Blowing up the roster made sense, but dealing Kevin Gausman feels like a misstep

There’s no question the Orioles needed to blow up their roster and start over. The Orioles received four minor leaguers in the Gausman deal and only one – 20-year-old third baseman Jean Carlos Encarnacion — was listed in the Top 30 of the Braves’ system heading into this year; Encarnacion was 24th. If you’re talking prospective talent, that’s what it should have taken to pry a guy like Gausman away from the Orioles. Getting rid of the $12 million owed to O’Day through 2019, the $1.8 million or so left on Gausman’s 2018 salary and not going through the arbitration process with Gausman for the next two years probably saves the Orioles $30 million in this one transaction. We’ve all seen Gausman excel in the second half before – he had a 3.41 ERA in 15 second-half starts last year, and a 3.10 ERA in 15 second-half starts in 2016.