Another frustrating night in Birdland, plus more on the trades

We have seen the Orioles go 20-9 this year versus the American League East. We have seen them produce nine straight winning months, the longest current active streak in the majors. Since the start of 2023, Baltimore is 162-102 (.614), and that is the best win percentage in the majors in that span.

In the span of four series in June we saw the Orioles sweep four in a row at Tampa Bay and win consecutive series against Atlanta, Philadelphia and the New York Yankees.

But since they capped that four-series run by beating the Yankees 17-5, it has turned for the worse. And the Orioles can't seem to turn it back.

Since June 21 they look nothing like a playoff team. They have two five-game losing streaks in this stretch and in their most recent five games, they are 1-4.

That is a mark of 12-17 and a -41 run differential since that June day.

About those trades: The Orioles added two pitchers on Friday that could help them both this season and next year as well.

There could be more moves coming but so far they have not given up any of their top nine prospects via Baseball America or MLBPipeline.com.

The addition of right-handed starter Zach Eflin could give them their No. 3 playoff rotation starter behind Corbin Burnes and Grayson Rodriguez, pending any other moves.

Eflin has gone 5-7 with a 4.09 ERA this year over 19 starts for Tampa Bay. His last outing was Wednesday when he allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings on 85 pitches against Toronto on the road.

Eflin has some of the best control seen in the game, walking just 1.1 batters per nine innings with 7.1 strikeouts. That is a 2.8 walk percentage which ranks in the top one percent in the sport.

He is considered by some scouts as a pitcher with just decent and not great stuff, but he does have great control which helps the stat sheet play up for him.

Last season he went 16-8 with a 3.50 ERA and allowed just 1.2 walks per nine over 177 2/3 innings. He had a 1.024 WHIP and finished sixth in the AL Cy Young voting.

The Orioles took on some money here, which is a question that some fans and media had wondered about. Eflin is being paid $11 million this season and his contract for next year calls for $18 million. The Rays reportedly will pay a $1 million trade bonus he will get now that a deal has been completed.

The Rays signed Eflin to a three-year, $40 million deal on Dec. 13, 2022.

Since the 2018 season, Eflin has pitched to a 4.01 ERA (for an ERA+ of 104 in that span) in 819 1/3 innings with a 1.207 WHIP, 1.8 walks per nine and 8.3 strikeouts per nine.

Did the Orioles get better with this deal? Their playoff front three did with Eflin now there to be slated behind Burnes and Rodriguez.

In Seranthony Domínguez, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning last night, they added a backend bullpen arm with some of the best velocity in the game.

The righty has some good postseason stats. Last year in the playoffs he did not allow an earned run over 5 1/3 innings. And in 16 career playoff innings, he has a 1.13 ERA with a 1.063 WHIP with four walks to 25 strikeouts.

The O's gave up three 2023 draft picks for Eflin, sending pitcher Jackson Baumeister, outfielder Mattew Etzel and infielder Mac Horvath to Tampa Bay. Baumeister is ranked as their No. 17 prospect by MLBPipeline and No. 18 by Baseball America while Horvath was No. 10 BA and No. 13 MLB and Etzel was not ranked in the top 30.

Outfielder Austin Hays was traded to Philly in the Domínguez deal which also brings outfielder Cristian Pache to Baltimore.

I wish Hays well with his new club. I appreciate all the respect he showed to me and the media over the years. When the O's were a rebuilding and losing team, he never ducked an interview or a tough question. He seems to really enjoy being a dad and husband and he did things to help in the Baltimore community. He will be missed in the O's clubhouse.