The Oriole Report

The Orioles returned rule 5 pick Adam Donachie back to the Royals after they couldn’t reach a deal to keep him in the farm system. But the Orioles did manage to trade for a catcher for minor league depth.

The Orioles traded 28 year old outfielder, and Orioles minor league player of the year, Cory Keylor to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for 37 year old catcher Alberto Castillo. The Orioles will most likely place Castillo in AAA Norfolk. I grade this trade a C because it basically has no bearings on the Orioles for this or any future season. Keylor was an organizational player that had a good year last year. No harm done.

Outfielder Jay Payton strained his hamstring and is going to miss between 1 to 3 weeks of playing time. Payton will most likely either be on the DL or not available for opening day. He had a great spring training and would have been the starting center fielder on Monday. Its not a really bad injury and he shouldn’t miss too much time.

The Orioles traded right handed pitcher Rodrigo Lopez to the Colorado Rockies for minor league relievers Jim Miller and Jason Burch.

Burch: 3-4, 4.95 ERA, 63.2 IP, 1.41 WHIP, 7.35 K/9

Miller: 0-3, 3.86 ERA, 12 saves, 44.1 IP, 1.44 WHIP, 8.32 K/9

Grade: C+

Well we finally decided to pull the trigger on a Rodrigo Lopez trade. We decided on a deal with the Rockies for two right handed relief pitchers. Out of the two, Miller has the most upside. He’s had high strikeout numbers throughout his minor league career and was named the Rockies minor league pitcher of the year in 2005. Burch has also had good strikeout numbers. Both are 24 years old, neither listed in Colorado’s top 20 prospects. But the Orioles do get rid of a pitcher coming off an 18 loss, near 6 ERA season who was going to be paid an estimated $4 million to keep as a long reliever most likely. If either one of these new pitchers can give us some production at some point, then the trade will be effective. Now we can wait for Spring Training to start because I don’t see the O’s making any more moves this off-season. Rodrigo finishes his Baltimore Oriole career at 60-58. Good luck in Colorado Roddy, you’re gonna need it.

The Orioles drafted right handed pitcher Alfredo Simon from the Rangers organization, then traded him to the Phillies for their Rule 5 selection. That being catcher Adam Donachie who played in the Royals organization last year. Also among the process, the Orioles lost 1B/DH Josh Phelps to the New York Yankees in the draft.

Grade: F

Its really not acceptable that we lost Josh Phelps in the Rule 5 draft. Not that Phelps is anything special, or was he even guaranteed to start the season with the big league club, but he was more valuable to the O’s than alot of players on the 40 man roster were. All we had to do was place Adam Stern on waivers and put Phelps on the 40 man roster and it would have been impossible to lose him. I don’t think its the end of the world, but it really pisses me off that we made a smart move to sign him to a minor league deal, only to lose him to the Yankees in the Rule 5. As for the other stuff in the draft, it really has no significance. We did the favor for the Phillies since they did one for us last year with Chris Gomez in the same draft.

The Orioles acquired utility player Freddie Bynum from the Cubs for a player to be named later.

Bynum: .257/.308/.456, 5 doubles, 5 triples, 4 homeruns, 12 RBI, 8 stolen bases

Grade: C

I’m curious as to who the player to be named later will be, but I doubt it’ll be anyone of any real significance. I would say Adam Stern if I had to guess at this point. I guess the Front Office is thinking that Bynum can take over Chris Gomez’ role. Gomez had a hot ending to his year and will most likely sign elsewhere. Not a bad trade unless the PTBNL is shocking, Bynum is 26 and he has some pop in his bat to go along with his speed. Helps the bench which is always a weak point for recent Oriole squads.

Update: The player to be named later turned out to be minor league pitcher Kevin Hart. Nothing special, my grade will stay the same.

The Orioles trade 23 year old right handed relief pitcher Chris Britton to the New York Yankees for 30 year old right handed starting pitcher Jaret Wright and 4 million dollars.

Wright: 11-7, 4.49 ERA, 140.1 IP, 1.52 WHIP, 5.39 K/9

Cost: 1 year/$3 million

Grade: C-

The Orioles traded their second best reliever and weakened their biggest weakness. They traded for Jaret Wright, whose contract the Yankees were going to buy out and make him a free agent. The Orioles decided to trade for him instead because they figured he would cost more if they tried to sign him on the market. At first look this is a bad deal. But after hearing all sides, its not all bad. Jim Duquette said you trade a reliever for a starter every time, Wright gives us someone to put at the back end of the rotation or in the bullpen, and its just the start of the plan and there are more moves on the way. With that said, I like the deal a little more. This allows us to trade one or both of Kris Benson and Rodrigo Lopez and gives us more versatility in what we can do. That is all the judgment I can make for now, until more moves (or lack thereof) are made.

Jeff Conine was traded to the Phillidelphia Phillies today for a PTBNL.

Grade: B+

It doesn’t matter who we get back really, just the fact that we got rid of Conine’s salary for next year is great. We had to kick in some cash, but that doesn’t really matter to me either. I have no idea what we’re going to get in return, but its probably a mid-level prospect. Either an outfielder or a relief pitcher I would hazzard to guess. Good deal, now lets get rid of Russ Ortiz and I’ll be happy.

The Orioles traded catcher Javy Lopez to the Boston Red Sox for minor league outfielder Adam Stern.

Grade: C+

I’m very glad to see we got rid of Javy. I would have settled for just getting rid of him for nothing, so getting anything in return is fine with me. Adam Stern is a 26 year old center fielder who has struggled this year in AAA Pawtucket. His stat line for the season is .260/.299/.393. He has 8 homeruns and 34 RBI. He also has 21 stolen bases in 28 attempts. Seems like he could be organizational filler or an adequate reserve outfielder at some point. Javy gets a chance to go to a competing team and get his playing time. Good riddence as far as I’m concerned. Lets move on and trade some more of our worthless garbage.