Os acquire Saunders.

[Oriolidae85]

You gotta love this board sometimes. When Guthrie was originally traded for Hammel and Lindstrom, people were crapping all over that trade and saying how Lindstrom was no good. Now Lindstrom has basically been traded for another Guthrie and people are crapping all over the trade, complaining about how valuable and good Lindstrom is.

Have to admit, I was a bit bummed by the Guthrie trade. Did not know Lindstrom or Hammel, but did not like losing the 200 IP SP. Not worried about Lindstrom's loss for Saunders.....this is a "inches" move that is well over-due. Not one of 2011's playoff teams had a rotation without a 200 IP starter (would say the average was 2.5 kids per). Hope the O's Buck the trend yet again!

One thing I haven't seen said is the possibility that the Orioles are concerned about the health of their starters and want some insurance. Sure, it's great if Hammel comes back and you have Johnson and Britton in the wings. But what if Hammels hits a hiccup, innings start to catch up to Chen, and Gonzalez starts to tire? Deep depth is important. Arrietta and Bundy out of the pen can make up for Lindstrom.

Not one current Orioles SP candidate on the roster has ever pitched 200 innings. Not one...for that alone I'll take Saunders every day of the week. He's a southpaw, grew up watching the O's, can throw 200 IP, has pitched in the postseason, been an all-star and most likely will be needed.

[mark_beckens]

You can never have enough arms. He's a veteran, didn't cost us much, Lindstrom is replaceable. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 6 man rotation. Hammel, Chen, Saunders, Gonzales, Tillman, Britton. Would allow them to give a day or two extra rest for them all.

[Va Beach O's fan]

Joseph Saunders ‏@J_saundo

...great memories at Camden Yards as a kid where my love of the game started watching Cal Ripkin lead the American league @RipkenBaseball

Very cool. Maybe he will accept arbitration during the off-season to stay in Baltimore, pitch for his childhood team and be back closer to his home and family and, oh yeah, stay on a winning team!

We can at least hope right? If we got him on the cheap next year with arbo as a back end of the rotation guy, with a healthy Hammel, Chen, Wada, Gonzo, Tillman etc, Johnson, a year stronger and healthier Britton and who knows, maybe a big time FA signing that wants to now come be apart of something, we would have some SICK starting pitching depth.

As we've seen this year, you can NEVER have enough quality starting pitching. I just went from 6 to midnight thinking about the possibilities of next year

[wildcard]

I like the trade. Helps the O's rotation get through Sept.

There is no guarantee that Hammel comes back on the 6th. And he needs to pitch in a 6 man rotation to be effective.

Gonzo is already 30 innings over any year he has pitched since his arm surgery.

This keeps Hunter out of the rotation which is a plus.

I would project Saunder to pitch in the the high 4.00's in the AL East which is not great but is better then Hunter, Matusz or Arrieta in the rotation.

The O's were a tired arm or injury away from putting Hunter back in the rotation. Sept is a real test for young arms. That is why Saunders in a decent move IMO

Lindstrom is replacable and was probably trade bait over the winter with his high salary. The rotation needed more help than the pen.

I don't think Saunders will be an Oriole in 2013. Strictly a move to make a run at the playoffs IMO.

[Going Underground]

I think the O's tried to sign Saunders this winter but his price got too high. Has some local ties and grew up an O's fan. Sat next to his parents once when he was pitching for the Angels. They were nice people and root for the O's when Saunders is not pitching against them. Did we not say the same thing about Hammel when he came to the AL East to pitch? Hammel will get killed in the AL East. Saunders might get hit or might pitch well. We shall see.

[Ruzious]

Under the new rules, the O's wouldn't be able to get draft compensation because they acquired him in trade during the season.

Thanks - and also to McLovin. I think that's a good rule - mainly because the O's were so bad at using the old rules - especially compared to the rest of the AL East.

