Orioles push themselves back into contention with Alex Cobb deal
By signing right-hander Alex Cobb, the Baltimore Orioles have pushed themselves back into the American League playoff picture.
With Opening Day less than two weeks away, the Baltimore Orioles were heading into the season with the fifth spot in their rotation up for grabs. An underwhelming group of internal options was set to battle it out for the duration of Spring Training with the winner earning the privilege to try and make last year’s historically bad rotation a distant (but still painful) memory.
Fortunately for Orioles fans, Mike Wright, Miguel Castro and Nestor Cortes will no longer be in the running for a rotation spot as free agent right-hander Alex Cobb has agreed to terms on a four-year deal in the $50-60 million range. It must always be stressed when dealing with the orange and black baseball team that the deal is still pending a physical. And yes, Cobb has already had Tommy John surgery.
The deal completes the offseason overhaul of the Orioles rotation, and GM Dan Duquette (or GM-in-waiting Brady Anderson, depending on who you ask) has done a marvelous job given the constraints with which he is forced to work under owner Peter Angelos. The O’s have replaced Ubaldo Jimenez and Wade Miley with Cobb and Andrew Cashner, an immediate upgrade.
Even with a starting rotation whose ERA pushed 6.00 at times last year, the Orioles managed to remain in playoff contention until early September. The gargantuan task of being asked to score seven runs a night eventually caught up to the offense, and the Orioles slumped to a 75-87 record for their first losing record under Buck Showalter since 2011.
With a solid commitment to rebuilding the rotation, the Orioles are right back in the playoff picture in a wide open American League. Winning the AL East may be out of the question with the New York Yankees locked and loaded, but Baltimore has the bats and perhaps just enough pitching to keep up with the rest of the Wild Card combatants like the Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners.
It’s hard for the Orioles to be much worse than they were last year on the mound, and cutting the staff ERA down to even the league average could be more than enough to allow the offense to carry the team back to the Promised Land.
Things now look much more upbeat for the Orioles than the bleak days of December when Manny Machado was dangling on the trade block on the heels of the Yankees’ trade for Giancarlo Stanton. The team now has a rotation with upside and three starters in Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy and Cobb capable of pitching for a playoff contender. If Cashner can reproduce his numbers from last year in the Texas Rangers’ launching pad, the rotation looks even better. Factor in a potential rebound season from All-Star Chris Tillman and there is plenty of reason to be cautiously optimistic about the Orioles’ hopes for 2018.
Of course, it cannot be ignored that plenty of things have to go right for the Orioles to contend this season. Gausman cannot repeat his disastrous first half from last year. Same goes for Manny Machado. Jonathan Schoop must have another All-Star season at second base. Trey Mancini and Tim Beckham have to put together solid seasons. The bullpen must hold up for at least three months without Zach Britton handling the ninth inning. Most importantly, Cobb and Cashner must not implode like past Orioles free agent busts Jimenez and Yovani Gallardo.
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Cobb is not the ultimate answer to lead the Orioles back to the playoffs, but he has a track record of success against the AL East and could be even better if he harnesses his splitter again after a full offseason not spent rehabbing from surgery. It’s far too early to pencil the Orioles into the playoff bracket, but the team will head north from Spring Training with a renewed sense of hope for what was looking like another in a long line of wasted chances to win a World Series.