Rich Dubroff

Orioles trade Miguel Castro to Mets

The Orioles remained active in the trade market on Monday, making a deal just before the 4 p.m. deadline when they sent right-handed reliever Miguel Castro to the New York Mets for minor league left-hander Kevin Smith and a player to be named later or cash.

It was the Orioles’ third deal in two days. On Sunday, they traded starter Tommy Milone to the Braves and reliever Mychal Givens to the Rockies.

Castro, 25, who came to the Orioles in April 2017 from the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named later that turned out to be minor league right-hander Jon Keller, was 7-13 with a 4.06 ERA in four seasons with the Orioles.

Before Monday’s game, manager Brandon Hyde said that Castro hadn’t been used since Friday because he had sinus issues.

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Castro was 1-0 with a 4.02 ERA and a save in 16 games with the Orioles this season.

Smith, 23, who was at the Mets’ alternate site in Brooklyn, was 8-7 with a 3.15 ERA in 23 games at High-A St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton last season.

He was the 11th-rated prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, and had 130 strikeouts in 117 innings in 2019.

When the Orioles play the Mets on Tuesday at Camden Yards, they’ll have to add a player to fill Castro’s roster spot.

There are 38 players on the 40-man roster and 58 in the 60-man player pool.

Rich Dubroff

Rich Dubroff grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of New York teams, but after he moved to Baltimore, quickly adopted the Orioles and Colts. After nearly two decades as a freelancer assisting on Orioles coverage for several outlets, principally The Capital in Annapolis and The Carroll County Times, Dubroff began covering the team fulltime in 2011. He spent five years at Comcast SportsNet’s website and for the last two seasons, wrote for PressBoxonline.com, Dubroff lives in Baltimore with his wife of more than 30 years, Susan.

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  • Thanks for the update, Rich. So for three current major league pitchers, the O's received three ligit prospects and three players to be named later. So Akin replaces Milone, Tate replaces Castro, Harvey replaces Givens. That seems like a solid return, while not diminishing the current competitive efforts. Look forward to your thoughts.

    Also noticed that Villar is traded again - to play 3B for the Jays. Why is is this guy traded so often?

    • Phil, Villar makes a lot of mistakes in the field and on the bases. Had his best year in 2019. You have to be skeptical about a player who is often traded.

      • The O's make lots of mistakes in the field and on the bases also. Are the players just dumb or are the O's coaches bad teachers.

        • It's generally on the players, Victor. Before last season, some fans said they wouldn't mind the Orioles losing as long as they played the game right. That was a naive mindset. Good players generally play well fundamentally and those that are weak in fundamentals are generally bsf players. There are players who aren't very skilled, but good at fundamentals. Those are the ones who generally end up being coaches and managers.

    • Haven’t heard any postgame talk regarding Williams & Velasquez botched play...anyone heard anything, missed sign, by whom, had other issues w/3rd base coach, did he screw something up...go O’s...

  • Thanks for the quick update Rich. Going to miss Castro. With that stuff, he could have been such a better pitcher. I won't miss that silly cockeyed hat of his but still, he had him moments.

    This trade certainly doesn't help the team this season, but why worry about that now? Kevin Smith looks like a solid prospect. Big kid .. lefty with a high strikeout ratio. Second good looking trade made by Elias in 2 days. I have no complaints with this one.

  • I like the trades. Good job Elias. Obviously no one wanted Cobb. So another year of him and Davis. BTW where is Davis isn’t the 10IL over

  • Elias did pretty well at this this year's Trade Deadline.

    He is rebuilding the foundational talent level of this franchise. He has done this through the Amateur Draft, Trades and International Signings. Not through Free Agency so much.

    People mention Cobb. He will either be a starting pitcher for the Orioles in 2021 or he'll be dealt before Opening Day 2021. $15M is a lot of money and Elias likely wasn't able to get the return he wanted from other teams--even with factoring-in paying part of his salary next year. Likely was too complicated to make a deal at this time.

    Turning this Good Ship Baltimore around has been very difficult, and it will continue to be a challenging task. I like what he's doing...

    Onward.

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