Ex-Oriole Dean Kremer Dominates Birds While Trevor Rogers Comes Up Quite Small

The Orioles kept starting pitcher Trevor Rogers despite him being well poised as a trade chip, on an elite 10-game stretch ahead of the deadline, with the O’s selling other key players and Rogers on an expiring contract.

He is a high-variance starter of the highest order, quickly oscillating into prolonged stretches where he could look like an All Star or a bad AAAA starter. It really is that extreme, which was all the more reason for baseball failure Mike Elias to sell as high on Rogers, 28, as possible when he could. And facing a Twins team in a race for the final Wild Card spot, Rogers came up as small as he tends to under any real pressure, while a control-able arm for two years who Elias traded for an 18-year old, Dean Kremer, made Elias look like silly again (he needs no help with this but it comes from all over).

Rogers was antsy and uncomfortable and hit the backstop and hit two batters and was yanked after four innings, while Kremer absolutely embarrassed this feeble Baltimore lineup, becoming yet another opposing starter to have a career outing at the Birds expense. The Twins pulled away late for a humbling, 9-5, victory at Target Field in which Kremer went seven innings, gave up a single meek infield hit, struck out seven and needed just 89 pitches to do so (60 strikes!).

"His command was really good tonight," overmatched rookie skipper Craig Albernaz said of Kremer, noting adjustments to his glove side and his release point since coming to Minnesota.

The Twins immediately changed his arm slot, probably discovered he may have been tipping a pitch and he’s been a stud for them twice now, while the Orioles better hope and pray that Rogers doesn’t stumble down the stretch. Of course, Orioles befuddled owner David Rubenstein recently rambled about how his pathetic team just needed to win seven of 10 the rest of the way, and blamed injuries in a shameful display and talked up his loser GM like a champ, so if you think Elias getting unmasked and exposed moved his bosses, you’ll probably be disappointed.

This is a clown show folks, at 57-62 in a year the AL is so bad .500 baseball would have you in the driver’s seat for a Wild Card. This team had an outburst Sunday in Texas but quicky reverted to lame at bats Monday, which has been the norm since June 1 with their offensive metrics pathetic (they didn't hit Monday until the underbelly of the bullpen down big late).

The wannabe skipper, who must be fired immediately after this season, opined before the game about how smart it was to keep hitting Gunnar Henderson leadoff despite him being one of the worst regular bats in MLB for months. And he went 0-for-3 again Monday and with the Orioles mounting a quasi-rally in the 8th, cutting a 7-1 lead to 7-3 with a runner on second, of course he grounded out.

(And Coby Mayo, 8th on the team in plate appearances since the All-Star Break but second on the team with an OPS pushing 1000 in that span, will continue to bat in the bottom if he plays at all; he went 2-for-4 Monday and drove in three more runs).

Henderson now sports a .675 OPS on the season with a .212 average. He has a .091 batting average in August and .446 OPS and these clowns will have him batting first or third again Tuesday, don’t you worry about that. Henderson won’t be here in 2027; it’s over.

Better Be Right About Rogers

Rogers has shined at times when nothing was expected of him – after a long stint in AAA recalled in 2025 after a manager was already fired. Then this year he didn’t get going until the team fell well below .500 and it looked like another lost season. It’s been quite some time since he spent a full season in MLB, and he might be hitting the wall physically and mentally, prone to lapses in confidence.

This looked like a vintage May start for Rogers when his ERA was flirting with 8.00. Four hits and two walks and two batters hit by pitch and a home run allowed in just four innings. Done after 79 pitches with the dugout likely seeing the same shaky body language I was, that looked like the bad version of Rogers always lurking the surface. He's allowed 15 hits in 16 IP over his last three starts and has a 4.21 ERA on the season.

"Lot of bad counts, falling behind," Albernaz said of his alleged ace.

Rogers told the media after the game: "It could have been a lot worse. ... The command wasn't there. I was just battling myself out there." Hmm. Stay tuned.

He should have been dealt.

Let’s be real – duplicitous grifter that Elias is, he resisted many overtures for Rogers at the deadline to avoid being branded a full-scale seller at the deadline (playing marketing and PR game; it's always optics). He whispered to the media about a Qualifying Offer for Rogers and the future draft pick that might land him. But Elias also is trying to pretend he’s invested in this team doing something with this season.

Yanking your Opening Day starter in the biggest game of the season after four innings with a 2-1 score is the typical shadiness that defines this organization under his reign. Wouldn’t be great if this guy was out of lives years ago?

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