The Orioles agreed to send Jeremy Guthrie to the Rockies for Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom in a deal that was announced earlier today. The trade provides the Rockies with an innings eater atop a rotation filled with uncertainty and gives the Orioles two players who are under team control through 2013. Here are some reactions to the deal:
- Guthrie wrote on Twitter that Nick Swisher's batting average is one of the 'losers' of the trade. Swisher has a .448 average in 29 career plate appearances against Guthrie.
- The Orioles should have traded Guthrie at or before last year's July 31st trade deadline, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes. Rosenthal says Guthrie had more trade value when he was further away from free agency. The Tigers, Rangers and Cardinals had interest in Guthrie last summer, Rosenthal tweets.
- Guthrie told reporters, including Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com and Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun, that he was surprised to be traded since he and the Orioles had been preparing for an arbitration hearing.
- ESPN.com's Buster Olney hears arbitration talks between Guthrie and the Orioles were contentious leading up to today's scheduled hearing (Twitter links). Olney hears the Orioles and Rockies started discussing Guthrie at last year's trade deadline and continued talks at the November GM Meetings.
- Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd joined Jim Duquette and Kevin Kennedy on MLB Network Radio and said the Rockies have admired Guthrie for a while. O'Dowd had discussed the right-hander with Andy MacPhail before the Orioles' recent regime change.
- Connolly hears that Eric Young Jr. came up in trade talks, before the Orioles decided he wasn't a fit. The infielder is out of options and the Orioles have a full 40-man roster.
- Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com explains that Guthrie could be better off in Denver, since NL West teams play in a number of big ballparks and Guthrie lives in Utah.
- The Rockies' offer was 'by far' the best one the Orioles received, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets.
- Orioles executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette weighed in on the trade earlier today.
I was surprised that Guthrie seemed so upset about leaving Baltimore. Does he like losing that much?
Hes just an unbelievable class act.
Hes just an unbelievable class act.
Not every state can be as exciting as Missouri . . .
For not being New York or California, Missouri actually has it pretty good. 2 NFL teams and 2 MLB teams. And no, I’m not from Missouri.
I like Missouri, I don’t like the low blow at Baltimore.
Isn’t St. Louis the murder capital? The Wire has nothing on “The Loo”
nick swisher im confused
i was too… at first. but nick swisher has not been traded nor is he a “loser”.. lol. basically, it just says that swisher will miss guthrie because he bats .448 when facing him.
Which ultimately makes Swisher’s batting average a “loser” as the article stated because I doubt the pitcher that takes over Guthrie’s spot will give up a BA of .448 to Swisher or will pitch long enough for that to make an impact, so Swisher has one less pitcher his BA can improve when facing.
I dont know how everybody feels about the trade but Nick Swisher says NOOOO
The Swisher comment is hilarious. I am now a Guthrie fan.
Guthrie for President!
Rockies will win next year, we will shock the world.
I think the Rockies have done a really nice job in rebuilding the starting rotation for 2012. I won’t be shocked if Guthrie wins around 15 games for the Rockies in 2012 now that he will get run support and better defense behind him.
I’ll be shocked at 15 games, but if he can post a 4.00 ERA for the season, I’ll call it a total win.
They acquired a lotttt of flyball pitchers though…
Yep, then I always thought he could have won 15 (or more) games even a few years back, once he got out of the AL East..
Coors Field is not exactly the best fit for him by any means, but he has really good stuff as most Oriole fans will say also, just a knack to all of a sudden implode every now and then after seemingly cruising along, but with no DH, he should do better and those larger stadiums, a few weaker lineups no having to face the NYY, Boston and even the Jays seemingly every other week should possibly reverse that 9-17 season from 2011
Rosenthal is right. The Orioles should have traded Guthrie last year. That way, a smarter GM would have been trading him.
Getting rid of Guthrie is GREAT for Baltimore. His numbers suck and he was playing hardball during arbitration. Getting something for him is a good deal.
BUT its kinda like you got a weaker version of him in hammel…nothing special at all and lindstrom is a wash up best days with the marlins and now he is just average. not much of a return
Take a quick look at Lindstrom’s 2011 numbers. You might just discover that he had his best season since 2007.
His numbers didn’t suck. An ERA of under 4.00 for 3 out of his 5 years in Baltimore. He had some weaknesses, such as home run balls, and he’s definitely not an “ace”, but overall he was solid in the toughest division in the game.
People think of Guthrie as a middling back of the rotation kind of guy based on his W-L record. But Guthie had an ERA under 4.00 for 3 of his 5 years in Baltimore — i.e., pitching for a bad team in the AL East. I realize ERA is not the best stat when evaluating a pitcher either, but it’s the best normal stat that actually relates to a pitcher’s overall affect in the outcome of an individual game. W-L record on the other hand is the worst stat to go on when evaluating a pitcher — especially a pitcher on a weak team in a strong division. Guthrie had one bad year in Baltimore when he had an ERA over 5.00. Last year he had an OK year with an ERA of 4.33. Ace? No, not by a longshot. But assuming he maintains his performance, he could be a realistinc #2 or #3 in the NL West. We’ll see.