Orioles settle on minor league trade at deadline (updated again)

Of the needs that encompass a rebuilding club, a ninth inning specialist is significantly low on the priority list. So is a middle infielder due to get another raise in arbitration that could push his salary above $5 million.

The Orioles tried but were unable today to reach agreement on trades involving Mychal Givens or Jonathan Villar.

Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias is following the Andrew Cashner trade to the Red Sox on July 13 with a deadline deal involving a minor league player, according to a source.

The player hasn't been informed and the club is withholding the announcement.

No one from the major league roster has been dealt.

One year after the Orioles sent closer Zack Britton to the Yankees and occasional closers Brad Brach and Darren O'Day to the Braves, Elias is holding onto Givens, who leads the club with nine saves.

Drafted as a shortstop in the second round in 2009, Givens is 19-15 with a 3.31 ERA, 1.144 WHIP and 18 saves in 262 games. He's gone 1-12 over the past two seasons and registered a 4.54 ERA and 1.224 WHIP this summer over 41 2/3 innings.

The 10 home runs allowed tie his career high over 78 2/3 innings in 2017.

Givens has been scored upon in his last three outings, though he earned the save Saturday in Anaheim by leaving the bases loaded in an 8-7 win. He took the loss the following day on Matt Thaiss' walk-off homer.

The sense within the industry was that the Orioles eventually would trade Givens, but a "glut of right-handed relievers," as one person put it earlier today, slowed the process.

Plenty of relievers fell off the board but Givens stuck to it.

The Nationals traded for three relievers after the deadline was down to two hours and they weren't in on Givens. Maybe a late fallback option at the most.

A MASN swap wasn't happening.

Manager Brandon Hyde kept Shawn Armstrong on the mound in the ninth inning yesterday with an 8-5 lead over the Padres, fueling speculation that the Orioles found a partner for Givens. Eight different Orioles have recorded saves, with Armstrong ranking second with three.

Others with saves include Richard Bleier (two), Miguel Castro (two), Paul Fry (two), Josh Lucas (one), Mike Wright (one) and Stevie Wilkerson (one).

Villar joined the Orioles last July and didn't leave a year later.

Former executive Dan Duquette acquired Villar, pitcher Luis Ortiz and infielder Jean Carmona at the deadline for second baseman Jonathan Schoop. Villar avoided joining his fifth organization since May 2008.

The Orioles claimed Jóse Rondón off waivers from the White Sox yesterday and he would have been a convenient roster and middle infield replacement for Villar, who's batting .263/.325/.418 with 22 doubles, two triples, 13 home runs, 47 RBIs and 23 stolen bases in 29 attempts in 107 games.

Villar followed an 0-for-15 stretch in Arizona by going 13-for-28 with two home runs.

In 161 games with the Orioles, Villar is slashed .261/.329/.409 and stole 44 bases in 53 attempts.

The team leader in stolen bases without Villar would have been Rule 5 pick Richie Martin with seven. Dwight Smith Jr. has five.

Villar is tied with the Rays' Tommy Pham for most times picked off with three.

With Major League Baseball no longer implementing the Aug. 31 deadline for players to first pass through waivers before a trade, today's activity represented a finish line of sorts outside of minor league transactions.

Trey Mancini wasn't traded. The Orioles weren't motivated to trade him. Didn't matter that they received the expected calls on him.

No reason for a Mancini watch but it transpired anyway.

The Orioles can revisit talks or start news ones in the offseason.

I'll update this entry with trade details.

Update: Phillies general manager Matt Klentak told reporters that he acquired right-hander Dan Straily from the Orioles for cash and assigned the veteran to Triple-A.

Straily was 2-4 with a 9.82 ERA and 1.993 WHIP in 14 games (eight starts) with the Orioles and he surrendered 22 home runs in 47 2/3 innings. He accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk and was 4-0 with a 2.38 ERA and 0.941 WHIP in six starts covering 34 innings.

Update II: The Orioles optioned pitcher Chandler Shepherd to Norfolk, which likely opens a roster spot for infielder José Rondón.