Orioles AL West Trade Targets: Andrew Heaney and Nathan Eovaldi

Intro the Orioles offense has hit just a little bit of a rut as they fall again to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday but this is still a first place team and still a team looking to add at the deadline so we'll dig into another group of teams from the AL West that could have some players the Orioles will be interested in this July that's all coming up on this episode of the locked on orol podcast you are locked on Orioles your daily Baltimore Orioles podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Show Open day hey there Orioles fans today is Thursday July 11th 2024 and welcome back in to the locked on Orioles podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day as always I'm your host Connor Nukem and coming up on today's episode we are going to recap the or four nothing loss to the Cubs on Wednesday night as they have now dropped this series at home get you the five things you need to know from that one including Corbin Burns overcoming some early struggles and the orial offense just not really having anything to put forth in the big moments on Wednesday then we will continue to preview the trade deadline for the Orioles now just 19 days away as the O's continue their look for pitching on yesterday's episode we took a look at guys that could be available from the NL Central today we moved to the AL West do the A's and the angels have anything to offer up to the O's and if the Rangers sell that could be the team where the Orioles would be able to find the best pitching talent but that's all coming up on this episode of the locked on Orioles podcast which is brought to you by booking.com booking.com for your stay today so we start this one with an Orioles final score from orial Park at Camden Yards on Wednesday night is the Chicago Cubs four and the Orioles nothing as the O's are shut out and have now lost this series have dropped the first two of a three-game set Orioles now 57 and 35 on the season we'll talk about the Oriol struggles with runners in scoring position on Wednesday night unfortunately the Tampa Bay Rays against the Yankees on Wednesday had the exact same issue Tampa went 0 for1 in those scenarios squandered a whole bunch of good chances and lost to the Yankees two to one so the Yanks gain a game they are now two games back of the Orioles and another team you got to be aware of is the Red Sox with the great baseball that they have been playing now as I'm recording they are trailing the A's 5 to2 in the ninth inning so if that holds the Orioles will remain six and a half ahead of the Red Sox who are definitely playing a lot better baseball as of late and I would say are technically in this division race at the moment but I'm going to get you the five things you need to know from the Orioles 4 nothing lost to the Cubs on Wednesday and the first thing you need to know is the Orioles offense is just in a little bit of a rut right now now did not score in this game and you know even with scoring 17 runs in the three games in Oakland like that that's a solid tally 17 runs in three games it's about six runs per game you'll win a lot of baseball games like that now they scored three and then eight and then six and they took two out of three on the road and you will take that but they did leave a lot of Runners on in that series against Oakland You could argue hey they scored eight runs in game two they lost 19 to eight Those runs were against the worst Believers in the A's Bullpen when not everybody was probably going 100% for Oakland in that spot as well but either way they're leaving Runners on base now on one side it's very very frustrating right they're Runners on Base getting guys on they had nine hits in this game on Wednesday night generally nine hits is going to lead to a pretty good offensive ninth it's going to lead to some production they had I believe yeah 11 total base runners because adley had a walk James mccan was hit by a pitch in this game as well so they were getting guys on base and even had three extra base hits three doubles in the game but this is a team that you know relies heavily on the Home Run ball which should farewell in the postseason research has shown that teams that their offense not just relies on the Home Run Ball but hits the Home Run ball a lot and relies on it seemed to Fair better in a postseason scenario because the pitchers are so much better higher leverage hunting strikeouts more it's harder to string together hits in the postseason so the research shows that just if you're able to just get a couple on and pop a three-run homer you are in a much better spot than other teams but sometimes if you don't run into one you're going to have nights like this where the offense looks a little lost in the big spots and it becomes more frustrating sometimes than a game even like Monday I mean or Tuesday excuse me Tuesday was a tough loss you get run off the field 9 to2 by the Cubs but the orol were 0 for one with runners in scoring position on Tuesday like they had the Westberg Homer they got another run in they just never even had any traffic like the offense basically had zero life even though they scored two runs I would say the offense had a lot more life on Wednesday despite not scoring and when you get nine hits you're getting base runners so yeah it's it's very frustrating 0 for 11 with Runners and scoring position is very very frustrating but it's nine hits It's not horrible production it's just kind of bad sequencing and this happens to good teams to bad teams it happens to all teams you just get into a rut with runners in scoring position and it can make your run total really fluctuate here's my look at it if your main issue as an