{"id":43398,"date":"2025-04-23T08:05:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T08:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398"},"modified":"2025-04-23T08:05:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T08:05:48","slug":"red-sox-trade-pitch-deals-all-star-to-pitching-poor-orioles-for-needed-catching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Trade Pitch Deals All-Star to Pitching-Poor Orioles For Needed Catching"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"has-video wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Alex Cora (l) and Brandon Hyde (r)\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-dom-ready-time=\"1128\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles are longtime rivals in the American League East.\u00a0Each has won\u00a0the division\u00a010 times since\u00a0Major League Baseball split each league into two divisions in 1969, and then three in 1994. In head-to-head play, the Red Sox have had the better off the matchup since divisional play began,\u00a0winning 480 games to 389\u00a0for Baltimore.<\/p>\n<p>Heading into 2025, both teams had high expectations. The Orioles were coming off two straight years in which they made the postseason, after a six-year dry spell. In 2023, the Orioles captured the AL East pennant with 101 wins, the highest total for the franchise since 1979 a year that Baltimore got to the World Series\u00a0only to lose in seven games\u00a0to the Pittsburgh Pirates.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Sox have been in a down period for the past three years,\u00a0failing to finish above .500\u00a0each season. But\u00a0after their most active offseason\u00a0since 2018, experts\u00a0widely picked the Red Sox to win the division this year, or at least make the playoffs as a Wild Card \u2014 and even to get into the World Series.<\/p>\n<h2>Orioles Starting Staff Has Been a Disaster<\/h2>\n<p>So far, neither squad is exactly tearing up the league, as the season nears the conclusion of its fourth week. The Red Sox have done better, with a 13-11 record and winning\u00a0six of their last eight games\u00a0prior to Tuesday\u2019s matchup at Fenway Park against the Seattle Mariners.<\/p>\n<p>The Orioles have struggled far more mightily so far,\u00a0winning nine and losing 12\u00a0before Tuesday\u2019s MLB action. The problem for the Orioles has not been their hitting. With a team OPS of .721, Baltimore ranks fourth in the AL\u00a0and 10th overall in MLB.<\/p>\n<p>The Orioles\u2019 pitching has been another story completely \u2014 the starting rotation especially. Baltimore starters sit dead last in the Majors with a\u00a0bloated ERA of 6.11. As an entire staff, the Orioles also rank at the bottom of MLB\u2019s 30 teams, with a staff ERA of 5.43.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir combined 15.4 percent strikeout rate is also last in the majors, as is their 7.9 percent swinging-strike rate,\u201d wrote statistical\u00a0analyst Steve Adams of\u00a0<em>MLB Trade Rumors<\/em>. \u201cNo team\u2019s rotation has allowed home runs at a higher rate than the Orioles\u2019 1.86 HR\/9, and only two have yielded higher marks in terms of average exit velocity and hard-hit rate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Red Sox starters have been better, placing a respectable 10th in ERA at 3.75. Boston\u2019s offense has also been solid with an MLB 10th-best OPS of .720. Their run rate of 4.50 per game is 10th best in the Majors as well, fourth in the AL.<\/p>\n<h2>Red Sox Have Big Need Behind the Plate<\/h2>\n<p>But the Red Sox have one serious need \u2014 a catcher. Regular\u00a0starter Connor Wong\u00a0remains injured with a broken finger and\u00a0managed just two hits\u00a0in 26 plate appearances before heading to the IL. Backup Carlos Narvaez has scraped together only a .594 OPS, and third-stringer Blake Sabol has been even more inconsequential with two hits in 11 plate appearances.<\/p>\n<p>The organization\u2019s catching pipeline offers very little after they traded their top prospect at the position, Kyle Teel, to the Chicago White Sox as part of a package that\u00a0brought back lefty ace Garrett Crochet.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Sox have a starting pitcher to give, especially with the return of Bryan Bello from injury on Tuesday. That pitcher would be 2024 All-Star righty Tanner Houck. The 28-year-old who was drafted by the Red Sox in the\u00a02017 first round, 24th overall, has failed regain the form that earned him his All-Star bid last season \u2014 but is still considered a potentially valuable mid-rotation starter.<\/p>\n<p>What do the Orioles have to offer, if they wanted to extract Houck from the Red Sox? As it happens, their organizational No. 1 prospect is a catcher. Samuel Basallo, 20 years old, was\u00a0signed out of the Dominican Republic\u00a0in 2021 for what was then an Orioles-record signing bonus of $1.3 million.<\/p>\n<h2>Pitcher-For-Catcher Trade On Deck For AL East Rivals?<\/h2>\n<p><em>MLB Pipeline<\/em>\u00a0rates Basallo as the\u00a012th-best prospect in baseball overall. But his path to the big leagues is blocked on the Orioles by 2019 first-round draft pick Adley Rutschman, who is already a two-time All-Star in his just his fourth big league season.<\/p>\n<p><em>MLB Pipeline<\/em>\u00a0projects that Basallo could be ready for the big leagues and called up in 2025 \u2014 but it likely will not happen in Baltimore. In Boston with the Red Sox\u2019 catching woes, there is a good chance that it would.<\/p>\n<p>A straight up swap of Houck \u2014 who will\u00a0earn a reasonable $3.95 million this year\u00a0with two more seasons of team control \u2014 for the highly ranked prospect Basallo would serve the needs of both the Red Sox and the Orioles.<\/p>\n<p>Who says no?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty The Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles are longtime rivals in the American League East.\u00a0Each has won\u00a0the division\u00a010 times since\u00a0Major League Baseball split each league into&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Red Sox Trade Pitch Deals All-Star to Pitching-Poor Orioles For Needed Catching - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Red Sox Trade Pitch Deals All-Star to Pitching-Poor Orioles For Needed Catching - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty The Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles are longtime rivals in the American League East.\u00a0Each has won\u00a0the division\u00a010 times since\u00a0Major League Baseball split each league into...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-23T08:05:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"618\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398\",\"name\":\"Red Sox Trade Pitch Deals All-Star to Pitching-Poor Orioles For Needed Catching - 24\/7 News America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-23T08:05:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-23T08:05:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":618},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Red Sox Trade Pitch Deals All-Star to Pitching-Poor Orioles For Needed Catching\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"24\/7 News America\",\"description\":\"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Red Sox Trade Pitch Deals All-Star to Pitching-Poor Orioles For Needed Catching - 24\/7 News America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Red Sox Trade Pitch Deals All-Star to Pitching-Poor Orioles For Needed Catching - 24\/7 News America","og_description":"Getty The Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles are longtime rivals in the American League East.\u00a0Each has won\u00a0the division\u00a010 times since\u00a0Major League Baseball split each league into...","og_url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398","og_site_name":"24\/7 News America","article_published_time":"2025-04-23T08:05:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":618,"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398","name":"Red Sox Trade Pitch Deals All-Star to Pitching-Poor Orioles For Needed Catching - 24\/7 News America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-23T08:05:48+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-23T08:05:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Red-Sox-Orioles-Trade-Pitch-Catching.jpg","width":1100,"height":618},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43398#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Red Sox Trade Pitch Deals All-Star to Pitching-Poor Orioles For Needed Catching"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/","name":"24\/7 News America","description":"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43407,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43398\/revisions\/43407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}