The Baltimore Orioles (47-37) are in the middle of a five-way rat race in the American League East standings, and have swung a trade with the cellar dwelling Chicago Cubs (35-46) of the National League Central that landed them a veteran starter having a career year in hopes of bolstering their lagging rotation.
The Orioles dealt two promising young arms, starter Jake Arrieta (1-2, 7.23 ERA) and relief pitcher Pedro Strop (0-3, 7.25 ERA) for Scott Feldman (7-6, 3.46 ERA), a 30-year-old pitcher in the midst of the best season of his career.
Dan Duquette, the Orioles executive vice president talked to The Baltimore Sun about the win-now deal, saying, "I think when you have a number of players who are having a good year like we are, you have to address the needs of the ballclub and put your focus on this year's club. And this year's ballclub needs more stable starting pitching, and that's what this trade is designed to address."
Indeed, Chris Davis is having a season (.329, 31 HR, 80 RBI) that has been matched only by perennial MVP candidate Miguel Cabrera, Adam Jones has carried his excellent 2012 campaign into this year, and young third baseman Manny Machado is leading the AL in doubles.
To this point, however, Baltimore was third worst in the AL in runs allowed per game (4.61), and second worst in ERA (4.44). Also two of their regular starters, Freddy Garcia and Jason Hammel, have ERAs well over the 5.00 mark.
O's manager Buck Showalter expressed excitement about Feldman's addition. "He's a guy with some American League background," Showalter said. "He's a competitive guy. Haven't seen him in a while. He's had a couple things in his arsenal that are a little different than when I had him. He was more of a relief pitcher there, had a little different arm angle. There's a lot of things that work in his favor. He's been in the American League. [It] should be a pretty seamless transition to the locker room."
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.