The Baltimore Orioles received another helpings of bad pitching news on Wednesday, as they announced that right-hander Kyle Bradish will miss the rest of the season following elbow surgery. Bradish joins fellow starters John Means and Tyler Wells, both of whom required their own elbow surgeries last month.
The Orioles, who are also without right-handed starter Dean Kremer on account of a strained triceps, seem like a reasonable bet to pursue starting pitching help between now and the July 30 deadline. As it stands, Baltimore's rotation includes ace Corbin Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez, lefties Cole Irvin and Cade Povich, and journeyman Albert Suárez. While that group has performed well as a unit -- they entered Wednesday ranked third in rotation ERA -- it's fair to have some reservations about the back end moving forward. (Suárez, after all, had last pitched in the majors back in 2017 prior to making his season debut this year.)
Just who might the Orioles pursue? Below we've highlighted 10 potential trade candidates of varying notoriety and likelihood. Bear in mind that this kind of exercise is always more of an art than a science, particularly with just under two months to go until the deadline. (Also note that the pitchers are presented in descending order of their perceived availability.)
1. Jesús Luzardo, LHP, Miami Marlins
Luzardo will top a lot of teams' wish lists this summer. He's young (27 come September), he's established (118 ERA+ since 2022), and he's controllable (free-agent date: winter 2026). The Marlins, under new baseball operations Peter Bendix, have every reason to cash in on his value sooner than later -- especially if it means restocking a depleted farm system with some promising young players. The one catch is that the demand for Luzardo's services might drive up Miami's asking price to a level where the Orioles just don't feel comfortable partaking. Clearly, that wasn't the case last winter with Burnes, so maybe Baltimore will win out again.
2. Paul Blackburn, RHP, Oakland Athletics
We keep including Blackburn in these articles. Eventually, he has to be traded, right? "Eventually" won't be in the short term, unfortunately, as he recently suffered a stress fracture in his right foot that left him in a walking boot. Blackburn has been a league-average or so starter dating back to his All-Star campaign in 2022 (you read that correctly). He has one more season of team control after this, so it seems highly unlikely that he ever starts a home game in Sacramento, let alone Las Vegas.
3. Tyler Anderson, LHP, Los Angeles Angels
4. Erick Fedde, RHP, Chicago White Sox
The Orioles have the ability to leverage their deep farm system and empty books in a way that lets them take on money without giving up much talent. That's why we think Anderson (owed more than $20 million through next season) and Fedde (owed more than $12 million through next season) could make sense as targets. Both have pitched well to date, with Anderson rebounding from a tough year and Fedde validating the improvements he made overseas. The Angels and White Sox would both be doing well to land a positional prospect or two from the Orioles' collection, even if the financial component leaves them picking from the second or third tier.
5. Nick Martinez, RHP, Cincinnati Reds
Think of this as a continuation of the above two pitchers. Martinez, who has split the season between Cincinnati's rotation and bullpen, has what amounts to a $12 million player option next year. If we had to guess, the Reds would like to avoid paying him that. The Orioles probably would, too, but there's no denying he's been an effective utility pitcher who has some shared traits (ahem, a rising fastball) with several current Baltimore pitchers. If the talent cost is low enough, we could see the Orioles taking him and his money on.
6. Austin Gomber, LHP, Colorado Rockies
7. Cal Quantrill, RHP, Colorado Rockies
We're pairing these Rockies because they've both pitched well while having another year of team control remaining. In theory, Colorado should absolutely listen to offers on them. In practice, the Rockies don't always take the expected or conventional approach to trade deadlines. It's quite possible that the Rockies intend to keep or both with the intention of making a wild-card push next year. We're not saying they should, we're just saying that they could based on their history.
8. Reid Detmers, LHP, Los Angeles Angels
It feels like every season Detmers has his pitch-model metrics improve while his ERA inflates. That is, to paraphrase Joe Girardi, not what you want. He's in the midst of what would be the worst full-season showing of his career, as he was sporting a 68 ERA+ through his first 12 turns before the Angels demoted him to Triple-A. Detmers has the kind of rising fastball that the Orioles tend to like in their pitchers, and it shouldn't surprise anyone if they feel they could get more from his arsenal than the Angels have. Besides, Detmers' home-run issues would probably be curbed by pitching in front of Baltimore. The Angels are a few years away from being a few years ago, so no one on their roster ought to be deemed untouchable.
9. Braxton Garrett, LHP, Miami Marlins
Garrett has shown a lot of promise when he's been healthy, amassing a 115 ERA+ in 55 appearances since the start of the 2022 season thanks to good control over a varied arsenal. He just hasn't been reliable in his availability, as evidenced by him already missing more than a month this year because of a shoulder impingement. The Marlins have every reason to turn over their roster during the coming weeks, and Garrett's injury history and lack of top-flight stuff could make him more available than what's suggested by his oodles of remaining team control.
10. Garrett Crochet, LHP, Chicago White Sox
Here's your moonshot candidate. Crochet has taken much better to the rotation than could have been reasonably expected given his background, posting a 130 ERA+ and a 6.11 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 15 appearances to date. He has a high-octane three-pitch mix, led by a mid-to-upper-90s heater and complemented by a new cutter and swing-and-miss slider. At first blush, the White Sox wouldn't appear to have much incentive to move Crochet. We're including him anyway because of his injury history and the fact that the Orioles could tempt the rebuilding White Sox with an overwhelming prospect package. Crochet's exact trade value is hard to pin down at this point, making any specific team relatively unlikely to land him.
