Orioles Acquire Nuno From Dodgers

THE DEAL

Vidal Nuno’s career with the Dodgers didn’t last long.

The Dodgers acquired Nuno from the Mariners in November for Carlos Ruiz, but shipped the veteran lefthander to the Orioles on Sunday in exchange for minor league righthander Ryan Moseley. Nuno was likely going to be the odd man out in the competition to be the lefthander out of the Dodgers bullpen with Luis Avilan and Adam Liberatore. He now has a chance to win that job with the Orioles.

The Orioles designated for assignment lefthanded reliever T.J. McFarland in a corresponding move.

DODGERS ACQUIRE
Ryan Moseley, rhp
Age: 22

The Orioles drafted Moseley in the eighth round of the 2016 draft out of Texas Tech and signed him for $150,000. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Texan was expected to be the Red Raiders ace as a junior but was instead demoted to the bullpen because of significant control issues. Moseley primarily relies on a 92-93 mph sinker and a low-to-mid 80s slurvy breaking ball, and he also flashed an average changeup in college. While Moseley’s arsenal is strong on the surface, his well below-average control hampered him in college and followed him to pro ball, where he walked 4.12 batters-per-nine innings at short-season Aberdeen. Opponents have trouble squaring Moseley up when he throws strikes (.191 opponent average, 1.92 groundout-to-airout ratio with Aberdeen), but a ground ball-oriented middle reliever is his ceiling unless he improves his control.

2016 Club	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	HR	BB	SO	AVG
Aberdeen (SS)	0	1	3.20	12	0	4	19.2	13	1	9	18	.191

ORIOLES ACQUIRE
Vidal Nuno, lhp
Age: 29

The well-traveled reliever joins his fifth organization since in just over 2 1/2 years with Sunday’s trade (Yankees, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Dodgers, Orioles). Nuno, originally a 48th-round pick in 2009 out of NAIA Baker (Kan.) College, made a career-high 55 appearances with Seattle last season and has held lefties to a .224/.285/.356 slash line in his career. The former starter is also capable of making an occasional spot start and handling multi-inning relief assignments, including 10 appearances of at least two innings last year. He will compete with Donnie Hart and Jayson Aquino for a lefthanded middle relief spot with the Orioles.