BALTIMORE—With the trade deadline 18 days away, Orioles general manager Mike Elias moved decisively to reiterate that the Orioles are still in the early stages of their rebuild.
Between games of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Orioles traded Andrew Cashner, who was scheduled to start Sunday’s game, to the Boston Red Sox for a pair of 17-year-old international prospects — outfielder Elio Prado and infielder Noelberth Romero. Both Prado and Romero will report to Orioles’ Dominican Summer League teams.
“Kind of a tough day for us saying goodbye to Cash,” Elias said. “He was terrific for us all year, a linchpin in the rotation and the clubhouse. I think it was a rejuvenation kind of year for him. I think he jelled really well with the coaching staff.”
Cashner, 32, was on a three-game winning streak and had a 9-3 record with a 3.83 ERA. He and John Means had been the team’s most reliable starters.
“We’ve made no secret of the fact that we’re eying our broad, long-term strategy, which is getting the best young talent we can from every angle, and there’s a trade deadline coming up. We had talks with several teams, and Boston was the most serious and most aggressive. We ended up getting two very young players that we like.”
Earlier in the day, the Orioles placed right-hander Dylan Bundy on the 10-day injured list with tendinitis in his right knee. Even though manager Brandon Hyde thinks Bundy’s absence will be brief, the Orioles’ rotation will be without established starters.
“It’s a huge hole in the rotation,” Elias said. “I think one way of looking at it is it will be more opportunities for young pitchers and fresh arms wherever we find one and it’s one more slot where maybe we will stumble into something that we’ll have beyond this year. It’s just one of those tough things we’ll have to do.
“Our guys will figure out a way to step up. It’s going to, especially in the short term, put a little more pressure on the guys that are here to cover innings.”
Cashner joins the reigning World Series champs, who are fighting for a wild-card spot.
“It’s a shocking moment, but I kind of saw it coming just the way our club is trending,” Cashner said. “I think it will maybe sink in tonight and once I leave tomorrow.
“It’s definitely exciting. I think that will more kick in once you get there. You make a lot of relationships in this game and just saying goodbye to a lot of people is maybe the toughest thing.”
Cashner can be a free agent after this season, and this trade is the first one in what promises to be an active market. The Orioles could also entertain offers for Bundy, reliever Mychal Givens, infielder Jonathan Villar and perhaps even outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini.
“I don’t know if we’ll make any more deals,” Elias said. “I really don’t. I certainly am not adhering to the framework that they’ve got to be complex-level-age players. If it makes sense and we end up making a trade and a player close to the major leagues comes back. I just don’t know right now. We’ve got nothing else imminent, that’s for sure.”
Elias said the trade came together quickly, over the last week.
“I just felt like once we got a return that made sense, that was above the line, and able to get some young players with upside as opposed to getting players that were older or already on the 40-man roster,” Elias said. “Those are the type of offers you get. This is a tough trade market for getting young players. There’s a lot more risk with these types of players, but there’s more upside as well.”
Cashner will be back in Baltimore next weekend with the Red Sox, and though he had a horrible year last season with a 4-15 record and 5.29 ERA, his recent performance made him an attractive commodity.
“I think I’ve pitched great my whole career except for last year, so, I mean, I think teams kind of know what I’m about as far as grinding things out,” Cashner said.
Cashner now will call Fenway Park home.
“They’ve been a tough team to face, I know that,” Cashner said. “I think it will be really cool. It’s such a rich history of baseball with the whole … David Ortiz has been one of my favorite players growing up. Kind of getting to be around him from a different side. They’re still the champions from last year, so it will be fun to help them get to where they want to go.”
Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski said Cashner would start Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
“He’s excited to be here, excited to pitch,” Dombrowski said. “Excited to join the club and excited to be a part of the pennant race. As far as what we like, he’s been throwing the ball well … as well as he ever has.
“Definitely gives us an improvement in that fifth spot, where we scuffled for such a long time this year. … We like a lot of things about him. We think he makes us better.”
Cashner has a 55-82 record in his 10 major league seasons with the Orioles, Rangers, Marlins, Padres and Cubs. He is in the final season of a two-year, $16 million contract.
Baltimore agreed to send Boston $1,777,839 to cover all but $1,577,000 of the $3,354,839 Cashner is due from his $8 million salary this year. Baltimore also agreed to make contingent payments on some of Cashner’s performance bonuses if he should achieve them.
Romero and Prado, both 17, made their professional debuts in the Dominican Summer League. Romero, an infielder, hit .264 with two home runs in 29 games; Prado, an outfielder, hit .303 with nine steals and 26 runs scored in 33 games.
