The Baltimore Orioles are still looking to improve their starting rotation, and the team is eyeing several trades to achieve this goal. One possibility is trading for Houston Astros' pitcher Collin McHugh.
The Astros have not actually expressed a desire to trade McHugh off. However, it seems that the right-hander will be the one left out when the Astros completes its starting rotation for the 2018 season of the Major League Baseball (MLB). And so, the Orioles may have been hoping that the Astros would be willing to trade McHugh, even if there is no indication that the pitcher is available.
The trade propositions and prospects are apparently being overseen by the Orioles' Executive vice president Dan Duquette himself. The Orioles have already contacted the Astros about a possible trade, but it is still unclear how willing the latter team is to trade off one of their starting pitchers.
Even if the starting rotation is complete, the Astros might still need McHugh as an insurance policy should any one of their five starting pitchers gets injured.
In any case, McHugh will not be a free agent until 2020.
This is not the only trade the Orioles is seriously looking into. They have also been in touch with the Tampa Bay Rays, as they are also interested in pitcher Jake Odorizzi.
Meanwhile, the Orioles can forget signing up free agent Yu Darvish for the team, as spending extravagantly on a starting pitcher would not be in their best interests. Darvish just landed a six-year contract with the Chicago Cubs for $126 million last Saturday, anyway.
Darvish is said to be the replacement of Jake Arrieta— a player also expected to be more expensive than the Orioles can afford.
Arrieta may likely join the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesotta Twins, or the Milwaukee Brewers, after those teams failed to get Darvish.
