On the eve of this season's non-waiver trade deadline, the Orioles acquired veteran left-hander Wade Miley in a trade with the Seattle Mariners to help upgrade the team's beleaguered-but-improving starting rotation.
The deal will send away 27-year-old Cuban left-hander Ariel Miranda, who pitched one game for the Orioles this season and was with Triple-A Norfolk.
The acquisition of Miley gives the Orioles the left-handed starter they've been without all season. Miley, is 7-8 with a 4.98 ERA in 19 starts. On Saturday snapped a string of six straight losses with seven innings of one-hit ball with nine strikeouts in an interleague contest against the Chicago Cubs.
Despite all the recent losses, four of his five outings in July were quality starts.
The Orioles will be Miley's fourth team in the last three seasons. The Boston Red Sox acquired him from the Arizona Diamondbacks ahead of the 2015 season for a pair of young pitchers. Miley went 11-11 with a 4.46 ERA in his only year for the Red Sox, who dealt him last offseason to the Mariners for reliever Carson Smith.
Miley is in the second year of a three-year, $19.25-million deal he signed two months after the Red Sox acquired him. He is making $6.167 million this season and will make $8.917 million next season. His deal also includes a $12-million club option for 2018 with a $500,000 buyout.
The Orioles gave Miranda a $725,000 signing bonus when they plucked him from Cuba in May of 2015. It was one of the largest bonuses the club has given a Cuban player.
He received a brief major league call-up earlier this month, allowing three runs on four hits over two relief innings in his only appearance on July 3 in Seattle.
He was 4-7 with a 3.93 ERA in 19 starts at Triple-A Norfolk this season and has pitched to a 3.52 ERA in four minor league starts since returning to the Tides.
