Wade Miley gives Orioles rotation an upgrade and bullpen a break

11:58 PM ET

Quick, name the fifth starter for the Baltimore Orioles. You can’t do it, can you? That’s because, for the better part of the past month, the O’s have been operating without a No. 5. Heck, you could argue they’ve been sin cinco for the entire season.

Oh, they’ve tried. In fact, manager Buck Showalter has auditioned so many people you’d swear he was Simon Cowell. From Mike Wright to Tyler Wilson to Ubaldo Jimenez to Vance Worley, it seems like the Birds have audited every arm in the organization in an effort to round out the rotation, only to come up empty. Until now.

On Sunday, the Orioles acquired Wade Miley from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for 27-year-old minor league hurler Ariel Miranda. That’s not to say Miley slots in as Baltimore’s No. 5 guy. The truth is, in a lackluster rotation where it’s Chris Tillman and everybody else, the difference between Nos. 2 and 5 is virtually indistinguishable (and not in a good way). With Miley (and recently promoted Dylan Bundy) on board, the Orioles have five legit starters for the first time all season.

When it comes to game-changing deadline acquisitions, nobody is ever going to put Miley and his 4.07 career ERA in the same group as David Price or C.C. Sabathia (unless, of course, it’s a group called “former first round lefthanders who got traded in their late 20’s”). But in nabbing the 29-year-old vet, the Orioles get:

Baltimore’s bullpen should benefit from having proven innings-eater Wade Miley in the …

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