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9:54 am: The two teams are indeed in trade talks, although MLB.com’s Joe Trezza tweets that it’s not nearly finished yet. Discussions “always seem to be going in the right direction,” according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com.
9:20 am: Angels and Orioles work on a craft to send right-handed people Alex Cobb from Baltimore to Anaheim, Dan Connolly and Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic (via Twitter). Details are still being finalized, Connolly adds. The Orioles are surely including money to offset some of the $ 15 million owed to Cobb in the final season of his $ 57 million contract with the O’s. This deal contains a no-trade clause at 10 teams but the Angels either don’t or Cobb is willing to give it up to move on to a more competitive club.
Cobb signed at the end of the 2017-18 offseason, signing his surprising four-year pact with the O’s on March 21, as spring training drew to a close. He didn’t make his team debut until April 14 of that year, but even with a little extra time to develop, it turned out that the lack of a full spring training was difficult for him. Cobb, who was scored for 17 points on 30 hits in his first three starts.
From that point on, Cobb largely righted the ship, hitting a respectable 4.22 ERA from May to the end of the season. Cobb’s strikeout percentage was nowhere near what it had been at its best in Tampa Bay, and it remains so today. A back injury torpedoed Cobb’s 2019 season, but he returned in 2020 to make 10 starts with an ERA of 4.30 (4.65 SIERA), a 16.8% take-out rate and a walk rate. by 8%.
Cobb’s recent takeout rates are well south of the league average, and last year’s eight percent walk rate was his highest since his rookie year in 2011. His Statcast profile doesn’t brush up. a particularly favorable picture, as his success rate and average opponents exit speed was among the best scores of all pitchers in the league. Cobb’s 54.5% ground ball rate is encouraging, however – especially considering he would play in front of a solid home defense in Anaheim (Anthony rendon, Jose Iglesias placeholder image, David Fletcher).
Granted, Cobb isn’t the high-end starter most think Angels need, but the cost of acquisition here is probably relatively low, and he’ll give the Halos another valid arm to absorb. a few rounds. Teams need well over five starters to get through a 162-game season under normal circumstances, and that reality will be magnified exponentially in 2021 after last year’s shortened schedule truncated everyone’s workload. Major League pitcher.
Cobb joins Dylan bundy, Andrew Heaney, Griffin canning, Jose quintana, Shohei Ohtani, Jaime Barria and Patrick sandoval as rotation options on the Angels 40-player roster. It’s likely everyone in this group will have debuts, and it’s worth considering if the Angels will consider a six-man rotation given their overall approach to their rotational makeup. This will be determined by new general manager Perry Minasian and manager Joe Maddon, the latter of which is very familiar with Cobb after handling the first seasons of his career with the Rays.
For the Orioles, subtracting Cobb from an already suspect rotation thins depth and, more importantly in the eyes of owners, reduces payroll. Even with Cobb on the books, the Orioles’ payroll was only $ 64 million, but this deal could take them below $ 60 million, depending on how the financial details are sorted.
If Cobb does leave, left-handed John means would be the only lock for the Baltimore rotation. Younger options like Keegan Akin and Dean kremer appear to have the opportunity to earn spots on Opening Day, and the Orioles have several potential spinners on their 40-man roster: Bruce Zimmerman, Jorge lopez, Michael baumann, Zac Lowther, Alexander Wells.
General manager Mike Elias recently spoke about the possibility of signing a veteran starting pitcher, and the need for depth is only further emphasized by the profession of the most experienced starter on the team. It’s likely that whoever brings the Orioles in will order less in terms of pay than the amount the Orioles save in the Cobb deal.
Last year Elias completed the rotation by signing Wade leblanc and Tommy milone to unsecured deals that ultimately paid them less than $ 1 million apiece when they won places in the spring roster. It’s plausible, if not likely, that the Orioles will take a similar approach in the weeks to come.
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