Orioles Like Diamondbacks OF Depth: Pursuing Inciarte, Peralta

One thing that I have taken away from this off-season, is that the Diamondbacks have a lot of depth at four spots: the starting rotation albeit young, the infield, outfield, and the bullpen.

At the same time I have learned that General Manager Dave Stewart wont trade any of his assets unless he gets an offer that he cant pass up, and right now that hasn’t happened, despite all the rumors swirling around this team right now.

One of those rumors is centered around the Diamondbacks OF depth. Jon Morosi of Fox Sports reported a couple of days ago that the Orioles are interested in the Diamondbacks OF depth, and in particular David Peralta, and Ender Inciarte.

As Morosi reported, the Orioles really want to add a left-handed bat, and both Peralta and Inciarte’s stock couldn’t be more higher than they are now after Inciarte had a great September, and Peralta hit .286/.320/.450 with an OPS+ of 112 in 88 games after being called up because of injuries to key players.

If you look at the Orioles projected 2015 lineup, Baltimore has just two left-handed hitters (Alejandro De Aza, and Chris Davis who struggled last season), 6 right-handed hitters, and Matt Wieters who can bat from both the left-hand and right-hand side. Despite this, the Orioles had similiar success against lefties (106 wRC+), and right-handers (104 wRC+) in 2014.

The Orioles have plenty of catchers, which is something the Dbacks need, and the Snakes can probably afford to trade an outfielder, though I would rather see Trumbo go.

Whether you like the idea of trading Peralta or Inciarte or not, in order for this trade to happen, Stewart has to be willing to trade from depth, and give up assets, which he has shown on multiple occasions that he isn’t willing to do.

Meanwhile, the Orioles have five catchers on their roster, and cant keep all of them. Matt Wieters, Caleb Joseph, Steve Clevenger, Mike Ohlman, and Ryan Lavarnway who was recently DFA’d to make room for Delmon Young.

Here is the problem: none of these catchers really interest me expect for maybe Wieters, but I don’t think the Orioles want to give him up, and he had health issues last season. Inciarte is valuable in the leadoff spot, and he is a great defender, and Peralta had a breakout rookie season.

Plus, when you look at the Dbacks projected starting lineup, its expected to be right-handed heavy, which in theory means the Dbacks could struggle against right-handed pitching. Knowing that, it makes no sense to trade two of your left handed hitters, especially Peralta who had a 132 wRC+ against RHP last season.

Plus, I don’t know if its the best idea to trade an outfielder, when Mark Trumbo, and A.J. Pollock both missed significant time with injuries last season.

Everybody knows the Dbacks could use another catcher, but I just don’t know if trading an outfielder, particularly a left-handed hitter is the best idea. If I were Stewart, I wouldn’t do it.