Baltimore Orioles: What happened with Dylan Bundy?

Earlier this week the Baltimore Orioles shut down Dylan Bundy for the remainder of the 2015 season. Buck Showalter among others were fairly tight-lipped on the reasons why, short of saying that it involved an injury in Bundy’s throwing shoulder. Bundy of course had Tommy John surgery in 2013, and there were hopes that he’d make an impact in Baltimore later this season.

The good news is that this appears to have nothing to do with his surgically-repaired shoulder. However with that said, Buck Showalter also said that there was more than he was letting on about Bundy’s health. And that’s about par for the course with injuries. There are some things that should be left confidential.

Call to the Pen

So here’s my question; did the Orioles commit an error with regard to Bundy? I’m not talking medically or in terms of his

Courtesy of Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

rehab, as all of that has been under the watchful eye of Dr. James Andrews – who’s supposedly the best in the business. But keep in mind that over a long period of time the Orioles were always asked about the availability of guys like Bundy when it came to trades. So again, did they make a mistake…in not trading him?

Hindsight is always 20/20, so in that sense it’s incredibly unfair to suggest that the Birds should have packaged him in a trade. And incidentally the same is true of Kevin Gausman, who’s name has also come up numerous times in trade talks – always out of the mouths of other teams, mind you. But if the O’s had pulled the trigger on a trade involving Bundy at some point, might history have been different?

Again, it’s tough to say. The Orioles were generally looking for offense when it came to these trade talks. So had the O’s been willing to part with Bundy circa 2012-early 2013, might they have been able to get a slugger in return that could have made 2014 an even more special season than what we know it was now? The fact is that all things are possible; heck, they could have gotten a supposed big bat that could have spent all season on the DL for all we know.

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I suppose that what I’m saying more so than anything else is that the Orioles went to the point of shutting down trade talks that involved Bundy or Gausman. I suppose that if you’re an Orioles fan it’s incredibly frustrating to see Bundy with chronic injury problems, and Gausman going up and down between the majors and triple-A. However I would also remind folks that Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop were also frequent targets of other teams. And we know how they turned out.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: All-Star Possibilities

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