Orioles' demotion of former All-Star cements disastrous trade deadline

The Baltimore Orioles made a flurry of transactions on Thursday including demoting starting pitcher Trevor Rogers to Triple-A Norfolk.

The hectic day comes three weeks after the Orioles were among the busiest teams leading up to the trade deadline. They acquired Rogers from the Miami Marlins and traded for top-of-the-rotation arm Zach Eflin, who is now on the injured list for the second time this season.

Rogers' move to the minors represents a very quick hook from Orioles brass, as he's made just four starts since joining the AL East club. Rogers has yet to go more than five innings, has allowed 15 earned runs over the stretch and has posted a rough 12:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

He's picked up two no-decisions and two losses in his four starts and is now 2-11 with a 4.92 ERA and 1.57 WHIP across 124 1/3 innings (25 starts) in 2024. The Orioles (74-54) are just 0.5 games behind the New York Yankees (74-53), but also hold only a 2.5-game edge on the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins (both 71-56) for the top AL wild-card spot.

Baltimore likely felt that it couldn't afford to continue trotting out a struggling starter like Rogers in the thick of a pennant chase.

Eflin was pitching some of the best ball of his career through his first four outings with the Orioles, but landed on the IL on Tuesday with right shoulder inflammation. The righty had been showing signs of reverting back to his 2023 self — when he won a career-high 16 games and finished sixth in the AL Cy Young voting — going 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with Baltimore.

The Orioles also landed former two-time All-Star reliever Gregory Soto in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies, and while he's had four straight scoreless appearances since Aug. 8, he got off to a brutal start with his new club. The lefthander surrendered four earned runs in two of his first three outings with Baltimore, first in an 8-4 loss against the Cleveland Guardians on Aug. 2 and then in a 5-2 defeat against the Toronto Blue Jays on Aug. 6.

The pair of blowups have inflated his overall numbers with the team to a 15.43 ERA and 3.00 WHIP in his first seven games with the Orioles.