Orioles Trade Guthrie For Hammel and Lindstrom
The Orioles have pulled the trigger on quite the unexpected move this morning, trading their number one starter and de facto ace, Jeremy Guthrie, over to the Mile High city. Reported by Dan Connolly, the Orioles have received pitchers Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom in the deal from the Rockies. Guthrie was asking for about $10 in arbitration, which was probably deemed too expensive for a pitcher leading the league in losses two consecutive years.
Guthrie’s Orioles career can be summarized quite easily. He was an innings horse and kept us in the game every fifth day. We never got him any type of decent run support which lead to his miserable record. In recent years, Guthrie seemed to sour a bit on the Orioles losing atmosphere. He has also been discussed in trade rumors for the better part of a year and a half. Question is, with Guthrie gone who takes over the duty of pitching on Opening Day? A profile of all Guthrie’s stats throughout his time in the majors can be found at The Baseball Cube.
Guthrie tweeted:
Just spoke w/Duquette & i appreciated his kind words. Maybe toughest part of trade is I know the 25 men in Balt. & I BELIEVE they will win!
Jeremy was a solid citizen during his time in Baltimore, which was sure a frustrating one with all the losing. He deserves to go to a place where he will have the opportunity to win. My best wishes to him in Colorado and throughout the rest of his career.
The Orioles ended up getting two pitchers making the equivalent of Guthrie’s potential 2012 salary. Jason Hammel has starting experience with Tampa Bay and Colorado and ultimately, he will compete for a spot in the rotation for the Orioles. Matt Lindstrom has always been a back-end bullpen guy with some closing experience. His fastball velocity tops out at 96 MPH.
Overall, it stings that our most experienced starter was shipped out, but “The show must go on”. Hopefully our young talent can mature and rise to the occasion this year. Now more than ever, the Orioles need someone to step up. With this trade, it proves Dan Duquette may have more moves up his sleeve, putting his own stamp on the team after the departure of Andy MacPhail. I doubt Hammel and Lindstrom will be around for when the Orioles are competitive again but only time will tell.