Baltimore Orioles: Three Possible AL Landing Spots For Dylan Bundy

The Baltimore Orioles are expected to trade starting pitcher Dylan Bundy in the coming weeks. Where could he end up? We look at three American League options.

As expected, the offseason has been largely quiet for the Baltimore Orioles. We know they aren’t going after any high-priced free agents and the small winter shopping list includes a middle infielder who brings some defense to the organization and a few low-cost pitching options. Nothing flashy or exciting, just stopgap options to get this team through another possible 100-loss season.

Well, it was a quiet offseason in Birdland until just hours before the beginning of Thanksgiving break. Before leaving for the holiday, the Baltimore Orioles placed one of their top players in Jonathan Villar on waivers, causing a massive stir among fans. Rightfully so.

We’ve already discussed Villar, so let’s look at the other bit of Orioles news that came out on Wednesday. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported that a trade involving Dylan Bundy is getting close to being done.

With no word on which teams may be in talks with the Orioles, we get to play a fun game of “where could Dylan Bundy end up in the coming days?”

Let’s say the rumor is true and Bundy is moved soon. Like many of you, I have followed the ups and downs of Bundy’s career since he joined the organization and seeing him in another uniform would be bittersweet. However, despite his improvements, a change of scenery to a more pitcher-friendly park could greatly help the 27-year-old righty who was once considered by many to be one of the top pitching prospects in baseball.

So, let’s play the game. We’re narrowing things down to just the American League. Which three AL teams make the most sense as a potential landing spot for Bundy?

Chicago White Sox

I’m really starting to like the Chicago White Sox. From Lucas Giolito to Michael Kopech, Eloy Jimenez, Nick Madrigal, and Yoan Moncada, just to name a few, the White Sox have quite the group of young players ready to take the league by storm.

We’re sure to hear Chicago as a possible landing spot for a few different big name free agent pitchers, but adding Bundy’s ability to log 160+ innings a season in the backend of the rotation would be a smart move.

The addition of Yasmani Grandal should greatly help the entire pitching staff and the White Sox believe he’s a key piece to taking the organization to the “next phase” of where they want to be. Spending more big dollars on one of the top free agent options and trading away a few minor league depth pieces for a chance Bundy continues to improve could also be key pieces in making this team a real threat in 2020.

Chicago’s minor league system is deep and the team is in a position to start trading away some of their prospect capital in order to win now. If the Orioles could work a trade involving RHP Jonathan Stiever, I like the possibility of both teams finding something that benefits each party.

Minnesota Twins

If the Minnesota Twins want to remain competitive in 2020 and return to the playoffs, they are going to need pitching. Former starter Kyle Gibson is now with the Texas Rangers, while Michael Pineda and Martin Perez are also gone, making it even more imperative that the Twins add help to the starting rotation behind Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi.

Despite the record-breaking home run numbers from Twins hitters last year, Target Field does typically favor pitchers over hitters, exactly what Dylan Bundy needs. Bundy’s high strikeout numbers and climbing groundball numbers should play well in Minnesota, with a powerful offense providing run support behind him.

More from Birds Watcher

I’m not one to put together hypothetical trade packages, but I am a fan of RHP Jhoan Duran in a potential trade with the Twins. Per his MLB Pipeline scouting report, Duran throws a four-seam fastball that sits 94-96, a sinker, curveball, and a changeup. He struck out 136 and gave up just seven home runs in 115 combined innings between High-A and Double-A last season.

Los Angeles Angels

The Angels need a lot more than Dylan Bundy if they want to compete, but it’s a start to address their pitching woes. Angels starters recorded a 5.64 ERA (second-worst in majors), the lowest groundball rate in the bigs at 38.1%, and logged the fewest number of innings.

Griffin Canning is a fun prospect who piled up the strikeouts and recorded the highest fWAR among returning pitchers at just 1.4. But there isn’t much behind him in the rotation. As a reminder, Bundy was worth 2.5 fWAR in 2019. He’s an instant upgrade for Los Angeles and won’t cost much in a trade.

That’s good news for LA who doesn’t have a very deep system, but the top of their Top 30 prospect list is full of middle infielders and arms with high strikeout numbers like LHP Patrick Sandoval. The lefty has 383 strikeouts in 330 career minor league innings and struck out 42 in his first 39 innings of big league ball in 2019.

Next. Assessing The Orioles Middle Infield Situation. dark

Later today, we look at three potential National League clubs that could make a move for Bundy. Stay tuned here at Birdswatcher.com and on Twitter @BirdsWatcherFS.

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