BALTIMORE — The Orioles have spent much of the past two months seeking to double the number of additions they’ve made to their rotation this offseason. On Thursday, they finally did.
Baltimore acquired Oakland Athletics left-handed pitcher Cole Irvin and minor league right-hander Kyle Virbitsky for infield prospect Darell Hernaiz, they announced. Irvin, who turns 29 next week, had a 4.11 ERA over 62 starts for Oakland the past two seasons, averaging nearly 180 innings per campaign. He has four years of team control remaining. Left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez was designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.
Irvin joins veteran right-hander Kyle Gibson as the Orioles’ offseason additions to their rotation, with Gibson signing a one-year, $10 million deal with Baltimore in early December. Assuming the pair locks down a pair of rotation spots, that leaves three other spots open, with Kyle Bradish and Dean Kremer likely to secure two of them given their strong finishes to 2022. Tyler Wells, Grayson Rodriguez, Austin Voth, DL Hall, Spenser Watkins, Mike Baumann and Bruce Zimmermann make for a lengthy group of remaining candidates, with 2022 opening day starter John Means set to rejoin the rotation sometime this summer after undergoing Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery early last season.
