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« Heyman On Braves, Tejada, Helton | Main | Padilla Clears Waivers »
Orioles Release Jamie Walker
2:44pm: Roch Kubatko of MASN.com reports that it's official; the O's announced they've released Walker.
1:55pm: Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun reports that the Orioles will release lefty reliever Jamie Walker. Baltimore still owes Walker about $3MM, but they were no longer satisfied with his production. To replace Walker, they called up Alberto Castillo, another lefty who pitched for the O's last year and has performed well at Triple A Norfolk so far in 2009.
Zrebiec writes that the move is "not all that surprising" because lefties are hitting .458 against Walker this year. The pitcher signed a three year deal worth $12MM before the 2007 season.
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Keep trimming the fat GM-AM! Next month maybe a trade of Huff or Mora for some prospects is in order.
How crazy would a "Jeremy Guthrie to the Texas Rangers for Justin Smoak" trade be? He's a switch-hitter with good plate discipline, and could take over at first after Huff is gone. (I highly doubt the Rangers would part with him, however)
Posted by: Haymaker | June 05, 2009 at 02:07 PM
Perhaps Detroit could give Walker the league minimum and see if he could re capture some of that 2006 form. Long shot maybe, but they need bullpen help... How much worse than Lyon could he be??
Posted by: highVoltage | June 05, 2009 at 02:19 PM
Haymaker- not a chance in hell. Smoak is one of the top prospects in all of baseball and he's not yet eligible to be traded (one year after signing). Guthrie is a nice mid-rotation starter forced into pitching at the front of the Orioles' rotation. He'd bring a solid return and net some good prospects, but not Smoak good. As an O's fan, I like the idea of moving him as part of the overall youth movement, but I also see some benefit to hanging on to him- he's cheap and brings some veteran savvy/leadership to a rotation that's awfully young. You want to give the kids a shot, but you also don't want to lean too heavily on them so early in their respective careers.
As for Walker...Good riddance. Dude was just terrible. His career died two years ago, but we kept throwing his corpse out there to get hammered. Maybe some team desperate for a lefty will give him a shot, but I'd wager that this move essentially puts Walker out to pasture. Buh-bye.
Trade Huff, Mora, (though that's going to be pretty tough with the no-trade clause in his contract) Baez, Sherrill, Scott, and possibly Guthrie for a boat-load of prospects, load up further in the draft, and mark down Opening Day 2011 as the day the O's officially become contenders again.
Posted by: milehigh78 | June 05, 2009 at 02:35 PM
McPhail seems to have really righted the O's ship. Their fans seemingly have a lot to look forward to
They do have a lot of useful pieces to deal as well.
Posted by: wayne gomes | June 05, 2009 at 02:53 PM
This was bittersweet, as Walker had one good year with us and has been terrible since then, but a great guy who I wish all of the best. Maybe he can recapture the magic somewhere else.
Posted by: exitfare | June 05, 2009 at 04:20 PM
milehigh78...
lol, I forgot to mention that I'm an Orioles fan, and would love to see a trade like that. I agree with your points about Guthrie's value to the O's as well.
Baltimore looks pretty good at C, OF and 2B for awhile, and Izturis will at least solidified the defense through next year. If they can acquire a legit 1B or 3B somwhow through a trade, that would be nice.
Can't wait til Arrieta, Tillman, and Matusz climb the ladder and make the Orioles contenders again!
Posted by: Haymaker | June 05, 2009 at 04:22 PM
how about Guthrie for Chris Davis?
Posted by: THEBIGFISH99 | June 05, 2009 at 06:07 PM
i would love the orioles to do guthrie for chris davis. orioles only have 1 corner infield prospect (brandon snyder). would the rangers be willing to sell low on davis though?
Posted by: lftyg33 | June 05, 2009 at 07:41 PM
they might be willing to do this seeing as how they have justin smoak waiting in the wings and its only a matter of time until he gets the call-up
Posted by: THEBIGFISH99 | June 05, 2009 at 07:49 PM
I actually kind of like that idea. Hmmmmmm... If nothing else, it's an interesting thought.
Posted by: milehigh78 | June 05, 2009 at 10:21 PM
Davis hasn't been making consistent contact, but his power seems legit and he's supposed to be a pretty solid defensive first baseman, which is more than we can say about Snyder, whose bat entirely drives his value and who might fit better at DH or in the OF (though we're pretty set there). Kid can hit though.
Posted by: milehigh78 | June 05, 2009 at 10:23 PM
"how about Guthrie for Chris Davis?"
This is actually a stroke of genius. Not a bad swap. It's not that far off I think.
Huff is probably leaving the team after this year. Davis' age makes better sense for the Orioles. In exchange Guthrie provides a veteran presence on an emerging young staff. Both guys have high grade talent but are currently at "Sell Low" points. The Os aren't in the best position yet to trade away starting pitching but it's beginning to look more and more inevitable considering how much elite pitching talent is clogging the door to the big leagues.
Right now I think the Os are starting to feel the roster crunch and having to release useful players in the bullpen. The next guy might be Baez, Hendrickson, or Bass. In a year or so they will start to feel it in the rotation when they have 4-5 top quality arms vying for an already crowded rotation.
Posted by: basemonkey | June 11, 2009 at 01:59 PM
Chris Davis strikes out a lot and doesn't have much value until a Huff trade were to occur. Given the current state of our rotation, now might not be the time to trade Guthrie. Not that we will make a playoff run either way(and its not like he's been lights-out), but they're still going to want people to come to the games. Davis is a good fit, but I would look for Huff to get traded before they tried to trade for Davis.
Posted by: Markakis21 | June 16, 2009 at 08:44 PM
The O's might as well keep Guthrie because you're dreaming if you actually think that the Rangers will give up Smoak or Davis for him.
The Rangers need at least a number 2 starter and Guthrie is more of a 3, 4 or even a 5.
Posted by: Hellion | June 17, 2009 at 11:32 AM