— ESPN.com contributed to this story
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This post should have been titled "Elias Strikes Out." IMHO, this is in the running for the dumbest trade in MLB history. Cashner was that rare bird: a very good major league starting pitcher. Orioles’ roster now even more laughingly weak. Plus Elias promised BoSox money! One of these 17 year old kids is hitting .264 in the DSL! Bundy on IL. After Means, will ALL of the O’s starting pitchers be 'waiver wire wonders'? Trade deadline still days away.
Desperation? Express tanking? Or am I losing touch with reality? Suggest you re-ask whether fans are optimistic.
Let's talk again in 2024 to see if either of these kids made the Bigs.
Lol cmon bro. One of the worst deal in MLB history? Cashner was a #4 starter on an awful team and a one year deal. The Phillies got less than this for Jay Bruce a couple weeks ago. We took a gamble on a couple lotto tickets, cool. If it works, great. If not , Cashner wasn’t apart of the next decent O’s team.
Agree with you Wordly. What do you think Rich?
Ask me in 2024, Bruce. Elias said these are the type of players available in trades for rental players.
I know you’re exaggerating on purpose, but this was not the worst trade in MLB history, and not even the worst trade in Orioles history. That would be Curt Schilling, Pete Harnish, and Steve Finley for Glenn Davis. Obviously, I’m still not over it.
You are correct, but the trade stunk only in retrospect. Glenn Davis was a star at the time, unlike the three future excellent players we gave up. One positive from the trade: we learned the folly of showering a lot of money on slugging first basemen named Davis.
Wait a minute...
It must be miserable for Hyde!
Ownership who doesn’t give a rats ass whether the team wins and a GM who is auditioning for a job with the Red Sox or Yankees.
What's next? Trading Mancini for Yankees' fourth draft choice in 2021?
Tank.
Really? Anybody but the Sox. I hate the Sox.
Wow. 130 L’s may be within reach. Why not rebuild around a solid starter? SMH.
I mean cmon guys. We’re gonna rebuild around a 33 year old Starting pitcher on a one year deal? This is kind of stuff is just ridiculous. 99% of you would’ve dealt him for a used sock this time last year. He got two lotto ticket prospects who may turn into something or they may not. Why not roll the dice? We got gobs of Garbage near ML ready “prospects” back last year for more valuable players.
Other teams that are rebuilding keep a veteran starter or two around to provide leadership and eat up innings. The "Boy Genius" won't do that but he also won't promote young pitchers from the minors to see what they can do. All he will do is pick up other teams' trash from the waiver wire. He is much more of a dumpster diver than Dan. His plan only makes sense if he is tanking to get the #1 overall pick.
Sorry to see Cash go but this definitely helps with the rebuild. Prado is centerfielder with some pop and speed and could be here or knocking on the door when Orioles are good again at just 17! Romero could still develop also and just 17. This could also help with the tanking for this year maybe next year. My only wish was that maybe they could have gotten a possible young number 1 or 2 starting pitcher in this trade by maybe adding Alberto or Villar. We really need to start looking into getting some good young starting pitching.
Cmon! You have ZERO idea whether these guys are prospects or not. Elias pretty much admitted that himself.
I’d like to hear from Elias what he liked so much in these two kids, as a return for an excellent SP.
Poor return for 1 of only 2 decent starting pitchers that we had. I understand that we need to stockpile young "potential talent" instead of middle of road mlb veterans.
But you must get a better return than two 17 yr olds and > 1M in salary concessions to a division rival.
Even in a total rebuild you can't just conduct a trade for the sake of it.
On the surface this does not seem like much of a return for someone who represented a pulse for the Orioles.
Realistically, what do you think we could have gotten from another team for Cashner? Elias said that Boston was the strongest and most aggressive out of the teams who showed interest. Could he have waited until closer to the deadline, absolutely. That being said, what if Cash had a few rough starts in his next couple outings for us and what we got in return today is better than anything else that would eventually be put on the table. Elias has been successful in his previous stops, accomplishing exactly what the Orioles are hopefully going to accomplish a few years from now. He has done several similar moves like the one today with some panning out and some not working out so well. I’m a Cashner fan, but what was he going to do, make us finish the season 37 games back instead of 42? I’m willing to trust the new front office for the time being and hope that it is going to help us in the long run. Getting more international players that young can only help our efforts in that market as well
I’m sure he took the best offer. That’s what the market was. Fans may not like it but as the saying goes - “the tribe has spoken.” Cashner was shopped and this is as high as anyone was willing to go for him.
