The Baltimore Orioles had a very active MLB trade deadline and it was mostly praised by those who examined it, but not everyone was a fan of every deal made.
In recapping the deadline, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand spoke to different executives about what they thought of it. One spoke up about his confusion with one of the decisions made by the Orioles.
“I am still a bit confused by the Eloy Jiménez deal to Baltimore. That seemed like a bit of a forced deal to me and I’m not sure how necessary it was for the Orioles,” said an NL executive.
It kind of came as a surprise in the middle of the deadline, but was viewed as one that could make an impact in the playoff race.
Jiminez has gotten off to a hot start with Baltimore. In his three games with the team, he has a .556/.556/.667 slashing line as he’s gone 5-for-9 at the plate. He’s had a lot of singles, only one double so far.
On the season, the 27-year-old has lacked the power that he once showed, but has done a similar job of getting on base. His walk-rate has been at the second-highest it’s been in his career and his strikeout rate is the second-lowest, it’s the first time that those two have overlapped.
He has only played at the designated hitter slot so far with Baltimore and that’s likely all he will do with the team as he isn’t much of a positive in the field.
The DH slot of the lineup has produced a .289/.367/.489 this season with 20 home runs and 72 RBI. Jiminez isn’t an upgrade on that, but does at least add another bat to the lineup. He also slashes better against lefties than Ryan O’Hearn, the other player that gets a lot of time at the position
In the deal, the Orioles also avoided trading away a prospect of real consequence for the race to a championship as the Chicago White Sox walked away with 26-year-old pitching prospect Trey McGough.
McGough is a left-handed pitcher that could make his way to a MLB bullpen fairly soon, but likely wasn’t going to make an impact with Baltimore this season.
In 29 appearances between Double and Triple-A, he had a 1.92 ERA and 0.959 WHIP while striking out 9.4 batters per nine innings. It’s impressive, but moving to the White Sox could open up more things for him.
It may have not been the most necessary trade but it’s one that will likely either work out fine for the Orioles.
