The Baltimore Orioles acquisition of Wade Miley from the Seattle Mariners on Sunday provides an immediate improvement to the team’s rotation.
However, the Orioles’ rotation needed a rescue boat, and — for the sake of this analogy — Miley is driftwood. He helps them from drowning, without bringing them to land safely.
The Orioles starters have combined for a 5.00 earned run average this season. There are only three teams in the Majors that can’t top this mark.
This same rotation has also completed just 564.2 innings this season. There are only two teams whose starters have pitched fewer innings. The Cincinnati Reds are the only team on both lists.
Miley joins the Orioles with a 4.98 ERA in 112 innings this season. These numbers are not staggering, but they put him right in the middle of the Orioles’ rotation.
“Wade Miley is a workhorse veteran left-handed starter who likes to pitch and compete,” said Dan Duquette, the executive vice president of baseball operations for the Orioles via text message to reporters on Sunday. “We think he will contribute to this year’s club with some quality innings.”
Duquette made a point to mention Miley being left handed. Miley will be the first lefty to make a start for the Orioles in 105 games this season.
Former Baltimore Sun reporter Dan Connolly believes he’s seen this dance before from Duquette.
“This was a typical Duquette stroke. It doesn’t look like much now,” Connolly said in a column for BaltimoreBaseball.com. “And that could be the ultimate outcome.” He went on to mention that Duquette has a penchant for making low-risk acquisitions that don’t require much of a return.
This way of thinking comes in handy when the Orioles don’t have a bevy of highly-touted prospects to trade away.
Baltimore’s deal with Seattle sends 27-year-old, Cuban, left-hander Ariel Miranda to the Mariners. Baseball America reporter Kyle Glaser mentions that Miranda’s ceiling draws comparisons to Miley’s. Glaser mentions that Miranda has a chance at making the back-end of a Major League rotation, but is likely to become a reliever if he were to make it to the Majors.
The Orioles either don’t see a similar comparison between Miley and Miranda or don’t feel they have the time to see him develop. Miranda’s 4-7 record and 3.93 ERA in Triple-A Norfolk warranted a one-day stay with the Orioles on July 3. Ironically, the two-inning appearance came against the Mariners.
Miley has experience, but not necessarily success, against the other teams in the American League East. In 18 career starts against the Orioles division rivals, Miley has a 5-7 record with a 4.33 ERA.
CSN Mid-Atlantic reporter Rich Dubroff notices the skyrocketing payroll after the Miley deal. The Orioles owe nearly $9 million to Miley next season and have him under control for 2018 with a $12 million option. Dubroff points out that the Orioles now have seven guaranteed contracts that will require more than $93 million in payroll for 2017.
These contracts do not include money owed to All-Stars Matt Wieters and Mark Trumbo. It also gives the Orioles less wiggle-room to offer extensions to All-Stars Manny Machado and Chris Tillman.
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