From One Bay to Another

Trading Season

It's trading season.  Personally, this is my second favorite time of the baseball year, slotting in just behind the playoffs but ahead of the draft.  We have about 11 days until the trade deadline, but already the trades have been pouring into the commissioner's office for approval.  This morning the Jays and Astros worked a deal that lead to 10 players switching teams.  Shortly thereafter, the Rockies worked out a trade that sent ex-Oriole Jeremy Guthrie to Kansas City for ex-Giant Jonathan Sanchez.  This afternoon the Orioles, not to be left out of the fun, acquired Omar Qunitanilla for cash considerations from the Mets.

The most obnoxious part of the trade deadline involves experts and novices proposing trades left and right.  I will now try my hand at proposing an obnoxious trade.

The Deal

Baltimore sends JJ Hardy, Darren O'Day and a prospect or two to the Giants for Brandon Belt and a prospect or two.

   

Justification

Orioles' fans may not be a big fan of this deal, but for the O's this trade makes a lot of sense.  We haven't had a big time first baseman since Rafael Palmeiro, and Belt could step right in and play a very solid 1B for us.  Trading Hardy is a hard pill to swallow as he's a fan favorite, but running a baseball team is about winning.  Belt clearly fills a hole and adds another solid core player to this building Orioles squad.  While Hardy provides immense value to the team now, he'll likely be supplanted by Manny Machado on the next 90-win O's team.

The Giants are in a similar situation where this deal won't make many fans happy as they would love to see Belt get more playing time.  However, the Giants have a chance to make a serious run this season and Hardy & O'Day help fill big holes on the team.  While Hardy hasn't played well lately, he's a superb defensive SS and is slowly coming out of his slump the past few days.  The Giants could use the offensive bump he'd give them.  Belt is beloved by the fans, but the organization has shown that they won't give Belt regular at-bats for a reason far beyond me.

The "& prospects" listed on both sides is just a nod to the common swapping of lower level prospects to balance a deal.  A perfect example of this was in the Pineda/Montero trade where both sides sent a lo-A player along with the headliner.

Do you think this trade makes sense for the O's?  How about the Giants?

Opening Day Magic

Friend of the blog Jonathan Foreman wrote up a nice piece about Opening Day at Camden Yards.  In my absence, Jon represented the blog at the game and passed along a few notes for fellow O's fans.  Enjoy!

At the Orioles opening day game (a true opening day, unlike those tricky home openers the last two seasons) on Friday a friend turned to me and said, “this is surreal.”  I agreed.

Maybe it was Rick Sutcliffe throwing a perfect strike for the opening pitch to Chris Hoiles, or the scoreboard error before the game that had Brian Roberts in the lineup, and J.J. Hardy playing DH, or new PA announcer Ryan Wagner (who for my money did a fantastic job), or the streaker on the field in the top of the forth inning wearing nothing but shorts and a cape, or the marriage proposal third base side in the stands. (Editor's note - I think we all know that streaking involves nudity).

There are a lot of maybes, but there is one definite: opening day is a packed house of Orioles fans.  It is something that reminds my generation of 1996 and 1997, and of the Cal Ripken years in general at Camden Yards.  We celebrate the twentieth year anniversary of Camden Yards this year, and opening day is the one moment that it feels like the first few years, not the last fourteen.

With that said here are some positive notes from the game:

• Anyone who did not see the game will look at Jake Arrieta’s stat line, but his performance was even more impressive than his stats.  There were a few questionable calls on balls that should have been strikes that lead to his early walks.  He was throwing consistently in the mid-90s, and most of his pitches looked crisp.  What surprised me though was how good he looked defensively (including snagging a plastic bag that was floating past him and putting it in his back pocket).

• The ball was flying off of J.J. Hardy’s bat today, but Nick Markakis looked like the best hitter on either team today.  He looks much stronger than last season, where in the first game he looked malnourished.  A homerun, triple, and walk is a good way to start the season for a guy who needs to recapture his power stroke (and just might have). (Editor's note - Markakis added a 2nd HR tonight as well.  This is good).

• There are a lot of Chris Davis bashers out there, and he has to prove that he can hit major league pitching.  However, there is little question about his glove.  Davis made a diving catch while keeping the tip of his toe on the bag on a Mark Reynolds throw that would have been Reynold’s first error of the year, but instead was an out at first.   Also, an overzealous Adam Jones threw a cannon to first to try to catch a tagging up runner and Davis leapt in the air to make the catch on a ball that likely would have advanced the Twin’s runners (and hit Buck Showalter in the face). (Editor's Note - Not to be denied, Reynolds got that error back tonight by misplaying a ground ball).

• The ballpark upgrades make Camden Yards look even better than it did twenty years ago.  Rather than spell all of them out, comment below on which upgrades you feel are the most welcome this year.
  
  
  - Jon Foreman