9:54 am: The two teams are indeed in talks about the trade, although MLB.com’s Joe Trezza tweets that it is not nearly completed. Talks “still seem to be heading in the right direction,” said Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com.
9:20 am: The Angels and Orioles are working on a trade to send right-handed Alex Cobb from Baltimore to Anaheim, Dan Connolly and Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic report (via Twitter). Details are still being finalized, Connolly adds. The Orioles are sure to add some cash to offset some of the $ 15 million Cobb owes on the final season of his $ 57 million four-year contract with the O’s. That deal includes a 10-team no-trade clause, but the Angels don’t insist on whether Cobb is willing to forego moving to a more competitive club.
Cobb signed late in the 2017/18 off-season, signing his surprise four-year pact with the O’s on March 21, as Spring Training neared completion. He didn’t make his team debut until April 14 of that year, but even with some extra time to tune in, it seemed that the lack of full Spring Training was difficult for Cobb, who was tagged for 17 runs out of 30 hits in his first three starts.
From then on, Cobb largely straightened the ship, pitching to a respectable 4.22 ERA from May through the end of the season. However, Cobb’s strikeout percentage was nowhere near what it had been at best in Tampa Bay, and it still is. A back injury torpedoed Cobb’s 2019 season, but he returned in 2020 to make 10 starts with a 4.30 ERA (4.65 SIERA), a strikeout rate of 16.8 percent, and an eight percent dropout rate.
Cobb’s recent strikeout numbers are well below the league’s average, and last year’s eight percent walk rate was his highest since his rookie year in 2011. His Statcast profile doesn’t paint a particularly favorable picture, given his high hit rate and average De The opponents’ run-out speed was among the highest of all pitchers in the league. However, Cobb’s 54.5 percent ground ball speed is encouraging – especially when you consider he’d play for a strong infield defense in Anaheim (Anthony Rendon, Jose Iglesias. Placeholder image, David Fletcher).
Sure, Cobb isn’t the best starter most think the Angels need it, but the upfront cost is likely relatively low here, and he’ll give the Halos another healthy arm to suck on. few innings. Teams need far more than five starters to get through a 162-game season under normal circumstances, and that reality will be amplified exponentially in 2021 after last year’s shortened schedule cut the workload of each Major League pitcher.
Cobb is participating Dylan Bundy, Andrew Heaney, Griffin Canning, Jose Quintana, Shohei Ohtani, Jaime Barria and Patrick Sandoval as rotation options on the 40-man roster for the Angels. It’s likely that everyone in that group will get some starts, and it’s worth wondering if the Angels are considering a six-man rotation, given their bulk approach to their rotation composition. That will be determined by new general manager Perry Minasian and manager Joe Maddon, the latter of whom is well acquainted with Cobb after leading the first few seasons of his career with the Rays.
For the Orioles, subtracting Cobb from an already suspicious spin dilutes depth and, more importantly in the owner’s eyes, payroll. Even with Cobb on the books, Orioles’ payroll was only $ 64 million, but this deal could put them below $ 60 million depending on how the financial details are resolved.
If Cobb does leave, left-handed John means would be the only lock to the Baltimore rotation. Younger options such as Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer seem likely to get the chance to earn Opening Day seats, and the Orioles have several potential rotations 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 contracting an experienced starting pitcher, and the need for depth is only underlined by the trade of the team’s most experienced starter. It’s likely that whoever the Orioles land will get less in terms of salary than whatever amount the Orioles save in the Cobb deal.
Last year, Elias completed the rotation by drawing Wade LeBlanc and Tommy Milone to non-guaranteed deals that ended up paying them less than $ 1 million each in earning roster courses in Spring Training. It is plausible, if not likely, that the Orioles will take a similar approach in the coming weeks.