Won the trade? Early returns in Orioles favor on deal fans literally couldn't stand
The Baltimore Orioles made plenty of moves at the trade deadline gearing up for what they hope to be a deep postseason run. Most of them appeared to be fine, but there was one in particular that Orioles fans couldn't stand: The Trevor Rogers deal.
Not only were the Orioles set to acquire Rogers, an oft-injured starter who hadn't shown much at the MLB level since 2021, but they gave up what felt like a ridiculous haul to get him.
Baltimore sent Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers, two exciting prospects, to Miami for Rogers. Trading Norby and Stowers wasn't the issue. Trading both of them for Rogers looked just bad at the time. Early returns of the deal seem to favor the Orioles, however, showing how sometimes general managers are smarter than most.
Orioles fans might have been too quick to judge controversial deadline deal
The deal isn't even looking like a win for Baltimore right now because of Rogers. The southpaw pitched better his last time out, but had a brutal first start as an Oriole, leading to his current Orioles ERA being 6.75 through those two starts. The reason why this deal looks alright for Baltimore right now is because those prospects that they gave up have gotten off to extremely slow starts in their new organization.
Norby is in Triple-A and has just six hits in 32 at-bats (.188 BA) with an underwhelming .594 OPS. Norby has a track record of dominating Triple-A so there's reason to believe he'll start to turn things around, but he has slumped in his short time in the Marlins organization.
Things have been even worse for Kyle Stowers. He's not being forced to play in the minors like Norby but he might be headed down there soon, as the 26-year-old has just three hits (all singles) in 36 at-bats with 18 strikeouts in 11 games for Miami. He almost made matters worse by nearly allowing a game-tying home run.
Off the top of the wall, back toward the field of play, off Kyle Stowers' glove and then over the wall.
— Fish On First (@FishOnFirst) August 11, 2024
Ground-rule double, not a home run. pic.twitter.com/vUnApwNTZb
How good Rogers will be in an Orioles uniform remains to be seen. He displayed some serious potential in 2021 but struggled since both to stay on the field and to pitch well. Even if Rogers underwhelms, though, Orioles fans can live with the trade if the players they gave up don't amount to much either. Early returns on that front certainly look promising, albeit the tiny sample size.
Sometimes, it's important to let deals play out before overreacting too
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