offense in a certain rut the rut the Orioles are in right now is hitting with Runners and scoring position I think everyone would agree that is the main issue with this little mini slump that the offense is in right now you're probably in a good spot because if you're noticing how bad your team is with Runners and scoring position it probably means you're getting a lot of chances case in point they had 11 of those chances on Wednesday night now you'd like to convert on a couple of those and they didn't convert on any which is of course the big issue here I mean didn't even get like a sack fly or an RBI ground out in any of those spots when they could have but you will break out of it because if you are getting hits and getting guys on base and you are a good offense like the Orioles are remember number one in Major League Baseball in runs per game this is a great offense in this league you're going to hit homers they just didn't hit any on Wednesday that's going to give you some runs and then you're going to break out of it because the hitting sequencing will find a a better routine and a better spot if you just continue to get hits and get guys on base and remember a lot of you have very short memories it seems the Orioles have gone through multiple ruts like this this year they lost five games in a row just a couple of weeks ago they've been swept multiple times this season on the road and every single time it's been generally because the offense just couldn't get anything going and then they've broken out of it and immediately looked like these first place Orioles and gotten their season right back on track that is going to happen again hopefully they win tonight they might lose they might get swept on their home field by the Cubs but then it's a new series and another struggling team in the Yankees comes in and they can immediately flip that switch and even if they don't then that makes it a perfect time for the All-Star break to come starting on Monday this is a good team that has shown time and time again they have shown us many times this year they get into these Min slumps and they break out of them they're going to break out of this one too it is not some like gigantic point about the team that they can't hit with Runners and scoring position it's a sequencing issue if you're getting hits that's way better than not having guys in Runners and scoring position they will bring them in second thing you need to know from the Corbin Burns loss on Wednesday Corbin Burns ended up being solid in this one despite not really having his best stuff in this game still gave the Orioles a quality start six Innings of three-run baseball on nine hits he struck out five didn't walk anyone and allowed one home run it was a solo shot by Christopher Morell in the second inning to open up the scoring 97 pitches from Burns who now has a 243 erra on the season with only six hard hit balls against him I think the number one issue for Burns in this game and this has been something we've seen all season Burns has added a little velocity on his cutter but has lost a little bit of right to left movement on his cutter which is still the best cutter in baseball but it seemed like on Wednesday he lost even a little bit more movement on that cutter and it made it much more hitable especially for right-handed hitters the cutter is generally mostly a weapon against lefties but because Burns is is so good he uses it to get everybody out he just kind of left it over the middle of the plate too many times with not enough movement left it up to right-handed hitters and the Cubs hit him around they had four hits when they had the two-run second inning to open up the scoring and they ended up with nine knocks which ties a season high for burns nine hits allowed in one game the other stuff still looked crisp his change up was good at times I thought he had a really good curveball in this game I thought he had a really good slider in this game but whatever the other pitches look like Corbin burns the cutter will always be the bread and butter and if it's not totally there he's going to be a different pitcher and he has so much talent that he can still give you a quality start but wasn't at his best still give the o a chance to win the game I mean he he certainly was not the issue in this one the issue was that the offense did not score for any runs he'll generally be better but you'll even take when he's on his downside and is still giving you six Innings of three-run baseball and a little bit about Burns as well the third thing you need to know from the loss is that the batted ball luck was not really on the orial side on Wednesday night I mean Burns should have allowed only two runs through six innings in this game now it wasn't baded ball bad luck in the second inning the Cubs hit him hard but when he gave up the third run it was only because Michael Bush hit a ground ball up the Middle where gunar Henderson was played was going to be an easy ground out to short and then the ball hits the second base bag carams into left field and allows Bush to get all the way to second with a double and then a single later in the inning scores the run to make it three nothing the inning should have been over should have still been a two nothing game that was a tough break for the Orioles then you have kind of reaping what you SE which you know the new wall has generally helped the Orioles over the last few years but they lost three home runs the new wall Hayes adley and Jordan Westberg all lost to Homer now Hayes and adley were both fly outs to the warning track Westberg hit it off the top of the wall turned a two-run homer into a a double that was like a foot away from a two-run homer that would have least gotten the Orioles