Still in talent-addition mode, O's part with popular shortstop

The rebuilding of the Orioles was always going to be hard for fans. The non-tender deadline for two straight years has been hard on fans. The trades last year of right-hander Dylan Bundy and infielder Jonathan Villar. The trade last night of shortstop José Iglesias.

For a few hours yesterday - after news of an agreement with Yolmer Sánchez - some fans wondered about the possibility of a strong up-the-middle defense of Iglesias and Sánchez.

Then the Orioles, as they did with those deals last December, traded present-day talent for future talent. Talent that helps build up the depth of the organization, but is no guarantee to help down the road. Right-hander Garrett Stallings is clearly someone executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias is high on. He acquired Stallings and 19-year-old Venezuelan right-hander Jean Pinto for Iglesias in a deal with the Los Angeles Angels.

Stallings was the Friday night starter in 2019 at the University of Tennessee. Elias is a fan of talent from the Southeastern Conference, that is clear. Stallings, who throws four pitches, went 8-5 with a 3.33 ERA for the Vols that year. He pitched 102 2/3 innings with 106 strikeouts and just 16 walks, or 1.3 per every nine innings. He reportedly did not pitch at all in the pros in 2019, after the Angels drafted him in round five, because he had a heavy innings load in college. And then there were no games to pitch in during the 2020 season on the farm.

During his Zoom press conference last night, I asked Elias if adding future talent is still a priority over present-day wins. The answer, to the dismay of some fans, is yes. He gave a lengthy answer to my question.

"I think it's accurate to say we're still in the phase of accumulating talent and trying to rise to the top of young talent," said Elias. "We want to have the best young talent in baseball. I think we're going to need that to compete in this division. The baseline that we have, while it's improving and improving rapidly, there is still room to go. We're setting a really high bar for where we want the foundation and structure to be for our farm system. And you see and admire the work of a team in our own division, the Rays, that are able to self-sustain because they do such a great job in scouting and player development. I think that, as I've been talking about since joining this club, we've had some catch-up to do and we're now seeing the farm system, and the young talent on the major league roster too, rising to the level of getting toward the top of the league.

"We're also still making up for a lack of a normal level of international signing activity with this organization for a long time. When we do trades like this we try to get a young international player tossed in every time we can because we know we are in arrears a bit with that age group and getting those guys that all these other teams have been signing for the last three or four years. We haven't been to that level. That is going to continue to sting here for a few years.

"So, we're doing all that to catch up and lay this foundation down. There will come a time when we flip the switch to maximizing wins in the next given season. But it's our judgement that we are not there yet. This is not fun to subtract from your major league team. But that is what you do when you're below .500 and rebuilding, and we still are. We did have a shortened draft this year. The July 2 (international) class was postponed. The minor league season was canceled. There were some setbacks this year, too, that perhaps make our progress a little harder to judge. Tough call to part with a guy that was so impactful here in such a short time in Iggy.

"But we could not pass up two quality pitching prospects, and particularly a guy in Garrett Stallings that I think fits in with our top 20, top 30 prospects and is a legit starting pitching prospect, which is hard to get your hands on."

Not fun to subtract from the team, he said, and not acceptable to some fans as noted here last night and via Twitter. Some fan reaction was harsh. Many fans did not like this trade - at least those that reacted on my forums. Of course, how it all works out will not be determined by instant fan reaction.

It was about this time last year there was some outrage here over the trade of Jonathan Villar. The Orioles were able to overcome his loss this season and now they try to overcome losing a player that performed as well as Iglesias. He was a big plus on the field, and in the clubhouse as well, by all appearances.

Stallings, from Chesapeake, Va., was rated as the Angels' No. 21 prospect by MLBPipeline.com. The outlet now ranks him as the O's No. 26. He gets plus grades of 55 for his changeup, slider and control. His fastball touches 93 mph.

Elias said he was impressed by Stallings' long track record in the SEC, which he said gives the O's "comfort out of high-performing players in that conference."

He said the O's did get some scouting looks at Stallings during this year, even without any minor league games.

"He did pitch in their instructional league pretty extensively last month. We did have multiple scouts there and we had video and data from that," Elias noted. "We knew what he was in 2019, and then to see those performances a month ago, see the stuff and velocity, and all of it be a little better than what he showed in college, it's pretty encouraging. So we didn't feel like it was too much extra risk, given the circumstances. It was actually probably one of the lesser cases of that we've run into in 2020 because of the instructional league appearance."

Per MLBPipeline.com, Stallings' "stuff plays up because he tunnels his pitches effectively and can throw all four of them for strikes. He rarely hurts himself with walks, allowing just 1.3 per nine innings at Tennessee. That gives him a chance to fit into the back of a big league rotation."

Perhaps Elias sees his upside as better than that. Was that a good price for one year of Iglesias? The Orioles always could have waited to try to deal him at the trade deadline and get the benefit of his talents for a half season.

But they didn't choose that path. Now they "have work to do," Elias said, in adding another shortstop. The player that plays that spot may not be an Oriole yet.

So the O's came to contract terms with Pedro Severino, Sánchez, Pat Valaika and Shawn Armstrong. They tendered deals to Trey Mancini and Anthony Santander, so they are returning in 2021. They non-tendered Hanser Alberto, making him a free agent, but Elias didn't rule out trying to re-sign him.

Alberto gets credit from me for being a player waived four times before the 2019 season and then joining this club and batting .299/.322/.413 over two seasons here. Had he one more hit over 781 plate appearances for the club, he'd be a .300 hitter with Baltimore.

He proved to be a quality person to me, always generous with his time and always taking time to make sure we understood each other. I always respected that. He asked me to repeat questions sometimes, and I asked him to repeat answers.

But the smile was always evident, and his energy and enthusiasm meant a lot to the team. Hard to see him go, and maybe he can still return. But in case not, he sent out this tweet last night.

thanks birdland I will always be grateful. Thanks to the fans for receiving me the way they did in these 2 years. #GodIsGood pic.twitter.com/IVIGaYnQoR

-- Hanser Alberto (@elpotroalberto) December 3, 2020