Three Former Orioles The Front Office Should Consider At The Trade Deadline

The trade deadline is almost here and for the first time in almost a decade, the Baltimore Orioles look to be buyers. It’s no secret that while the Orioles sit atop the AL East, the roster still has some significant holes, especially when it comes to pitching. Mike Elias aimed to fill one of them by acquiring Shintaro Fujinami last week, but with plenty of time still to go before the deadline arrives, more moves are almost certainly on the way. 

That being said, I wouldn’t expect to see any new superstars don the black and orange this year. While national pundits will continue to hypothesize about blockbuster trades to bring Shohei Ohtani, Dylan Cease, or Shane Bieber to Baltimore, it’s highly unlikely that any of those deals will come to fruition. As Buster Olney reported last week, the consensus among MLB front offices is that the Orioles will be measured buyers who are willing to make moves for the right price but won’t go all in on 2023.  

Fortunately, there are still a slew of intriguing pieces that Mike Elias could acquire without mortgaging the future. Three such players would be familiar faces in charm city as they would be returning to the franchise that made their professional baseball dreams come true. Let’s take a look at why bringing home Eduardo Rodriguez, Josh Hader, and Hunter Harvey could take the Orioles from playoff probable to world series favorite. 

Eduardo Rodriguez 

When the Orioles signed Eduardo Rodriguez as an international free agent in 2010, very little attention was given to the acquisition. After all, the left-hander was just 16 years old and his potential was still largely untapped. 

Over the next four years, however, he established himself as one of the top arms in the system, working his way up the minor leagues and up prospect rankings. By the start of 2014, Rodriguez was firmly placed among the top 100 prospects in all of baseball and as the big-league club looked to add major league talent to help with their playoff push, teams in rebuild mode began to inquire about his availability. One such team was the Boston Red Sox, who were willing to exchange relief pitcher Andrew Miller for him, an offer general manager Dan Duquette could not refuse.  

Miller would help the Orioles win their first division title since 1997, justifying the trade in the eyes of most Baltimore fans. However, Rodriguez has gone on to have a highly successful major league career headlined by a world series win with the Red Sox in 2018. He is currently enjoying his best statistical season to date, and given both his contract status and the poor performance of the team around him, a return to Baltimore to help the rotation as the Orioles pursue their first division title since that 2014 season feels almost too perfect. 

With a 2.69 ERA, 3.14 FIP, and .968 WHIP through 83.2 innings in 2023, Rodriguez would slide seamlessly into the top spot of the rotation. His five-pitch arsenal, headlined by an impressive cutter that runs in on right-handed hitters, would play excellently given the dimensions of Camden Yards and with an average exit velocity against, hard hit percentage, and expected ERA all in the top quartile of pitchers, there’s no indication that regression is on the way. 

Furthermore, Rodriguez embodies many of the qualities that the Orioles current rotation lacks. He has experience pitching in the playoffs and has thrown over 120 innings five times in his career, both of which can’t be said about any Orioles pitchers other than Kyle Gibson.  

While he is technically under contract for 3 more years and $49 million, it seems inevitable that he will opt out after the season given how well he has pitched this year. That means this deal can be viewed primarily as a rental and should not require a huge return. Bringing Rodriguez back to Baltimore would be a home run move for the Orioles, especially if they can do so without dealing any of their top 100 prospects.   

Trade Proposal: 

Orioles Receive: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez 

Tigers Receive: OF Dylan Beavers, INF Cesar Prieto 

Josh Hader 

As important as adding a starting pitcher may be for the Orioles, adding a left-handed reliever is even more so. Danny Coulombe has been excellent so far this year and Cionel Perez has shown flashes from time to time, but the bullpen is still incredibly reliant on right-handers, a quality that could cause issues in the postseason. Who better to solve that problem than Baltimore native and former Orioles 19th-round draft pick Josh Hader. 

