On Tuesday, the Baltimore Orioles acquired right-hander Jack Flaherty from the St. Louis Cardinals in an attempt to improve a starting rotation that has helped the Orioles grab the lead in the American League East but now confronts fatigue concerns as the season nears its end.
The Orioles had a potential to be one of baseball’s more active clubs before the trade deadline, thanks to a cheap budget and a plethora of prospects, especially position players. They ultimately kept their most highly rated minor leaguers and are bringing in Flaherty, a 27-year-old free agency after this season.
“We’re going to need some help with the innings load down the stretch,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said. “We have a lot of young starters who have never done this before.” We have injured and exhausted members of our relieving corps, so we were basically searching for pitching aid in all shapes and sizes.”
Flaherty was 7-6 with a 4.43 ERA for the Cardinals, who finished last in the National League Central. On Sunday, St. Louis also sent left-hander Jordan Montgomery to Texas.
For Flaherty, the Orioles gave up infielder César Prieto, left-hander Drew Rom, and right-hander Zack Showalter. According to MLB Pipeline, Prieto is Baltimore’s No. 16 prospect, while Rom is No. 18, but the Orioles did not trade any of their eight prospects listed in the top 100.
“The top of our prospect list is as good as anything else out there,” Elias said. “It took a long time to get people off that part of the list.”
That’s not to say the Orioles wouldn’t have considered trading any of their more highly rated prospects, but they eventually chose to make a lesser deal.
“A lot of teams were really fixated on a lot of players we had that we just didn’t feel were appropriate to go in those deals,” Elias said. “That’s one of the reasons we waited until the last minute.”
This season, the 24-year-old Prieto hit.317 in 27 games for Triple-A Norfolk, while the 23-year-old Rom finished 7-6 with a 5.34 ERA. Showalter, 19, was 0-2 with a 2.37 ERA for Class A Delmarva.
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