Mounting Tension

 

So you're telling me that the Detroit Tigers' scouts currently have men in Norfolk, looking specifically at Connor Norby, Cody Mayo and Kyle Stowers, three great organizational pieces that do not have room to play in Baltimore, while, the Orioles soldier on with a giant Tarik Skubal-shaped hole in their rotation? Is that what you're telling me? How about that?

Look, we'll know in like 10 days how many of these approximate deals and fits actually start going through. Cause we have heard a nice amount of, like, 'oh, the Pirates are looking at Jazz Chisholm' or 'ooh, the Red Sox want Garrett Crochet', but it's all mindless speculation til trades start actually happening. But the Tigers scouts arriving in Norfolk is a pretty consequential step. Because Norby and Stowers would get a ton of playing time in Detroit, and if it's not them there are other prospects they can choose from, because Norfolk is just full of people that can't fit on the O's right now. Like, forget that Holliday's trying to make his way back, there's all these other guys as well. It's getting kind of insane, actually, and it's a really good problem for the Orioles to have. Remember like 4 years ago when nobody wanted to play for this team? Now we're here.

The thing that is slightly concerning with the O's chasing Skubal is if you go back a year, you have a perfectly good reason why they should be wary about chasing a 'surefire' starting weapon. Hell, Jack Flaherty's literally on the same staff as Skubal right now. I think Flaherty was my #1 on last year's Trade Deadline deals list, which...yeah, didn't age well at all. Flaherty completely fell apart upon arriving in Baltimore. Now, Skubal is a much different pitcher than Flaherty, and has had less moments of out-and-out struggling. But there's still the factor that as good as this team is, they could still fail to make the leap.

Still, the O's are commanding the AL East at the moment, even as the Yankees try to claw their way back. Everybody in the lineup other than Jorge Mateo has over 30 RBIs, and four guys have over 50 RBIs. Ryan Mountcastle isn't the overwhelming power bat as he's been in past years, but he's still having a decent enough year, with 12 homers and 43 RBIs. Both Henderson and Santander are on the Top 5 HR list at the moment. Despite Bradish and Means being done for the year, Albert Suarez and Dean Kremer have improved as of late. I get why they want Skubal, they want a third piece after Burnes and Rodriguez. Their rotation isn't bad at the moment, but they have some B and C guys where there should be more A's, I get that.

It'd be amazing if the O's succeed at the deadline and do it in a way that doesn't gut their further development. I know, the Yankees winning it all would be incredible, but the O's getting there as well would also be amazing. 

Coming Tomorrow- I think it was the injury that made me slightly surprised he got an ASG nod, but then I remembered he hasn't not been amazing this year.