[AgentOrange]

Keep in mind that Saunders put up his mediocre numbers in the weakest hitting division in baseball. Now he's moving to the best hitting division in baseball. Very careless move for the sake of making a move.

Who are the best hitting teams?

Rays? No

Blue Jays? No

Red sox? Traded them all away

Only the Yankees can hit in this division now.

[Ampontan]

There is no guarantee that Hammel comes back on the 6th. And he needs to pitch in a 6 man rotation to be effective.

I don't understand this part. Hammel was pitching just fine in a five-man rotation before his surgery.

[NCRaven]

Roch's got an interesting quote from a scout in his latest blog - http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roch/2012/08/a-little-more-on-the-saunders-trade.html

"A scout from outside the organization believes that this trade signals how the Orioles are setting up their rotation for the postseason more so than making a run at the playoffs.

"I think that he has solid stuff across the board," the scout said. "What he really has is command and feel, and he competes. He's a solid four or five. I've seen him recently and I think he's a guy whose typical line is seven innings, three runs, six hits, one to two walks and five strikeouts. That's about who he is."

And -

""Saunders is a real good veteran guy who will help them to get there and will help them in the playoffs. You're going to pitch this guy ahead of (Zach) Britton, you're going to pitch him ahead of (Steve) Johnson, you're going to pitch him ahead of Tillman. Of course. Not that he has more upside than the other guys, but it's a really good move. And I like Lindstrom a lot. I think Lindstrom's a good seventh- and eighth-inning guy. But they have some depth, especially with (Pedro) Strop. That's where they had depth and that's to their advantage."

So, this is about the playoffs, not just the rest of the season. Interesting take and makes a lot of sense.

[Il BuonO]

I don't understand this part. Hammel was pitching just fine in a five-man rotation before his surgery.

I don't think so either. Sounds like people are putting too much stock into what the talking heads at the Mothership network (as Dan Patrick calls it) have to say.

Hammel has reported no soreness in his knee after throwing and I see no reason to think he won't come back to help us in the stretch run.

[bdlj0887]

I don't think so either. Sounds like people are putting too much stock into what the talking heads at the Mothership network (as Dan Patrick calls it) have to say.

Hammel has reported no soreness in his knee after throwing and I see no reason to think he won't come back to help us in the stretch run.

It's not as if Hammel blew out his knee or anything, so I agree, there's no reason to think he wouldn't be just as effective on normal rest as he was before.

[RichmondOsFan]

I like this trade. We gave up a possibly disgruntled non-closer, from the deepest part of our team, for a bona fide workhorse starter with the potential to put up a quality start each time he takes the mound, and he's a hometown product and a lifelong Orioles fan who can't help but be extra motivated to perform well for the team he grew up watching and rooting for. This is every boy's childhood dream come true Makes it easy to root for Saunders and even more fun to watch the O's.

[LibertyTerp]

This makes sense without Hammel, but once we get Hammel back I don't think Saunders is any better than Gonzalez or Tillman. Batters are hitting a .767 OPS against him this year and he has a history of very mediocre OPSs against him of .750-.800. Why trade for a below average pitcher?

[Mr Snuffleupagus]

This makes sense without Hammel, but once we get Hammel back I don't think Saunders is any better than Gonzalez or Tillman. Batters are hitting a .767 OPS against him this year and he has a history of very mediocre OPSs against him of .750-.800. Why trade for a below average pitcher?

We know he's not as good as Hammel or Chen, but you said it yourself, you don't think he's any better than Gonzalez or Tillman. Well, those guys are hardly proven, and either could fall apart at any moment.

End of the day, we can't bank our rotation on 3 or 4 guys (Tillman, Gonzo, Britton, Johnson) who have never had sustained sustained success at the ML level. I'm hopeful as anyone they can all maintain their current pace, but you have to expect at least one of them will begin to disappoint sooner or later. Saunders is the perfect veteran safety net.

[dovera]

Typical Orioles move - Maybe we could bring back Kevin Millwood while we're at it