Guthrie traded to Rockies for Hammel & Lindstrom

[SoBo]

At first blush it's a definite head scratcher. But it certainly seems like the market for our boy Guthrie wasn't too hot. Might as well get a guy with another year of team control. Could they have waited until the trade deadline, sure? But there is no guarantee that the market would be better then. And you risk injury to Guthrie. I certainly would have rather seen some lower level prospects to help the push in 2014. But I'll wait to pass judgement.

[BrunoCherrytown]

Just imagine how bad DD was at trading little leaguers with the fathers who were the coaches at his previous occupation.

[Dwight Schrute]

This is just an awful trade. I don't see how you can possibly trade Guthrie and not receive a single prospect in return. It's a prime example of what Sports Guy and others have been saying-- Duquette simply refuses to pick a direction for the team. He's not really building for contention in 2012 (trading the Orioles' top starter confirms that), yet he's also not rebuilding (failing to receive prospects for Guthrie confirms that). So what exactly is he doing? What's his plan? How does this trade make the Orioles any better either in the short term or the long term?

Trading Guthrie for a poor man's Guthrie and a 31-year-old reliever, each of whom is only signed through 2013, is not my idea of progress. I would've traded Guthrie straight-up for Yonder Alonso (when he was with the Reds) rather than accept this package of uselessness.

If this was really the best offer Duquette could get for Guthrie, then there was no reason to trade him now. Wait until the trade deadline and try again.

Again, I don't think this is all on Duquette. The team held onto the guy too long. I think we are overestimating the prospect value in return for a basically league average starter making between 7-10mm this year. You could have just signed Edwin Jackson the other day if you wanted to go that route. Why would anyone give up a valuable prospect for Guthrie??

[NewMarketSean]

Gah!!!!

Hammel's #2 comp through age 28 is....Casey Fossum!!!

[dan-O]

He guys, news flash: Guthrie is a swell guy and all, but he, um, stinks.

But he holds his own in the AL East and his numbers prove it. So he should have more value to a lesser division. The point is: at least get a 2nd-tier prospect.

[flashjordnk]

Hammel has always been on the list of guys that has had really good stuff and peripherals and could turn out to be a really really good pitcher at some point. SG is right, his 09/10 numbers were not as bad as his 11 numbers. And not that this is fantasy baseball, but for a fringe Colorado pitcher, he's always been on my radar screen.

Fangraps said this before last season started for what it's worth:

Jason Hammel outearns Ubaldo Jimenez- Did you know that Hammel?s xFIP was only .08 higher than Jimenez?s last season (3.81 to 3.73)? Hammel continues to get bitten by the BABIP bug, while Jimenez has benefitted from good fortune there as well as in his HR/FB ratio. All it takes is for these metrics to move closer to the league average and suddenly Hammel?s results would look quite similar to Jimenez?s.

Who knows if getting him out of Coors will help. But I'm in agreement here with everyone here. This doesn't totally make any sense given the numbers.

I thought after the first wave of interest on everyone passed we should just wait until the trade deadline. I think on July 31st if the exact same trade is made, it really doesn't feel quite so bad. But it still doesn't feel right...

[Owen21]

Well, if somehow Lindstrom is flipped for Koji, I'd feel a tad better. But, it's a pipedream.

[SoBo]

Gah!!!!

Hammel's #2 comp through age 28 is....Casey Fossum!!!

But you missed Jose Mesa as the #1 comp. Now we're talkin'!

[Skeletor]

If he has BABIP issues then I'm sure the Orioles' stellar defense will help.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Seriously. Who the hell is our opening day starter? Chen? Britton? Wada?

[Birdland]

Buster_ESPNBuster Olney

Hamels and Lindstrom are guaranteed about $8.5 million for upcoming season. So no real financial incentive for O's.

[clapdiddy]

Seriously. Who the hell is our opening day starter? Chen? Britton? Wada?

I'm guessing that pitcher is not on the team yet.

[Fan4Life]

Still trying to figure out how DD thinks this is going to be a .500 team?

It's less likely now.

[NewMarketSean]

Buster_ESPNBuster Olney

Hamels and Lindstrom are guaranteed about $8.5 million for upcoming season. So no real financial incentive for O's.

It was a move to trade a decent, not great SP who was owed a bump in salary for 2 mediocre pitchers.

It's a move to move us one step closer toward that amazing .500 season.

[ccbird]

SOme people have touched on it. What is the upside here?? There really isn;t any. The upside is Hammel gives you Guthrie production for an extra year at a cheaper cost. That's just not good enough, and I'm not one to jump all over trades but this one bothers me.