masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles struck quickly today in adding a pitcher for their starting rotation. It will be possibly as soon as tomorrow when we begin to find out if Scott Feldman will be a key addition for this team like Joe Saunders was late last season.

Feldman was having a solid year for the Cubs going 7-6 with a 3.46 ERA and nine quality starts in 15 outings. Opposing batters are hitting just .234 against him, a stat that puts him ahead of Chris Tillman, Miguel Gonzalez and Jason Hammel.

Feldman could…The Orioles struck quickly today in adding a pitcher for their starting rotation. It will be possibly as soon as tomorrow when we begin to find out if Scott Feldman will be a key addition for this team like Joe Saunders was late last season.

Feldman was having a solid year for the Cubs going 7-6 with a 3.46 ERA and nine quality starts in 15 outings. Opposing batters are hitting just .234 against him, a stat that puts him ahead of Chris Tillman, Miguel Gonzalez and Jason Hammel.

Feldman could turn out to be just a three-month rental as a free agent at the end of the year, but by getting him at the beginning and the not the end of July, the Orioles will at least get a half season out of him at least.

Feldman pitched to an ERA of 2.25 in six starts in May but his ERA is 5.18 over his last four starts and in two of those starts he allowed five runs each.

If the O’s, as expected, add Feldman and Wei-Yin Chen to the rotation, there is not going to be room for Zach Britton and Kevin Gausman right now. Will both go back to the minors? Could one or both stay in the bullpen?

Feldman went 6-11 with a 5.09 ERA last season for Texas and his stats from this season figure to be harder to duplicate in the American League.

As for Jake Arrieta, has there ever been a pitcher that more needed a fresh start? The Orioles tried everything to get his talent to show through consistently and it didn’t happen. I hope this moves help Arrieta show the talent that everyone feels he has. I thought that the last year or so it became a burden for Arrieta to keep hearing how good he was when he couldn’t produce the stats to match the potential.

Pedro Strop was very solid for most of last year and a key bullpen arm for the 2012 Orioles. One of his best moments came when he threw two shutout innings in Game 4 against the Yankees in the American League Division Series last October in a must-win game at a time when almost everyone doubted he could do that.

The Orioles also traded some of their international bonus pool funds today. Maybe that is one reason we heard so little from the O’s about the amateur international signing market that opened today.

So what do you think of the trade?