9:54: The two teams are in fact negotiating on trade, although Joe Trezza of MLB.com tweets that is not yet close to completion. The negotiations still “seem to be going in the right direction,” according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com.
9:20 am: Angels and Orioles are working on an exchange to send righties Alex Cobb from Baltimore to Anaheim, Dan Connolly and Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic report (via Twitter) The details are still being finalized, adds Connolly. The Orioles are certainly including some money to make up for part of the $ 15 million that Cobb is owed in the final season of his $ 57 million four-year contract with the O’s. This agreement contains a 10-team bargaining clause, but the Angels are not in it or Cobb is willing to resign to move to a more competitive club.
Cobb signed at the end of the 2017-18 off-season, signing his surprising four-year pact with the O’s on March 21, when Spring Training was almost complete. He didn’t make his team debut until April 14 of that year, but even with some extra time to adjust, it seemed that the lack of full spring training was difficult for Cobb, who was scored by 17 runs out of 30 hits on his first three starts.
From that point on, Cobb largely straightened the ship, launching for a respectable 4.22 ERA from May until the end of the season. Cobb’s elimination percentage was nowhere near its best in Tampa Bay, and that is still the case today. A back injury torpedoed Cobb’s 2019 season, but he returned in 2020 to make 10 starts with an ERA 4.30 (4.65 SIERA), a strikeout rate of 16.8 percent and a walk rate of 8 percent.
Cobb’s recent elimination rates are well below the league average, and last year’s 8% hike rate was the highest since its debut year in 2011. His Statcast profile does not present a particularly favorable picture, as their success rate and average speed of opponents’ exit was among the highest marks of any pitcher in the league. Cobb’s 54.5 percent ball-to-ground rate is encouraging – especially when one considers that he would be playing in front of a strong inland defense in Anaheim (Anthony Rendon, Jose Iglesias, David Fletcher)
Certainly, Cobb is not the top-of-the-range starter that most believe the Angels need, but the acquisition cost here tends to be relatively small, and it will give Halos another arm capable of absorbing some inputs. Teams need a lot more than five starters to go through a season of 162 games under normal circumstances, and that reality will expand exponentially in 2021, after last year’s shortened schedule has truncated each Major League pitcher’s workload .
Cobb enters Dylan Bundy, Andrew Heaney, Griffin Canning, Jose Quintana, Shohei Ohtani, Jaime Barria and Patrick Sandoval as rotation options on the list of 40 men for Angels. It is likely that everyone in this group has a chance, and it is worth wondering if the Angels will consider a six-man rotation, given their massive approach to their rotation composition. This will be determined by new general manager Perry Minasian and businessman Joe Maddon, the latter of whom is quite familiar with Cobb after managing the first seasons of his career with the Rays.
For Orioles, subtracting Cobb from an already suspected rotation reduces the depth and, more importantly in the eyes of the owners, reduces the payroll. Even with Cobb in the books, the payroll for Orioles was only $ 64 million, but this deal could leave them below the $ 60 million mark, depending on how the financial details are handled.
If Cobb really leaves, left-handed John Means it would be the only lock for the Baltimore rotation. Younger options like Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer it looks like it will have the opportunity to win seats for Opening Day, and the Orioles have several potential rotation pieces on their list of 40 men: Bruce Zimmerman, Jorge Lopez, Michael Baumann, Zac Lowther, Alexander Wells.
General manager Mike Elias recently spoke about the possibility of hiring a veteran starting pitcher, and the need for depth is further emphasized by changing the team’s most experienced starter. Whoever the Orioles bring is likely to command less in terms of salary than any amount the Orioles are saving in the Cobb deal.
Last year, Elias filled the rotation by signing Wade LeBlanc and Tommy Milone to unsecured businesses that ended up paying them less than $ 1 million each, by earning spring training places. It is plausible, if not likely, that the Orioles will take a similar approach in the coming weeks.