Who knows - maybe Cashner pitches Sunday, gets hurt, and we couldn’t have traded him at all. Arguably a guy has a little more valuable now than July 31, since the acquiring team gets an extra 3 starts or so out of the guy.
Can’t say I know anything about the guys we got, but if that’s all that was being offered, so be it.
Elias was not "successful in his previous stops". He was NOT the man in charge. He was an assistant. Who knows if he will be as successful as the top guy here.
The Red Sox have been active in the Latin American market for years. They are usually able to target and sign the top tier international talent. The Orioles are just now getting into the market and are trying to catch up to teams like the Red Sox. Since none of us know what the other offers for Cashner were little soon to pass judgment. Don’t forget, in Spring Training the Orioles were willing to give him away and pay his whole salary, so they wouldn’t have to pay the option. It may ( will) take years, but if 1 or both of these players amount to anything it will be worth it. Cashner was only going to be here for 2 months anyway and it’s not like we were the 27 Yankees. Speaking of the Yankees, good thing he wasn’t traded to them. He would have had to shave
Excellent response.
In Mike We Trust. He knows what he’s doing.
He’s never done it before, he watched others do it...
Mike Elias was the director of Amateur Scouting and minor league operations for one of the most successful franchises in modern times. Let’s have a little faith and not try to cut him down every shot we get.
Let's not kiss his tushie til he proves he can make it as the top guy. He is one of the new wave of GM's who think they know more than every GM in the history of baseball.
I say let's wait and see.
Victor that’s not at all what you say. If you were waiting and seeing you would t run around saying this “Boy Genius” nonsense. You’re trashing a guy for inheriting a gigantic mess.
Of the Astros World Series run players, the only one I can remember him being responsible for was Altuve...I’ll wait & see...but he’s not proven anything to me, yet...go O’s...
Didn’t cut him down, simple statement, true, pretty defensive aren’t you, Mike...lol...go O’s...
There were still 18 days, now we get to see him pitch AGAINST us next week, in Baltimore no less...maybe he’ll still want to sign here next year...I’m still disappointed, they didn’t get it ok’d by any of us...go O’s...
We’ll see. Could’ve gotten nothing for him. But I prefer two 17 year old gambles in rookie ball rather than taking a guy with an extremely low ceiling or trending south very quickly. (Think Josh Rogers and Luis Ortiz) This is the kind of deal where you can say Elias stole X from the Red Sox for 3 months of Cash. (Sorta like the Stros did with Josh Hader from us years ago) If it doesn’t pan out then it doesn’t pan out.
I’ll look for a positive in it all. Hopefully this also means we see Akin or Harvey soon. They could actually be part of the future. Cash was great for us in a terrible year, but he wasn’t a long term solution..
jbigle1... be careful of what you ask for.. Akin can’t get anybody out in his recent starts and Harvey’s only been at Norfolk a short time. I, for one, am tired of reading about him and all his “potential”. It’s the same ole, same ole, with the O’s #1 picks... promote the hell out of them in spite of their shortcomings. Just saying...
Two 17 year olds was the best he could do who IF they make it are atleast three to five years away. Does Elias really think the fan base can wait that long. Unless he brings up all the kids from Bowie watching this bunch is going to be painful .
VERY disappointed in the Orioles management! You trade away you best starter who has another year under the Sox control? Then you get two prospects from a weak farm system, not on their top 50 prospects????? What's next Trey Mancini for a bag of balls??? Frustrated O's fan!
Unlikely the Red Sox pick up the option. The Orioles are paying half of Cashner’s remaining salary , plus most of his incentive clauses. The Red Sox see him as a two month rental
Sox aren’t going to pay Cashner 10 mil + incentives unless he keeps rolling out gems. Regression is coming for Cashner. We may just be able to grab him on a one or two year deal this offseason if he falters in Boston.
Regardless Boston will kick our ass next year with or w/o Cashner. We need to make moves with 2021 and beyond in mind.
Cashner was an expendable commodity! If you believe that having Cashner stay around at
32 yrs of age and this being the last year of his contract is great!! then you have to be seriously nuts. Cashner value was at it's highest point , which makes sense to get the most for the trade you can. Two really young international prospects might be worth a real look, even if one or maybe both dont pan out. What else do our Struggling, Re-building, Orioles have going for them at this point. KEEP CLIMBING MY BIRDS KEEP CLIMBING