on the board as well I mean the the Cubs their fourth run was a bloop single in the ninth inning and then you know not as much batted ball bad luck but is bad luck for the O's like the game ends with gunar Henderson grounding into a double play in the bottom of the ninth it is July 10th and that was the first double play gunar Henderson grounds into all year and it's not like they had a huge rally they had one on with one out down by four runs but just kind of the night it was for the Orioles at the plate as well and in the field did not get the breaks uh Cubs got a lot of breaks they beat the Orioles on Tuesday but they got a lot of breaks as well things are not going the O way at the moment fourth thing you need to know from that Ryan Mountcastle Wednesday loss to the Cubbies is that maybe I talked Ryan mountcastle out of his little mini slump I hadn't really brought it up until yesterday's episode but Mount Castle went 0 for three made him 3 for 20 in July made him 4 for 32 for his last nine games he was not only slumping but it missed multiple games with illness in that stretch and I was starting to get concerned well Mount Castle of course got the start against the left-handed starter Mona was hitting third playing first base and he went three for four started this game three for three with three singles had a really hard hit single in the first inning and then got a little baded ball luck a couple of bloop singles in his next two at bats now his one shot with a runner in scoring position he did not come through but that was kind of part for the course for the Orioles on Wednesday but nice to see Mount Castle swinging it well again you'd like to see the singles turn into extra base hits for him that's when you're really getting his production but if he's getting on base he's getting on base and uh nice to see him have a few more fall in on Wednesday night and the fifth and final thing you need to know from the Orioles four nothing loss to the Cubs on Wednesday is that the bullpen generally did its job Dylan Tate did give up a run in the top of the KN just kind of an unlucky bloop single to bring the run in but CNL Perez had a good score L seventh Jacob Webb had a good scoreless eighth kept the Orioles right there but yeah the offense you don't score you can't win that I don't think that's breaking news to anybody but if you get shut out you are not going to win a baseball game that is what happened to the Orioles on Wednesday night as they have now dropped the first two in this series against the Cubs but even with the offensive struggles that's that's not where the Orioles are going to add at this trade deadline I wouldn't think like maybe a right-handed hitting bench outfielder would be the most they would do there when they add it's going to be starting pitching and relief pitching to help this team and today going to continue the series here on the podcast previewing the 2024 trade deadline for the Orioles on yesterday's episode took a look through the teams that could potentially sell in the NL Central including the Cubs and take a look at the players that could be available to the O's now we switch our attention to the AL West because we just saw one of their selling teams the O's took two out of three in Oakland against the A's over the weekend that's a team that's going to be selling off some parts and there could be others in that division as well so coming up next we'll talk about the two obvious sellers the A's and the angels do they have any pitchers who could help the Orioles besides the obvious one in Mason Miller we'll get to that right after this but first this episode of the locked on Orioles podcast is brought to Stitch Fix you by Stitch fix you know that instant confidence boost you get from an outfit that makes you look really good well that's what I get with Stitch fix at Stitch fix you get a stylist who understands your style size and budget they do all the shopping for you it's the easiest way to upgrade your wardrobe this season all you got to at Stitch fix is you give your stylist your size style and budget preferences order boxes when you want them how you want them with no subscription required and they send Five Just For You pieces plus outfit recommendations and pro styling advice you keep what you like and you send back the rest of it it is truly that easy you don't have to go shopping you don't have to put in all that effort and you get clothes that look and feel good and shipping returns and exchanges always free they make it simple it's style that makes you feel as you and as you look now's the best time to get started at stitchfix.com lockon MLB and get $100 off that's 25 bucks off your first four fixes for a limited time only that's stitchfix.com MLB for $100 off stitchfix.com MLB must redeem within 7even days of signup offer does not include kids fixes so for the Orioles it was a tough lost to the Cubs on Wednesday night don't really think the pitching was the issue at least in this loss it it certainly was one of the big ones in the Tuesday loss when deed Kramer got hit around but however the pitching performs or not over the next two weeks three weeks I think we all kind of know the Orioles need to add I would say at least one starting pitcher and one reliever at the least at this year's deadline maybe even two relievers to this team so I'm kind of bouncing around each division and taking a look at the potential selling teams and what they have to offer and today today we move to the American League West now the first things first is there are two teams in the alss who are certainly not selling at the moment one is the Seattle Mariners 51 and 43 they have a two and a half game lead as I record this over the Houston Astros it is going