was able to get something in return for Matusz. Though you hate losing a fairly high draft pick, the return involves a couple of arms who really could compete, doing so even sooner than a draftee. And when Matusz was gone in the past, the Orioles did not miss him too terribly. Remember his eight-game suspension last year? The O’s went 7-1 with the 24-man roster.

Let’s talk about these moves in order of how the dust settles (most likely), going from the top (the O’s) and down to “A” ball…

At this moment of writing, the word seems to be that Ashur Tolliver will take the open spot on the 25-man roster, moving up from Bowie. The 28-year-old lefty has been a good soldier in the Orioles’ system since being a fifth-round pick out of Oklahoma City College in 2009. He has never pitched above AA, but has had two good seasons there over the past two years. Currently he has a 2.42 ERA in 18 games and 26 innings of work.

The Orioles picked up veteran lefty Brian Duensing, the 33-year-old lefty who has had a decent career with the Twins in particular. He opted out of a contract with the Royals and was subsequently released. His AAA numbers aren’t bad, with lefties hitting only .219 off him and righties even worse at .209. Will we see him in Baltimore? I’m not expecting it, but neither is it a crazy potentiality. But his career 4.13 ERA and WHIP of 1.384 would lead me to be more excited about advancing some minor league players instead. Duensing will be at AAA Norfolk.

The first of two pitchers coming back from the Braves in the Matusz deal is Brandon Barker, who will be headed for Bowie. In AA for the Braves, the right-hander has pitched 45 innings this season with a 2.00 ERA. The peripheral stats are all very good as well, with a WHIP of 1.044. This is good stuff!

The other returnee for Matusz is lefty Trevor Belicek, like Barker a 23-year-old. In only 26 total minor league games from rookie ball through AA, he has pitched very well both as a starter and reliever. The total ERA is 2.43 with a 1.055 WHIP. This is also good stuff! He will be sent to the Frederick Keys where I will look forward to meeting him.

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Lastly, Franderlyn Romero was obtained from the Reds for two international signing bonus slots (too complicated to talk about here today). This Venezuelan is only age 23 but is already in his seventh season of professional baseball. The numbers are a mixed bag of stuff over the years, and honestly all that is of interest is what has been done lately. Those stats are pretty good and come from the Midwest League where he has a 2.87 ERA in eight starts with a 1.170 WHIP. He’s a long way from Camden Yards, but presuming he is put into the capable tutelage of Blaine Beatty with the Shorebirds, the day may come where he is a star and you will be naming your first-born Franderlyn rather than Cal or Brooks. <UPDATE: Romero is going to Frederick.>

So this was a good day in my humble opinion. That may not be obvious tomorrow, but I think it will work positively for the future. The only thing that would be better is if there was a solution for the Ubaldo Jimenez dilemma. So many O’s fans made this remark on both Twitter and Facebook that, if we had a dollar for each one, we could eat dinner at a pretty nice restaurant.

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