MLB Rumors: Ranking Marcus Stroman's market from worst to best fits

Orioles

The Orioles, at this point, have to be considered the best fit for Marcus Stroman.

As I outlined for a few other teams, high error rates concern me for defenses backing Stroman. The Orioles, last year, had no such issues, boasting the fifth-highest fielding rate and largest amount of putouts. They were ninth in double plays, and all indications are they could handle the volume of ground balls Stroman is likely to produce.

Furthermore, the Orioles could use another veteran pitcher on its staff, and Stroman seems like a more affordable option than most out there. There is very real smoke about the O's being in on a Dylan Cease trade, and they make a lot of sense as a trade partner because Baltimore has the farm system to pay the White Sox what they'd like for him.

But do they want to? Baltimore is up and coming, and the worst thing they could do for their continued success is liquidating its farm system too soon. A treasure trove of prospects is something they should hold onto until they absolutely can't.

Rather than bringing Cease in, the Orioles could let someone else pay Chicago's high price and go with Stroman instead. He'll cost cap space, sure, but they won't have to give up any prospects to secure him, which is why he's such a strong fit.

Furthermore, the Orioles only have one high-level ground ball pitcher at the moment: Dean Kremer. As far as pitching style and profile go, he'd slide nicely into the system in Baltimore.

The Orioles feel like the one location where he can be a veteran presence, chase wins, and not create issues and too high a fielding risk due to the defense behind him.