to be two games by the time the night is over the Astros currently as I'm recording have a seven to one lead over the Marlins in the sixth inning so Astros are about to be 48 and 44 after a really rough start to their season they have certainly turned it around there was talk of them maybe selling early in the year no no no they are a playoff hopeful team right now they are not going to be sellers anyway so that leaves three teams in the alss and let's start with the two teams who might be the two worst teams in the American League the A's at 34 and 59 and the angels at 37 and 54 those are two bad baseball teams those are two teams out of the playoff race and those are two teams that if they can get prospects back for some of their veterans who aren't sticking around for whenever they might by any chance be good again they should make those trades so let's start by taking a look at the Oakland A's and we'll begin with the starting pitches they might have to offer I would say there are probably three names over in Oakland who could be traded before this deadline now two of them are veterans on this Oakland team one is Ross strippling who they brought in this year on a one-year deal he is a rental but strippling hasn't really pitched much at all this season he has been out for a good chunk of of the year with an elbow issue he just came back to start his rehab assignment on Tuesday night it did go well it did not go well I should say he uh only recorded two outs and then left the game now as we know rehab assignment stats are not anything close to the end all Beall but when you have an elbow issue you're an older pitcher like strippling and that is how your first Rehab start goes not great even if it went well you're not loving a guy who's currently rehabbing an elbow injury two and a half weeks before the trade deadline probably not someone that you are really really targeting if you are the Orioles at this point so I feel like strippling is probably off the list at least at this point in 11 starts he also had a 5.82 erra before the injury with basically no strike out so yeah kind of out on him the other one is Paul Blackburn who has a year and a half remaining he is a free agent after 2025 he's been with the A's for a while he's coming off a foot injury so a little bit different you won't be nearly as concerned about that he also started his rehab assignment on Tuesday night and he also only recorded two outs and got hit around before leaving the game so again not a great start for Blackburn as well he made only eight starts this year before getting injured and had a 4.11 ER again not a lot of strikeouts not a great year coming off the injury probably not in the mix either so the only healthy guy for Oakland that could be in the mix with trades is JP Sears the left-hander who has a lot of Team control he is not a free agent until after 2028 for SE years it's been an okay year he's made 18 starts he's got a 4.74 ER it's basically equal to his FIP hasn't been as good it's been a year years past his strikeouts are actually down from what they've been as well I don't think Oakland if they're going to sell on Sears with that much team control would sell him kind of low which is what they would be doing right now I mean you never know what the A's are going to do it's a complete disaster of an organization at the moment but I think there's been reporting that they're kind of cooling on selling JP seers this year anyway so if they're looking for starting pitch Oakland is probably not the place however if the O are looking for relief help maybe Oakland is the place and of course the first name to start with is Mason Miller the guy who has set the world on fire the rookie reliever who has been amazing this year he is an All-Star for the A's he has everything they have wanted he's got 14 saves 38 Innings he's got a 239 erra with a 1.82 FIP he is striking out an absurd 47% of batters while walking only 10% opponents are hitting 141 against him he's throwing easily 101 milph with a fast ball it's ridiculous stuff he's been a little worse lately than he was when he set the world on fire early in the season here's the thing with Masa Miller he's not a free agent until after 2029 it's an insane amount of Team control and while I actually think a little bit more at this point than when I talked about this like a month and a half ago I'm a little more on the side of that the A's actually could trade him at this deadline it is going to take an absolutely absurd Prospect Hall to go and get m Miller and for a guy who is a reliever and could still be a starter in the future I think that's the what the A's eventually want him to be just kind of relieving now he's on an Innings limit because he's coming off an arm injury from last year I just don't know if the OES are gonna give up as much as it would take I mean you're looking at a package that probably starts with I mean maybe hon kirad and I mean I don't really know where this goes they could even ask for baso or Mayo to headline a deal you definitely think a guy like kirad guys like Norby Chase dermit are guys they would certainly be asking for in a deal like this plus potentially more just because of how valuable he's been and every team is going to want him I just think the Orioles aren't paying that price if he actually is traded now a guy who could be a little more cheap is Lucas EG another rhander in the A's Bullpen who was really really good when the Oriol saw him in Baltimore earlier this year ERS who is a converted position player to a pitcher hasn't been pitching for that long is also having a great season as their setup man this year 32 Innings he's got a 309 erra on the year he's striking a lot of guys out not nearly as much as Mason