Orioles Pull Off Trade for Brewers Pitcher, Transfer Injured Starter to 60-Day IL

The Baltimore Orioles made a trade to add a pitcher while also moving one of their reliable arms to the long-term injured list.

Baltimore Orioles hats and glove sits in dugout | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles have made a trade for a pitcher, but it's not anyone of note.

Per Jake Rill of MLB.com, the Orioles have acquired left-hander Grant Wolfram from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for outfielder Daz Cameron and cash considerations. To make room on the roster for Wolfram, they transferred Albert Suarez to the 60-day injured list.

There's a lot to unpack here.

First, Wolfram is not going to help the glaring starting pitching need that Baltimore has.

Taken in the 18th round of the 2018 MLB draft by the Texas Rangers, he has largely been used as a reliever during his time in the minors, posting a career 3.99 ERA across his 177 appearances and 25 starts with 403 strikeouts in 329 innings pitched.

Wolfram elected free agency following the 2023 campaign and signed a minor league with the Brewers, but despite pitching at the Triple-A level for the better part of two seasons, he has yet to make his Major League debut.

This is a clear depth move based on the loss of Suarez.

Coming off a strong showing in 2024, which was his return to the MLB mound following a seven-year gap, the right-hander was expected to be the swingman for the Orioles with his ability to be a long reliever and make spot starts.

However, following his first outing of the season where he pitched 2 2/3 innings and gave up an earned run on five hits, he was placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. That later was re-diagnosed as a subscapularis strain affecting the front of his shoulder blade.

With Suarez now being moved to the 60-day IL, Baltimore needed more options they can turn to as needed.

The Orioles acquired Cameron in a trade with the Athletics this past winter, but once they signed Tyler O'Neill, Ramon Laureano and Dylan Carlson, he was relegated to a minor league role.