An emergency Orioles-White Sox trade to solidify rotation after Cade Povich gets rocked

An upgrade to their starting pitching has been a need for the Baltimore Orioles for a long time. They took a huge step to fix that issue this offseason with a blockbuster trade with the Milwaukee Brewers for Corbin Burnes, the former Cy Young-winner. The problem is that it didn't fix everything.

Case in point, Saturday's contest against the lowly Oakland Athletics. The Orioles pitching staff has been hit with injuries throughout the year, which has ultimately forced them to turn to 24-year-old Cade Povich on several occasions. That worked out disastrously during Saturday's matinee in Oakland, however.

The A's absolutely blitzed the young Orioles starter as Povich lasted just one inning, giving up five hits, three walks and a ridiculous eight earned runs before getting yanked. For reference, eight runs was as many as Baltimore scored in the entire game. The A's, meanwhile, went on to score 19.

It's clear that the Orioles need more reinforcements via trade to help the rotation right away. Now atop the AL East once again, they can't afford to have these types of question marks with their starting pitching. Lucky for them, the Chicago White Sox are having a fire sale and have a solution for them, specifically one who won't cost the world like young White Sox ace Garrett Crochet.

An emergency Orioles-White Sox trade for Erick Fedde to fix rotation

Erick Fedde signed a one-year deal this offseason with Chicago after spending a year pitching overseas in the KBO. That year abroad appears to have remade him into a stud because, despite the White Sox' overall ineptitude, the 31-year-old right-hander has been a stud. In 18 starts, Fedde has a 3.13 ERA (17th-best in the majors) and a 1.13 WHIP. What's more, his 3.56 FIP shows that's not smoke and mirrors.

The Orioles aren't in the market for an illusionist. They need a quality starter and Fedde has been that, which is why this trade would make a ton of sense for Baltimore and, likewise, for Chicago.

With Fedde being on an expiring deal, the cost won't be anything exorbitant at all for the Orioles to obtain the veteran righty in a trade. In doing so, they'd offer some stability both while they deal with injuries still and even more crucially once they start getting fully healthy -- or as healthy as they will -- in the rotation and won't be forced to rush along Povich.

As for the White Sox, they should jump at the opportunity to get talent from the O's rich farm system and a player like Leandro Arias makes a ton of sense. The 19-year-old infielder was a 2021 international signing out of the Dominican Republic and smashed his way through rookie ball before arriving at Low-A this year. He's struggled through his first 42 games there with only a .656 OPS to this point but, at his age, he's still shown flashes, most notably with 11 extra-base hits to this point.

Arias has defensive versatility, though his glove is a work-in-progress and perhaps a long-term question mark. Still, if he can develop even passably there, scouts have raved about his arm on defense but even more so about the potential of his bat. Most importantly, he fits the White Sox' long-term timetable as he won't be major-league ready for some time, giving him room to develop into a core piece for Chicago before they need him to compete again.

It's an emergency that the Orioles need to make this move quickly. The AL East race is tight and that leaves little leeway. And if they can help the White Sox plans to tear it down for the future, then it's a trade that should be agreed upon quickly. We'll just have to see if the two organizations see the same logic.