The Rays are getting some bullpen assist, buying right-handed reliever Bryan Baker from the Orioles in trade for a 2025 Aggressive Steadiness (Spherical A) draft choice, No. 37 general. Each groups have introduced the swap.
Baker provides an influence arm with potent bat-missing potential to the Rays’ bullpen. The 30-year-old righty has pitched 38 1/3 innings for the Orioles this season and turned in a 3.52 ERA with an much more encouraging 32.5% strikeout price and 6% stroll price. Baker sits 96.7 mph along with his four-seamer, per Statcast, and he’s sporting a powerful 13.1% swinging-strike price on the season thanks in no small half to a changeup that’s graded out brilliantly to date. Opponents are hitting simply .154 and slugging a putrid .205 in opposition to Baker’s changeup.
This yr’s numbers are skewed a bit by Baker’s outing simply two days in the past, when the Mets jumped him for 4 runs. He didn’t document an out and was tagged for a pair of residence runs. Baker’s ERA ballooned from 2.58 all the best way to its present 3.52 mark.
Baker has had some residence run troubles (1.88 HR/9), however he’s additionally seen a fluky 20% of the fly-balls he’s allowed flip into residence runs — properly north of the 11.4% league common and practically triple his profession mark getting into the season. Metrics like xFIP (2.78) and SIERA (2.37) — which normalize HR/FB to account for potential small-sample spikes like this — really feel Baker has been vastly higher than his earned run common would point out. The Rays, presumably, are assured that the house run troubles will show anomalous whereas Baker maintains his potential to overlook bats and restrict free passes.
In elements of 4 seasons with the O’s, Baker has a 3.73 ERA over the course of 176 1/3 innings. He at the moment boasts career-best marks in strikeout price, stroll price, fastball velocity, swinging-strike price and opponents’ chase price. On high of that, he’s not but into his arbitration years, having solely amassed two-plus years of service time previous to 2025. He’ll cross the three-year mark this season and be eligible for arbitration for the primary time this offseason. Tampa Bay can management him by means of the 2028 marketing campaign.
Including one other reliever is often a objective for all contending golf equipment, but it surely’s fairly prudent for a Rays membership that at the moment has Manuel Rodriguez (2.08 ERA in 30 1/3 innings) and Hunter Bigge (2.51 ERA relationship again to final summer season’s MLB debut) on the injured record at current. As famous simply yesterday in our Commerce Deadline Outlook on the Rays, Tampa Bay tends to prioritize under-the-radar pickups of simply this type of controllable reliever, versus making performs for extra apparent commerce candidates with dwindling membership management.
Baker has usually labored in high-leverage spots for Baltimore this season. He’s tallied a pair of saves and 10 holds on the yr already. He’ll now be part of a late-inning combine for the Rays, pairing with Garrett Cleavinger, Edwin Uceta and (as soon as wholesome) Rodriguez as a setup possibility for glorious nearer Pete Fairbanks.
For the Orioles, they’ll add extra firepower to what’s already a big draft pool. Draft picks awarded in Main League Baseball’s Aggressive Steadiness lottery are the one picks eligible to be traded and should solely be traded one time, so Baltimore will grasp onto this decide and carry it into Sunday’s draft.
The Orioles, who gained compensatory picks on the finish of the primary spherical when Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander signed elsewhere after declining qualifying gives, now have 4 of the primary 37 choices on this yr’s draft. Along with that pair of comp picks, Baltimore additionally has a decide in Aggressive Steadiness Spherical B (between the second and third rounds of the draft). That provides them a staggering seven picks within the first 93 choices of this yr’s draft and an enormous bonus pool value greater than $19MM — the biggest of any crew in MLB.
The O’s are promoting Baker at near peak worth, however they gained’t get any short-term assist that would affect the crew this yr or subsequent. Baltimore is 10 video games below .500 and 7 again of a Wild Card spot within the American League, so it’s not essentially a shock to see them start to dump some large league items for future worth. The query is whether or not this can find yourself as a one-off for now, with the O’s staying the course till nearer to the deadline in hopes of a late surge again into the Wild Card chase, or whether or not that is the start of a bigger sale.
Presumably, if the O’s in the end find yourself buying and selling off a bigger slate of veteran gamers, they’ll start to prioritize younger expertise that’s nearer to MLB readiness. The O’s have rental gamers like Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, Seranthony Dominguez, Tomoyuki Sugano, Gregory Soto, Charlie Morton and Zach Eflin, plus older veterans with fairly priced 2026 membership choices like Andrew Kittredge and Ramon Laureano. Common supervisor Mike Elias may discipline gives on that group whereas nonetheless preserving the core of Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, Adley Rutschman, Jackson Holliday and Grayson Rodriguez collectively in hopes of retooling for an additional run at competition in 2026. In that state of affairs, including some younger large leaguers or on-the-cusp prospects in Triple-A could be a wise objective.
Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that Baker was being traded to the Rays. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the return.