Hader signed with Baltimore out of high school in 2012, forgoing the chance to play at Anne Arundel Community College. He immediately saw an uptick in velocity after joining the organization and was a fast riser through the lower levels of the system, arriving at Single-A Delmarva within a year of being drafted. Similar to Rodriguez, his steady improvement made him a desirable trade candidate and he was ultimately dealt to the Houston Astros prior to the 2013 trade deadline in a deal that brought Bud Norris to Baltimore.  

Hader never appeared in a major league game for Astros, instead debuting for the Brewers, who acquired him from Houston in 2015. He spent parts of six years in Milwaukee and established himself as one of the best relievers in the game before joining the Padres last season in the midst of their playoff push. 

While he struggled upon his arrival in San Diego, this season has been a completely different story. In 37 innings of work, he has allowed just 16 hits, 19 walks, and four earned runs while tallying 55 strikeouts. His peripherals are even better, as he is in the 96th percentile of average exit velocity allowed, 95th percentile of whiff rate, and 99th or 100th percentile in hard hit percentage, expected ERA, expected batting average against, expected slugging percentage against, and chase rate.  

With a fastball that tops out close to 100 MPH and a wipeout slider that is virtually unhittable, Hader would make for a lethal addition to an already solid Orioles bullpen. A 7-8-9 combination of Hader, Yennier Cano, and Felix Bautista would give nightmares to any opposing offense and take a lot of pressure off of the starting pitching. 

The question here is whether the Padres will be willing to sell their best reliever after mortgaging their farm system in a flurry of trades at least year’s deadline. A recent report from ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez suggested that both he and fellow left-hander Blake Snell would not be dealt, but with the Padres still six games out of the final wild-card spot, I’d imagine that anyone can be had for the right price. A top-100 prospect who doesn’t seem to have a spot in Baltimore should get the job done.  

Trade Proposal: 

Orioles Receive: LHP Josh Hader 

Padres Receive: INF Connor Norby 

Hunter Harvey 

The final player the Orioles could bring back to round out the roster is also the only one who appeared in a major league game for Baltimore. A first-round draft pick in 2013, Hunter Harvey spent six years battling his way through the minor leagues in the Orioles organization before finally making his major league debut in August of 2019. 

Unlike Rodriguez and Hader, Harvey was highly-regarded long before his arrival in Baltimore. Thanks to a hoppy fastball and some interesting off-speed pitches, he became a consensus top 100 prospect by the end of his first season of professional ball and looked to have all the makings of a frontline starter. What followed was a slew of injuries that forced him to miss time in in each of the next five seasons. 

Much of the hype surrounding him had died down by the time he arrived in the majors, but he impressed in his first few outings out of the bullpen, sparking some hopes that he would follow in the footsteps of Jim Johnson and Zack Britton and become the next great Orioles closer. Those hopes were quelled relatively quickly, however, as injuries once again kept him off the field for most of 2020 and 2021.  

After being released from the Orioles following the 2021 season, Harvey eventually found himself in Washington. He impressed in his first season with the Nationals, posting a 2.52 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 39.1 innings of work. That performance, as well as a hot start to 2023, earned him a promotion to the closer role in June of this year.  

Though Baltimore is not in need of a closer, Harvey’s stats suggest that he could be a great middle relief option down the stretch. In 40.1 innings this year, he has posted a 3.12 ERA and a .99 WHIP while striking out almost four times as many batters as he has walked. There may be room for some regression in those numbers as his exit velocities, hard hit rate, and barrel rate are all below league average, but with a low salary and two more years of control, acquiring Harvey feels worth the risk.  

There is one other big problem in that he was added to the IL on July 16th with a right elbow strain. Pursuing a player who is currently hurt would be a significant risk for the front office to undertake, but if the reports of the injury being minor are correct, the return could be exponential. Furthermore, the cost of acquiring him should be low given his long injury history. Why not give the former top prospect one last chance to prove his worth in Baltimore? 

Trade Proposal: 

Orioles Receive: RHP Hunter Harvey 

Nationals Receive: LHP Drew Rom, OF Kyle Stowers