The Orioles are buying infielder Blaze Alexander from the Diamondbacks, per Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. Proper-hander Kade Strowd goes to the Diamondbacks together with a few different minor leaguers. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic stories that the 2 minor leaguers are right-hander Wellington Aracena and infielder José Mejia.
Alexander, 27 in June, has appeared prior to now two huge league seasons for the Snakes. He has stepped to the plate 451 occasions with a .237/.322/.366 line. That’s a bit below league common, translating to a 95 wRC+, and has include a excessive strikeout price of 29.9%. He has proven some versatility by lining up on the three infield positions to the left of first base in addition to a while within the outfield.
Although Alexander has been a considerably helpful utility participant for Arizona, it was going to be tougher for him to carry a roster spot going ahead since he has exhausted his last choice season. The Diamondbacks have been considerably proactive in clearing out their fringe roster gamers this offseason. They traded one other out-of-options participant final month once they flipped Jake McCarthy to the Rockies.
Arizona has Nolan Arenado at third, Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop and Ketel Marte at second. With out Alexander, they’ve guys like Tim Tawa and Jordan Lawlar within the combine for multi-positional bench jobs, although John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports activities 98.7 FM says the membership will now flip to free company to exchange Alexander with another person who can play second and/or third base.
The Orioles are seemingly extra prepared to carry Alexander as a multi-positional bench piece. They undertaking to have Jordan Westburg at third, Gunnar Henderson at quick and Jackson Holliday on the keystone. Previous to this deal, their high infield depth choices had been guys like Jeremiah Jackson and Bryan Ramos. Ramos is a fringe roster man who was simply scooped up in a DFA commerce for money issues. Jackson has simply 48 video games of huge league expertise and nonetheless has choices.
Alexander presumably jumps to being the membership’s high bench choice and can doubtless be utilized in a platoon capability. A right-handed batter, he has a .269/.365/.434 line and 125 wRC+ towards lefties in his profession up to now. Baltimore tasks to have quite a few lefties getting common taking part in time, together with Henderson, Holliday, Dylan Beavers, Colton Cowser and Samuel Basallo. With Alexander’s break up and defensive versatility, he ought to assist the O’s defend these guys from powerful lefties.
Although he’s out of choices, his service clock is only a bit over one yr. Which means he’s nonetheless two years from qualifying for arbitration and might be managed for 5 full seasons earlier than reaching free company, if he continues to hold onto a roster spot.
To make that complementary addition to their place participant group, the O’s are parting with a significant league arm. Strowd, 28, made his huge league debut with the Orioles final yr. He tossed 26 1/3 innings over 25 aid appearances, permitting simply 1.71 earned runs per 9. He averaged round 96 miles per hour along with his four-seamer and sinker however largely threw a low-90s cutter whereas additionally that includes a curveball and a sweeper.
His 12.4% stroll price was positively on the excessive facet however his 22.9% strikeout price was respectable and he acquired grounders on an enormous 56.7% of balls in play. There was absolutely some good luck in that ERA, as his .227 batting common on balls in play allowed and 83.9% strand price had been each to the lucky facet however his 3.40 FIP and 4.02 SIERA counsel he may have managed respectable outcomes even with extra impartial luck.
The bullpen was a catastrophe for Arizona in 2025. Their aid teams was alleged to be headlined by A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez however each required main elbow surgical procedures final yr and numerous different pitchers acquired harm as nicely. The outcome was that the membership’s relievers had a collective 4.82 ERA, forward of simply the Angels, Rockies and Nationals.
Nevertheless, addressing the bullpen with an enormous splash wasn’t going to be doubtless because of the membership scaling again payroll. Normal supervisor Mike Hazen admitted final month that he was mainly deciding between re-signing Merrill Kelly for the rotation or spending that cash on a reliever. He opted for Kelly, which means the membership can be going low-cost on the bullpen.
Since Strowd simply debuted final yr, he has solely 74 days of huge league service time. He’s nonetheless at the least three years away from qualifying for arbitration and likewise has a few choices, which means he doesn’t even must be assured a everlasting huge league roster spot. Baltimore made a few notable bullpen upgrades this winter by signing Ryan Helsley and buying Andrew Kittredge. They seemingly really feel they’ve sufficient aid depth to half with Strowd for Alexander.
Extra to return.
