The Orioles have traded starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie to the Colorado Rockies for starter Jason Hammel and reliever Matt Lindstrom. Lindstrom is a 31 year old former closer who pitched to a 3.00 ERA in 2011. Hammel is a 29 year old starter who was demoted to the Rockies bullpen last season. His ERA has not been lower than 4.33 in any season.
Hammel is no sure thing in the Orioles rotation. He will have to compete with Chen, Matusz, Britton, Hunter, Wada, Arrieta, Tillman, Johnson, Eveland, and Simon. If there is one thing the Orioles have done successfully this offseason it’s add rotation depth. Instead of pulling guys with no experience from Triple A when an injury occurs (Britton last year), the Orioles will have plenty of guys ready to fill in. The competition will force every starting pitcher to either succeed or be replaced. Nobody will be safe in the rotation now that Guthrie is gone. Guthrie was the only “sure thing.”
Lindstrom, Kevin Gregg, and Jim Johnson make a decent back end of the bullpen. All three have had success in their careers, and all three have closing experience. Jim Johnson will be the favorite to be the closer this season, but both Lindstrom and Gregg can challenge him for that job in Spring Training. Just like the rotation there are plenty of guys fighting for spots. Depth is highly important and the Orioles seem to have more of that than years prior.
The Rockies have already made several trades this off season to acquire starting pitching. They easily have more starting pitching depth than any team in the league. They have Jhoulys Chacin at the top of their rotation, who became a star last season. Jorge De La Rosa, who also has an impressive track record, returns from injury this season. Juan Nicasio was hit in the head with a line drive last season, but is expected to fight for a rotation spot. Nicasio has great stuff and is comparable to Ubaldo Jimenez. The Rockies also have two former 1st round picks that they acquired for Ubaldo last season. Both Drew Pomeranz and Alex White have very high upside. They also acquired starters Guillermo Moscoso and Josh Outman from Oakland in the Seth Smith trade. Moscoso looked highly impressive last year with his 3.37 ERA. Outman is a solid end of the rotation starter with a career 3.75 ERA. 2011 rookie Tyler Chatwood was also acquired from the Angels. Chatwood struggled late in the season but was very impressive in the first 3 months of his 22 year old season. On top of all those starters the Rockies have now added Jeremy Guthrie. Because of his veteran status he should be an automatic in their rotation as their #5 starter.
Follow Mark Brown on Twitter @FantasyGodmb.
Oh these Orioles keep sinking lower and lower… They trade Guthrie for 2 bums because they didn’t want to pay Guthrie $10.5mil. And I agree, Guthrie isn’t worth that much but to get these 2 guys when just last year the O’s could have hauled in a decent young guy or two from teams like the Yanks, Red Sox, etc.
I’m not saying Guthrie was anything great but they could have got something better.
Mark, this is in no way a comment on what you wrote…
You said “Instead of pulling guys with no experience from Triple A when an injury occurs”…
I say your correct, now they can pull guys that (are):
Bums
Cast-offs
Played in a foreign country
Can’t speak English
Have gone downhill real fast
Were held on suspicion of a major crime in another country
You know how bad the Orioles are? Guthrie, who was their #1 Ace now goes to being a #5 on the Rockies! Not a #5 with the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Rangers or Rays, but the Rockies! The Rockies who were 73/89 last year. What does that tell you about the Orioles?
Try as you might Oriole Lovers but you CANNOT put a good spin on this trade or the state of the Orioles…
This is so sad that the Orioles have sunk this low. This is not the Orioles organization that I know.
Orioles fault so hard against the Nationals because they knew that they would be the better team in a few years and fans are now flocking down to DC to see a team that has spent money to get to the playoffs. Spent money and not afraid to make trades for Gio Gonzalez, Edwin Jackson, Brad Lidge, Chien Ming-Wang, Wilson Ramos, Mark DeRosa, Jayson Werth.
And look at their drafts… Stephen Strasburg, Drew Storen, Bryce Harper, Jordan Zimmerman, Ryan Zimmerman… Completely blows the Oriole drafts out of the water… Hey, at least the O’s have Hobgood, Rowell, Snyder waiting in the wings…
Look people, sometimes you got to stand up and say enough of this. You wouldn’t keep buying a defective product so why do so with this?
Pretty much agree with everything your saying. But Brandon Snyder has already been shipped out! I find it interesting that you put Brad Lidge, Mark DeRosa, and Jayson Werth in the “good moves” category.
I still don’t think the team will be quite as bad as you think, but they aren’t going anywhere at all. I still think that we have a high upside core that could get us out of the cellar eventually. You mention Strasburg and Harper. The Nats are climbing quickly because they rushed their prospects. And they should have rushed both of those guys. They were ready. The O’s have Machado and Bundy still to come. They have incredibly high upside. As did/does Wieters and Matusz. I think those 4 make a very good core. But it’s going to take a lot more pieces than those 4. I know Matusz hasn’t shown it yet….but as “The Fantasy God” who can predict player performances highly accurately….I guarantee a good season for Matusz.
Mark,
When can we expect some Fantasy preseason stuff?
Absolutely right on,,,,,,,,,,,,,Peter the Great has succeeded in killing baseball in Baltimore even though there are a few fans that simply do not believe this and hang on for dear life in Baltimore,,,,,,,,,,,,,,people, the Intimidator knows of what he speaks , you better listen to him and put your disposable income somewhere else besides the Angelos family trust fund , they are laughing at you people all the way to the bank………….
Hammel is terrible, with zero upside and should not be given a spot in the rotation. I imagine he will get out pitched in spring training. And Lindstrom is an average and inconsistent bullpen arm. And You cannot pay any attention to Guthrie’s win/loss record he has been on horrible teams that do not score any runs for him. 2008 and 2010 he was very good yet went a combined 21-26 for that reason. We are now paying 8.35MM for Hammel and Lindstrom combined, while Guthrie will earn 8.2MM in 2012. So it is not a salary dump at all like I originally thought. Which makes the deal even worse.
I pretty much agree. I wouldn’t say Hammel has zero upside. He’s slightly under mediocre. Two years ago he was an unsung hero for the Rockies. I had him on my fantasy team. But then again, my leagues are incredibly deep. Hammel has the chance to do exactly what Guthrie did, but he won’t get that chance because he won’t make our rotation. I also think that Lindstrom is mediocre. But he is better than most of the arms we already have in the bullpen.
The bottom line is that the Rockies saved money and got the best player in the deal. A loss for the O’s.
It’s about time! That should cut down them 6-run innings!