Orioles Victory Card #8: I got nothing

 Baltimore Orioles Victory Number 8: 7-5 over the Miami Marlins

2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects Mychal Givens

Well, this post is two days (and one loss) late. Wish is was because I was crafting something excellent for you to read. Unfortunately, it's not. I do like this card, though. It's always fun to see prospect cards for a player listed at a position they ended up switching from. As you may recall Mychal Givens did not make it to the Orioles as a shortstop. Rather he sent 5 1/2 seasons as a reliever that was occasionally dominant and occasionally extremely hittable. 

Last year he was traded to the Rockies at the deadline for Tyler Nevin, Terrin Vavra, and Mishael Deson. That could be a sneaky good trade for the O's on the road to a rebuild. Nevin and Vavra are ranked in the Orioles Top 30 prospects by MLB with Vavra coming in at 13th and Nevin at 23rd. Deson is a bit more of a project as he is only 18-years-old and has yet to appear in a game in the U.S. as he spent 2019 playing in the Dominican Summer League.

After a rough (I originally typed "rocky" but didn't want to go the pun route so early in the season) start for Colorado last season, Givens is back to throwing strikes in the National League. He has worked 8 innings, walked two (one intentionally), and struck out eight. He has allowed two home runs already (both at home) which is interesting because his flyball rate (14%) is way below his career average of 23.9%. If he puts together a strong year, he'll probably be on the move again this summer as Colorado is struggling in the standings (last place in the NL West).

The Orioles are hanging around in the AL East and have run their record back to 8-10 as their starters have done...okay. Their rotation was a huge question mark heading into the season, but they've probably gotten more than they've expected so far. The one major drawback is that, outside of John Means, the other starters haven't worked deep into ballgames, taxing a bullpen that features two Rule V picks.

On the other hand, that does give the team an opportunity to showcase a few arms to other teams that might be willing to add Paul Fry, Scott Armstrong, or Tanner Scott at the deadline. If Mike Elias and his staff can orchestrate a deal similar to the Givens trade, that will give them a few more lottery tickets in the system.