Back in July 2018, the Orioles officially entered their rebuild with a trade deadline fire sale.
Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop, Zack Britton, Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day were all traded, stripping down a core that had won 89 games in 2016.
Now in 2022, two of the players the Orioles received in return are enjoying a strong start this season.
Bruce Zimmermann, acquired by trading Gausman and O’Day to the Atlanta Braves, has an ERA of 0.00 after nine innings across two starts. Elsewhere, Dillon Tate is showing why the Orioles wanted him when they traded Britton to the New York Yankees with a 0.474 WHIP.
Zimmermann is striking out 26.3 percent of his batters, an increase from a 19.6 percent strikeout rate last year. To go along with more strikeouts, he’s also produced a noticeable increase in first-pitch strikes. Last year he had a first-pitch strike rate of 57.5 percent while this year, that number has improved to 68.4 percent. You can also see Zimmermann’s early improvements in the OPS he’s allowed. In 2021, hitters had an OPS of .841 against him, but that figure has sharply dropped to .570 in 2022.
Meanwhile, Tate hasn’t allowed a walk or an extra-base hit in 6.1 innings of work, producing an opposing slash line of .143/.143/.143. Tate also demonstrated an ability to work out of jams during Friday’s game against the Yankees, turning an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
Zimmermann and Tate are both due for some regression and no one is expecting them to pitch this well for the entire year. However, even with the small sample size, their success represents something important to the fans: the optimism that the 2018 fire sale will produce multiple contributors to the next good Orioles team.
The 2018 fire sale was hard to swallow, but it was an understandable decision for a team that ended the first half with a record of 28-69. However, the lack of meaningful success from the prospects acquired in the trades to this point has certainly felt disappointing.
Yusniel Diaz and Rylan Bannon are yet to appear in the majors and Dean Kremer has a career 6.84 ERA in 17 starts. Evan Phillips and Cody Carroll were both given chances as a reliever, but neither of them ended their time in Baltimore with an ERA under 7.00. Meanwhile, Zach Pop made his MLB debut with the Miami Marlins after the Orioles didn’t protect him in the Rule 5 Draft.
The Schoop trade did produce 1.5 solid seasons from Jonathan Villar as a veteran presence who could steal bases, but they’ve already moved on from him.
While it currently seems like Zimmermann and Tate are the only players from the fire sale who could amount to anything, the Bannon/Diaz/Kremer trio from the Machado deal should all have a chance to prove they can provide value to the major league roster.
Before being placed on the 10-day IL, Kremer seemed like he was going to have a new role as a reliever. A move to the bullpen has done wonders for Keegan Akin, another young pitcher who struggled with starting, so it’s certainly possible that Kremer could become a useful part of this roster in the bullpen.
While Kremer was going to begin the year on the MLB roster, Bannon and Diaz started this year at AAA with the Norfolk Tides.
Bannon was an absolutely dreadful hitter on the Tides last year, producing a .667 OPS with a batting average under .200. However, he’s been enjoying a strong start this year, providing a .857 OPS in his first ten games. The fact that he can play second and third also means he could provide value to the MLB roster as a utility infielder.
As for Diaz, he has once again found himself injured. According to his player page on MLB.com, he has now been placed on the injured list five different times since joining the organization in 2018. The early injury this year was especially frustrating after a 1.250 OPS in Spring Training and 1.270 OPS in his first six games at Norfolk.
Regardless of their current situation, all three of these players should have an opportunity in the big leagues this year as the Orioles continue to try to find value from the 2018 fire sale.
Of course, I should also note that none of the players mentioned above are expected to be key members of the next winning roster.
The realistic ceiling for Zimmermann is a #4 or #5 starter with very little chance he ends up being better than someone like Grayson Rodriguez or DL Hall.
Tate and Kremer could be solid parts of a winning bullpen, but I doubt their primes will remind anyone of Zack Britton.
Meanwhile, Bannon and Diaz are hardly the best prospects at their respective positions.
For Bannon, Coby Mayo is a more highly regarded third baseman and Terrin Vavra, his teammate on the Tides, is considered a better prospect at second base. As for the outfield, Kyle Stowers looks like a better prospect than Diaz among players in AAA and Diaz certainly seems like he’ll have less potential than Colton Cowser or Heston Kjerstad.
Looking at the big picture, none of the five players I’ve mentioned will truly matter to the success of the rebuild compared to the team’s top prospects and current stars. However, that doesn’t stop their success from meaning something to the fans.
I don’t think it’s ever going to stop being disappointing knowing that players like Machado and Britton are done being Orioles, but it will certainly feel better if we can clearly point to how trading them helped the future of the team.
The 2018 fire sale was a brutal end to an era of success in Baltimore. Now, Zimmermann and Tate represent the hopeful possibility that the return from trades can still contribute to the newest era of success for the Orioles.
BSL Analyst
Rose Katz is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, where she worked for The Diamondback as the online managing editor and a sports blogger. As a student, she spent almost all of her time on campus in The Diamondback’s newsroom or at Xfinity Center, Ludwig Field and Maryland Stadium. Rose gained intern experience with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).