Miller just 28% with an 8% walk rate but he's been pretty solid on the year EG with a lot of Team control his overall numbers are all strong strikeouts walks ground ball percent soft contacts got a fast ball at 99 but he also had a 517 FIP in June his KS were way down walks were way up over the last month he is starting to kind of come back to earth right now and he's had some issues against lefties because he doesn't have a very good change up it would also still take a lot to go and get ERS I'm kind of cooling on him as well I don't think he's a guy the O's go after Austin Adams is in there Bullpen a free agent after 2025 he's got some good stuff but he walks and hits way too many guys I'm kind of out on him left-hander Scott Alexander is a rental who could be available but he walks too many guys and he basically has no swing and Miss he's not an impact reliever this is going to sound funny but the one reliever that I actually think is available to the O's they'd be willing to spend for and they could get is yes or or's Legend TJ McFarland who actually spent part of last year in triaa with the tides Orioles signed him to a minor league deal but never brought him up he signed with the A's this year and honestly this is no joke we we saw him a couple times over the weekend he's been really good for Oakland despite a 4.24 ER he's got a 388 FIP all of his underlying data shows he's a little bit better than that ra shows it's a 2.51 expected erra he's not given up any hard contact he's got a 64% ground ball rate yener Canó leads the league at 68% that is serious ground ball he's also getting some swings and misses on his new sweeper he would cost basically nothing Prospect wise to go and get he would be one of the Orioles top eight relievers probably now it wouldn't be a huge upgrade to the bullpen he'd be more of a middle relief piece at Best But if the Orioles add a really good reliever and also want to add another one for like the middle part and maybe upgrade on Keegan Aken TJ McFarland it would be funny but TJ McFarland could potentially be that guy now moving on to the angels in terms of starting pitchers the Angels Angels probably have two guys who could be available at this deadline one is the left-hander Tyler Anderson he is a free agent after 2025 he has owed $13 million next year which is pretty cheap for a starting pitcher he would really help he's had a really good year he's got a 2.81 erra he is an All-Star this season but there is a lot of smoke and mirrors with what Tyler Anderson is doing this year for the despite a 2.81 erra the underlying stats do not look good the expected stats xfip of 505 an expected erra of 4.48 despite a 281 erra his gap between his erra and expected ER is the 14th biggest Gap in all of Major League Baseball he's not striking guys out his walks are actually up from earlier in his career and he's getting a lot of babit block that is batting average on balls in Play It's 229 for Anderson which is really really low he's getting lucky when other teams hit the ball hard he is really a guy who's had a really good first half and has a chance to crash and burn down the stretch if luck stops being on his side now I still think in general he is a veteran pitcher who knows how to pitch and I think if the Orioles got him he would be one of their five starters and would help them down the stretch I would not touch him with a 10-ft pole when it came to putting him in the playoff rotation but I think he'd be a starter for for the O's maybe their number five guy and would help them I just don't know if he's someone who you can even think about trusting in a playoff spot so I'm not super in on Tyler Anderson the other one who could be available is right-hander Griffin canning who is a free agent after next year He's got potential but quite frankly he's been bad this year 18 starts a 487 erra I'm just yeah I don't think he really helps the Orioles that much however when you look at relief pitching for the Angels they've got some interesting names number one being their closer Carlos Estes who I have talked about before he was on my top six wish list of rental relievers you can check out that episode from a few weeks ago and I talked about that but Carlos Estes 16 saves 28 Innings 289 erra not for the first time in his career just not walking anyone I'd be very interested in him 37y old righty Luis Garcia would kind of be a fine middle reliever if the Orioles wanted to go that direction 38 Innings a 430 erra not great strikeouts not great walks he's got an interesting kind of sweeper and splitter combination to go with his Sinker he someone the Orioles could make a little bit better then there are other two relievers that could be available a couple of veterans Lefty Matt Moore righty Hunter Strickland quite frankly neither of them have been very good the Angels might try to trade them I don't think anyone wants them and I definitely don't think the Orioles would go after them but for the Angels Carlos EST stez give them to me for the AES surprisingly TJ McFarland but coming up next we got one more alwest team to talk about it's surprising to talk about the defending Champion Texas Rangers at a team that could sell the deadline but they've been kind of bad this year could the Orioles find some Talent from them if they sell I truly think they could and I'll tell you who might be available to help out the O's to finish off the Pod coming up after Bookingcom this but first this episode of the locked on Orioles podcast is also brought to you by booking.com booking.cm travel heating up especially for travel for baseball games it's time to explore those US cities you always secretly wanted learn more about and yes we're even talking about your rival cities with hotels