The Orioles obtained five players from the Houston Astros, as well as $13M/yr in salary relief, by trading Miguel Tejada. The players are OF Luke Scott, 3B prospect Michael Costanzo, and pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton and Dennis Sarfate.
I'm not going to pretend to know anything about them. Troy Patton told the Houston Chronicle, "It's true. It's kind of really disappointing, honestly." Sounds like he and Aubrey Huff can argue over who thinks Baltimore is a more horseshit town.
blahblahblah This is Luke Scott. You know what Miggy looks like.
According to Bill Ordine of the Baltimore Sun, Luke Scott is a 30-year-old who hit .255 with 18 homers and 64 RBIs last year. For most teams, that would not be an upgrade. According to Wikipedia, he is also a devout Christian and is fluent in Spanish. Albers was 4-11 with a 5.86 ERA. The other two pitchers (Patton and Sarfate) have 18 major league games between them. The 3B, Costanzo, is supposedly the prospect of the bunch.
So is this a good trade? Ask me tomorrow at 2p. That's when the Mitchell Report comes out.
16 Responses:
Damn J-Red, you beat me to that comment about the guy who is so thrilled about coming to Baltimore. Feel the magic!!!
O-R-I-O-L-E-S!
At least he won't have to speak Spanish to get laid in Baltimore. He might have to speak Bawlmerese, but not Spanish.
Apparently it's a common assumption that the designation Charm City is similar to the nickname Tiny. The pitchers just went from the NL Central to the AL East, I'd be bitter too. And besides, is anyone actually excited to play for Angelos?
I think I'd rather learn Spanish than go to bed with most of the women who speak Bawlmerese. Most of the clean, attractive women in Baltimore just have the Mid-Atlantic (warsh the clothes) type accent.
You don't think guys are excited to pitch in the expansive Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium and Camden Yards? Who wouldn't want to try their stuff against Manny, Big Papi, A-Rod, Matsui, etc. etc.
While the Juice Box is more than a little hitter friendly, I think the AL East lineups and the lack of an offense will make up for that. And according to the Park Factors on ESPN, Camden Yards is way more hitter friendly. I think that has to do with the O's pitching.
Interestingly, the Toronto and Tampa ballparks are very pitcher friendly, while Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium, and Fenway are all top 10 most hitter friendly. Good luck, rookies!
The lack of emotional effect this trade has on me shows just how far removed I've become from the Orioles. I think I just realized for the first time they truly are just another team.
A piece of my childhood has just died.
And on the fan excitement front, Houston averaged a 90% full stadium for home games last year. Baltimore: 56% (and don't forget that includes the Yankees and Sox fans that pack Camden Yards 19 of the 81 home games). That's a lot of quiet, empty games.
When we take the field next year without Tejada, Bedard and Roberts, I can't imagine the excitement will be overly palpable.
I just realized that in my last post I had three sentences and used the word "just" four times. I just think that's very odd. Is it just me? Just thought I'd point that out.
And with this comment you've got it five times in four sentences. Nice work. You could probably run the O's better than Angelos.
I'm glad Miggy's gone. Any change is good change at Camden Yards.
I agree. Whatever we were doing before is not working.
Consistently finishing behind the Blue Jays isn't your idea of success?
The O's are not willing to spend enough to compete with the Yanks and Sox, but they're not competent enough to develop the talent and make the trades to follow the Marlins model. Granted players like Roberts, Mora, and Bedard are pretty good, but the team has not been competitive for a full season in a long time.
Granted, the Orioles haven't had much success lately, haven't been a well run team, and haven't had a ton of fan support. But I think things are moving in the right direction. This sort of trade (giving up an over the hill slugger for young pitching) is something the Os would have been on the wrong side of a few years ago.
The Orioles have started producing decent young players, and in time that will pay some dividends. It's tough to do in the AL East, and it's sad to see the Orioles have to resort to small market tactics, but it's better than watching a team full of underachieving veterans play every day.
Now that the Nats are ensconced, we are a small market team. We used to be a small market team with a big money owner, but because we are a small market team he was left out of the Yankees YES! cash and the Red Sox NESN cash. He got a late start with MASN, which really could only happen with the Nats in place.
I'm glad they are finally starting to behave like a team that can't just roll in cash.
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