Is Brad Brach too valuable to trade?

Even Dan Duquette's constant message board critics would have a hard time finding anything wrong with a deal he made on Nov. 25, 2013.

Duquette traded minor league right-hander Devin Jones to San Diego for reliever Brad Brach. While Brach has had three very solid seasons in the Orioles bullpen - and was an All-Star last year - Jones never advanced beyond Double-A. He was the Orioles' ninth-round draft pick in 2011 and is no longer playing. The trade was one-sided.

Meanwhile, Brach's ERA has improved each year with the Orioles, going from 3.18 in 2014 to 2.72 in 2015 and to a career-best 2.05 last season. While Brach struggled at times in the second half, he put together a first half last season where he went 6-1 with an 0.91 ERA and 0.831 WHIP.

In his three seasons with the team, Brach is a combined 22-8 with a 2.61 ERA over 220 2/3 innings allowing 6.6 hits per nine innings with a WHIP of 1.133. He leads all major league relievers in wins since 2014. That's a strong resume.

In 2016, he set new career highs in appearances, strikeouts, wins (10), and posted the lowest ERA (2.05) of his career. He finished tied for the major league lead with 10 wins as a reliever and is the first O's reliever with 10 or more wins in a single season since Arthur Rhodes in 1997.

Brach's name has come up in trade rumors throughout this offseason. There are good reasons for that: the numbers he has posted as an Oriole, along with a salary that will be (at most) $3.05 million this year, and the fact that he is under team control the next two seasons. Quality reliever, two years of control at a very reasonable price. Yes, there are plenty of reasons that other teams would want Brach.

If the Orioles did deal Brach, do they have enough depth in their bullpen to overcome the loss? Or should they consider him too valuable to part with - and maybe even as a possible closer for the future? Brach throws in the mid-90s with a solid slider and outstanding split-finger fastball that can be a swing-and-miss pitch, sometimes in the 87-88 mph range and sometimes touching as much as 90 mph.

Brach can't be a free agent until after the 2018 season, making him a bargain at the moment. In November, the St. Louis Cardinals signed free agent lefty Brett Cecil to a four-year deal worth $30.5 million after MLBTradeRumors.com had projected him to get three years and $18 million. It's been a good winter for relief pitchers.

Cecil dealt with a lat injury and pitched to an ERA of 3.93 last season. But over his past four years, he and Brach have had some similar stats.

Cecil: 2.90 ERA, 11.5 strikeouts/9 innings, .220 batting average against.
Brach: 2.68 ERA, 9.5 strikeouts/9 innings, .219 batting average against.

Some felt Brach tired when he struggled late last season. For the year, he pitched 79 innings, which was third among American League relievers. But he had pitched 79 1/3 innings in 2015.

The Orioles could look at Brach and see a major trade chip that could bring quality in return. They could also look at him as an indispensable piece of one of the majors' best bullpens.