bed and breakfast vacation rentals Resorts and so much more on booking.com you might find your perfect stay even in your baseball rival City now the Mets are not the Orioles Rivals but New York is certainly a rival City but there's a mid August series Orioles at Mets I have never been to City Field I am heavily considering heading up there for that one and maybe because I'm going to do the Mets ballpark instead of the Yankees ballpark that combined with booking.com will help me hopefully enjoy the city booking.com has so many choices across the US for your summer travel this MLB season the right stay can make you a fan of any US city even your Rivals book today on booking.com on the site or in the booking.com app and today's episode of the locked on Orioles podcast is also brought to you by game time game time is authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball which makes getting tickets faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to first pitch with killer last minute deals Allin prices views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee game time takes the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets now I will be in the ballpark tonight for game three against the Cubs and if you'd like to be there as well game time is the way to go even though it is right now the day of the ball game prices actually go down on the game time app the closer you get to first pitch you could buy tickets at 6 PM standing outside of Utah Street the tickets will be sent right to your phone on the app and you could scan them and go right into the ballpark trust me I've done it before you can save up to 60% off buying last minute Orioles tickets so take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code locked on MLB that is l c d n MLB for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price G guaranteed so the A's and the angels out of the ALS certainly will be sellers of the deadline the big question right now Rangers is about the Texas Rangers and what in the world they are going to do now this record doesn't include their game against the angels on Wednesday night which is in action as I record but heading into play on Wednesday six games out of the AOS sitting at 44 and 48 and when you look at the wild card standings for Texas they are 6 and a half games out with Kansas City Houston and Tampa Bay all ahead of them but not in playoff spots so the Rangers certainly are not out of it here as we sit on July 11th but they aren't very much in it at the moment and Ken Rosenthal wrote a story believe it was late last week or early this week about how the Rangers still haven't quite made up their mind and you know Chris Young has been talking about that kind of thing and the Rangers the defending World Series champions like you know they're going to want to go for it again but they just they've been ravaged by injuries they're they're waiting to get pitching back right Jacob deg gram is going to come back at some point soon they've gotten sherzer back already but they were planning to be in a little bit of a better spot at this point before getting that pitching back their offense which was the best in baseball last year has kind of been a nightmare this season we saw the Orioles just take three or four from Texas they will go to Texas coming out of the All-Star break and the Orioles if they go and win a series maybe even sweep a series in Arlington they could kind of put the nail in the coffin in the Rangers season and force them to sell and that would really really help out the Orioles because I don't think the Rangers are going to do any kind of fire sale they're too talented they're going to try and reload and be good in 2025 again but this is what Rosenthal wrote about they could at least sell off their rental players and with their rental players and some other guys who have like options for 2025 they've got a lot of interesting Talent let's start with Max Scherzer he's got a no trade clause and he's got his 10 five rights I don't know if he wants to be traded again he's also just not the same Max sherzer all these injury issues yes it would be awesome to add Max sherzer he's probably not the top priority for me with the Orioles but again if they ended up with Sherer I'm not going to complain it's a 309 erra still over his first four starts back from injury but he's not striking anybody out at this point you can tell the stuff is just a a little tick down the next guy potentially potentially is Andrew Heeney this is a guy I am very very intrigued by we saw Heeney dominate the Orioles seven scoreless Innings on Sunday Night Baseball a couple of weeks ago it's a lefty who throws you know 92 93 but very very heavy on the fast ball and is throwing more strikes this year than ever before four 18 starts with a 3.80 erra for Andrew hini on the season a lefty who can get lefties and righties out and I think Andrew hin would put in this team could be the game three starter for the Orioles behind Corbin Burns and Grayson Rodriguez he's got playoff experience he started a World Series game last year for the Rangers and allowed one run over five and two-thirds Innings that's a guy with some playoff caliber stuff right there I would be very interested in Andrew Heeney he is a rental shouldn't be too too expensive if the Rangers make him available another rental is Michael Lorenzen who remember was traded at last year's deadline he was an All-Star for the Tigers then was traded to the Phillies threw a no hitter for the Phillies and then kind of fell apart down the stretch and was basically their mop-up guy in the postseason I'm concerned he's going to do that again this year because despite the fact that in 15 Stars he's got a 321 erra he's got a 5.06 FIP