The Baltimore Orioles are acquiring right-hander Shintaro Fujinami from the Oakland Athletics, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported Oakland will receive Triple-A pitcher Easton Lucas.
Fujinami is 5-8 with an 8.57 ERA and a 4.94 FIP in 49.1 innings. He has also averaged 9.3 strikeouts and 5.5 walks per nine innings.
Not only did general manager Mike Elias resist the urge to buy at the 2022 MLB trade deadline, but he also jettisoned Jorge López and Trey Mancini.
After the deadline passed, Elias told reporters the Orioles would be more aggressive in the offseason and that “it’s liftoff from here for this team.” Fans remembered those comments when free agency came and went without the front office making significant upgrades.
Now that Baltimore is tied for first in the American League East, maintaining that incremental approach becomes even more difficult.
Fans aren’t expecting Elias to push in all of his chips for this year. However, the Orioles have a deep enough farm system to where they can acquire ready-made talent without depleting their resources.
Lucas isn’t even among their top 30 prospects on MLB.com.
Fujinami is a sensible low-cost gamble because he seems to be settling more in MLB.
The 29-year-old’s ERA is skewed a bit by the 26 earned runs he allowed over six gams in April. Since then, he has sported a 3.84 FIP and allowed a .393 opponent slugging percentage, per Baseball Reference.
Ben Palmer @benjpalmer
Super interesting
Fujinami has pretty filthy stuff but definitely some control issues. He’s also got a 3.26 ERA with a 3.66 FIP since the start of June
Definitely potential here, and trading away Easton Lucas isn’t losing much at all, definitely worth the shot https://t.co/jI1vBQkh7C
Foolish Baseball @FoolishBB
Shintaro Fujinami’s first 18 games
* 12.19 ERA
* 20.3 K% / 15.2 BB%
* 87 Location+
Shintaro Fujinami’s last 16 games
* 2.45 ERA
* 26.0 K% / 8.2 BB%
* 99 Location+
Should the current trends continue, Fujinami will play a meaningful role out of the bullpen in the second half. In the event his struggles return, the Orioles won’t be out much.
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