Orioles Seen As ‘Mystery Team’ In Pursuit Star Pitchers
Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery still don’t have contracts. And as long as those two pitchers don’t have contracts, people are going to talk.
It also means that teams that most aren’t expecting to get involved in the pursuit of those two players, well, could get involved.
A few days ago it was the Philadelphia Phillies for Snell. The Phillies seem to have thrown cold water on that after extending Zack Wheeler.
But could it be the Baltimore Orioles that are one of those mystery teams?
Bleacher Report did its best to try and predict who some of the mystery teams might be for both pitchers. This comes on the heels of a USA Today report noting that least four new teams have entered the chat, so to speak, when it comes to pursuing both pitchers.
B/R tried to narrow it down and wrote that the Orioles make some level of sense.
First, the O’s have a need. Kyle Bradish is fighting an elbow strain and is most likely to start the season on the injured list. He’s on a throwing program and recently had a PRP injection. The hope is that Bradish, who finished in the Top 5 in Cy Young voting last year, can avoid surgery.
Next, there is John Means, who is behind in building up for the regular season. He returned late last season from Tommy John surgery and reported to spring training about a month behind the rest of the staff. The expectations is that he’ll probably need extra time.
Even with Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes at the top of the rotation, the Orioles have a lot of young arms, some of which don’t have significant track records — Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer, Tyler Wells and Cole Irvin. Only Irvin is a left-hander.
Another reason? The Orioles, theoretically have money to spend. The Orioles have a $92 million payroll and the ownership transition from the Angelos family to David Rubenstein could happen as soon as April. Rubenstein, however, can’t make decisions until he’s in charge. So any hope fo signing Snell in the near term relies on general manager Mike Elias making a case to ownership, which means John Angelos.
The Angelos family hasn’t been in the mood to spend money of late.
Snell is coming off winning his second Cy Young. Montgomery was a catalyst for the Texas Rangers as they won their first World Series.
Will the Orioles get in gear and make a play for either? Only time will tell.