which means he is way outperforming what he should be doing he's walking a lot of guys not striking guys out it's going to come crashing down on Lorenzen again I am good on Michael Lorenzen but the other starter that the Rangers have who really intrigues me is Nathan ivaldi right-handed pitcher veteran does have a $20 million vesting option for 2025 if he reaches 156 Innings pitched this year the option would become a player option for $20 million which means ivaldi would make that decision whether or not he would want to come back to potentially the Orioles he's thrown 87 Innings through 15 starts so he's right around on Pace to to get very close to that number he also has a 3.10 erra on the season does I avaldi but he's got one of the best fastball splitter combos in Major League Baseball now he's always had injury problems so that's certainly something you got to think about when you're trading for him but he is a horse and a dog in the playoffs 79 and two3 career playoff Innings ivaldi has a 3.05 career erra he was great in the postseason for the r last year and you shouldn't have to worry about if he Ops into $20 million next year especially with David Rubenstein that's what a good starting pitcher goes for and the O need starters next year so if he opts in that's a good thing you'd have ivaldi for another season now the Rangers may not make him available because they might want him back next year but man oh man if they trade him I think the O should be all over Nathan ivaldi now in terms the Rangers Bullpen they've also got some really interesting pieces there David Robertson have already talked about he's got a mutual option for next year but most likely will become a free agent after this season check out my my rental relievers episode Robertson's just been outstanding 38 and twoth thirs innings 303 ER crazy big strikeout numbers low walks David Robertson is my number one most Wanted rental reliever right now the O need to find a way to go and get him Jose lerk is also a rental relievers remember he pitched in basically every playoff game for the Rangers last year as kind of their deao closer the right-handed L clerk has lost his closer role this year he has not been as good in 40 Innings this year he does have a 4.08 ER but he's still striking guys out and he's getting better and better so his KS have been up his walks have been up this year the stuff's been great and you look at the stuff and you're like it's the same why is he so bad it's just the command the walks have been way up but he's turned it around since June 1st L clerk has thrown 15 and a third Innings and has a 235 ER allowing only eight hits with 23 KS and six walks and has allowed only one hit against his four seam fastball in that stretch I think he's figuring it out and he's a guy with a lot of playoff experience as we know could be super helpful as a setup guy in this Orioles Bullpen another guy who could be helpful Kirby Yates veteran right-hander another rental has basically resurrected his career this year been absurdly good as the Rangers closer not really super lucky either he's got his lowest walk rate since 2019 I mean Yates has just been completely outstanding 14 saves 32 Innings he has a 0.84 ER and it's not even a smoke and mirrors ra like his FIP and his expected RA are in the ones like it's not that much higher than what he's doing the splitter has been just an absolute killer weapon with the four seam fastball it's it's just a two-pitch pitcher but they've both been nasty I'd be looking at Kirby Yates as well to potentially help the oros close some games last guy who could be available is Jose ARA a right-hander who is also a rental he's been kind of a good Swingman for them 278 erra and 68 Innings six starts 16 relief appearances he would help the O's I think but just not someone they're they're probably not a super high ceiling he's had a bad moments of his career earlier and I don't think the O's would really go after him but again the big thing with the Rangers is if they choose to sell even the rentals Robertson L clerk Yates Haney eovaldi the O should be all over trying to get these guys the prices will be high because the Rangers if they don't trade them will say hey we'll still try to win something this year but man oh man one of those guys from the Rangers two birds with one stone Orioles go into Texas after Allstar breaks sweep them force them to sell and then trade for their best pitchers that is the deadline plan the number one what I want the o to do is that right there but that'll do it for today's episode thank you so much for tuning in make sure to like comment and subscribe to the locked on orol YouTube channel sorry for going a little bit longer on the episode today but it's a lot of Rangers to talk about wanted to talk about some more positive stuff after a tough loss for the O's on Wednesday but great thing about baseball they are right back in Action tonight 6:35 start Justin steel The Crafty Lefty goes for the Cubs coming off an amazing season last year he's continued to be great with a sub3 ER and Albert Suarez back-to-back amazing starts takes the hill again I'll be at the Ballpark tonight come say hi if you see me around and hopefully the orios will avoid the sweep and get the W and then I will be back tomorrow recapping game three between the Orioles and the Cubs getting you ready for this huge series huge series against the Yankees this weekend and maybe taking a little look at the players in this own division in the AL East who the Orioles if they want to pay that inivision tax could go after at the deadline that's on tomorrow's episode but until then I'm Conor Nukem and this has been the lockon Orioles podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day