Britton for Wright and $4M

[Skywalker76]

Very good move and I think it shows that this season might be a different offseason as we will see a very active front office.

I like this move because I think Wright didn't fit into NY, its fans the media etc..I think under a different environment he could be a very solid #3-4 pitcher. I also agree with Bigbird that at trade deadline he could be very useful for us.

[SilentJames]

Assuming Wright is 1) Healthy at the deadline 2) and pitching halfway decent

Remember. We couldn't unload RLo this year.

I'll agree that if Wright pitches well, then it could turn out well. Looking over his career, I think he's more miss and hit then Britton showed this year.

Britton was probably closer to Buddy Groom than he was Gregg Olson. I mean it is not like we gave up an important piece of the puzzle here. Britton was a pleasant surprise, but I think Birkins would be the better of the two in the long run. If Wright can do what he did this past year then this will turn out to be a good deal.

Wright's 5.07 ERA is inflated by his last year in Cleveland where he pitched 18 innings and posted a 15+ ERA. He only appeared in 8 games that year. I think Wright just couldn't handle pitching in New York, in 05 he posted a 6+ ERA, but this year got it down to under 5. One might say the Yankees gave up on him too soon?

When you look at his stats from 05-06 he improved in every aspect of the game. You could easily chalk up 05 to coming over from the NL, directly into the pressure cooker that is the AL East and Yankee Stadium.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=3678

[Moose Milligan]

Lateral move.

[mikezpen]

1) There's no guarantee the O's could have signed him as a FA even if he was on the market, and certainly not this cheaply.Pitching is going to COST this winter, baby. This way they have him for sure-and cheap.Did I mention that he's cheap?

2) He went 7-2 down the stretch and was throwing 92-95. While the arm is questionable, it was good at the end of the yr.Britton's questionable, too, BTW.

3) Mazzone factor. Hasn't worked so far. Maybe he's due. You know?

4) Wright's better than Rodrigo Lopez was, and it frees up Lopez for a trade.In fact, it mite even free up Benson or Wright for a trade.

5) If it's one thing the Orioles do have in the minors, it's relief pitching. That should help fill a couple of the holes out there. Britton is replacable-and that's no Hoey.

6) However, it obviously weakens an already paperthin bullpen. If they're willing to do that, it's a sign that the Orioles will be active in the FA and trade market for relievers.

[Moose Milligan]

I can't believe people are actually justifying this... come on guys...

Yeah, I'm happy we made a move early, but this doesn't help us.

Yeah, yeah, I know all about the Mazzone factor, but that happened in a different league and in a different division. Someone put it brilliantly in another thread the other day, he ain't Gandalf.

This move doesn't make us better for the long term. I don't see how anyone can think it does.

EDIT: Though I'll agree, we didn't give much up in Britton.

[bgfield]

My reaction to this is that this was a Leo Mazzone driven trade.

Agreed, and I hope it doesn't backfire. Halama, Brower, Ortiz, all Mazzone ideas, and look what they did for us.

This is a horrible trade IMO and it's gonna bite us in the ass every time we face Britton against the Yanks in a close game and he shuts us down.

[66-70-83-??]

So let any team dumb enough to give him a multi year, do it. If you like Wright so much and think Mazzone can get him back to two years ago, then why would you be worried about a multi year contract for something like 2/10, which is about the most that I could imagine anyone giving him? This is almost a lose/lose situation. If Wright sucks, we lost a serviceable and cheap reliever. If Wright is any good, we'll have to overpay to keep him and his fragile arm next year. Don't like it. It's a longshot to work out for this year and a very, very longshot to work out anytime after this year.

I agree with this.

We are gambling, hoping to hit the Lotto with this move.

Yankees owe us a big thank you. We solved several problems for them. We took a player they wanted to dump off their hands and gave them a decent and inexpensive reliever.

In the end, we will probably get a 1/2 season of mediocrity and inconsistency before the inevitable injury sidelines him. NYY gets several decent years out of Britton.

With all of the 2nd tier FA SP's out there- Meche, Padilla, Lilly, Mulder, etc..... why deal one of their few RP's for an SP with more question marks then those on the market ?

[33rdst]

The first domino has fallen. I'm willing to give Duq the benefit of the doubt. Let's see where we go from here.

[UMDTerrapins]

I wouldn't slam this deal personally, it seems like a fairly equitable deal for both sides. But rather than answering questions for the O's, it seems to add more questions.

[tropicos]

I can't believe people are actually justifying this... come on guys...

Yeah, I'm happy we made a move early, but this doesn't help us.

Yeah, yeah, I know all about the Mazzone factor, but that happened in a different league and in a different division. Someone put it brilliantly in another thread the other day, he ain't Gandalf.

This move doesn't make us better for the long term. I don't see how anyone can think it does.

EDIT: Though I'll agree, we didn't give much up in Britton.

Nothing can really be justified until the game is played. However, a lot of emphasis is being placed on the fact that we either A. gained a cheap starter who could prove golden or bust or B. gave up a fairly ok reliever we would've had for 5 years.

I think the key to this deal is who we now spinoff in another trade to try and acquire. Hypothetically speaking, maybe Lopez is part of a package that lands us Ensberg or someone with that type caliber bat. If that happens, then you look at this deal as being a steal.

[bgfield]

Any time you can get a decent starting pitcher for a middle relief guy you don't consider a prospect you pull the trigger. Stockpiling pitchers allows us to seek a trade for offense. Everybody needs pitching. Good move.

Britton WAS considered a prospect. Britton was one beam of hope in a bullpen of despair. Granted, he fell off the table towards the end of the season, but I think that could have been fixed with some conditioning and another pitch.

We just made the Yankees better with this trade. You know how everyone was laughing at them saying they were getting too old and one of these days they're going to regret signing all these aging FA's? Well with the shafting of the Tigers in the Sheffield deal and now this, they're ammending that problem real quick. They're getting younger while passing off all of their older guys to other teams.

You have to look at it from both angles. Wright may help us, but Britton WILL help the Yankees, and for a lot longer.

[mikezpen]

tropicos, I think you've hit on the key-or at least the key that I'm looking at. If this deal results in another trade that lands us a good hitter, then we're not talking about merely a few months of an in-and-out starting pitcher. You're talking about getting an everyday ballplayer that helps us this year and maybe next-a guy we couldn't have gotten w/o having pitching depth to trade from.

[tropicos]

tropicos, I think you've hit on the key-or at least the key that I'm looking at. If this deal results in another trade that lands us a good hitter, then we're not talking about merely a few months of an in-and-out starting pitcher. You're talking about getting an everyday ballplayer that helps us this year and maybe next-a guy we couldn't have gotten w/o having pitching depth to trade from.

Agreed. Now, it's a waiting process to see what type of deal we are trying to leverage. Hopefully the Duq already has someone on his wish list for the holidays.

[bobmc]

Britton WAS considered a prospect. Britton was one beam of hope in a bullpen of despair. Granted, he fell off the table towards the end of the season, but I think that could have been fixed with some conditioning and another pitch.

We just made the Yankees better with this trade. You know how everyone was laughing at them saying they were getting too old and one of these days they're going to regret signing all these aging FA's? Well with the shafting of the Tigers in the Sheffield deal and now this, they're ammending that problem real quick. They're getting younger while passing off all of their older guys to other teams.

You have to look at it from both angles. Wright may help us, but Britton WILL help the Yankees, and for a lot longer.

I humbly disagree. Mazzone obviously prefers Wright as a semi-reclamation project to Britton's potential. That's on Mazz. He needs to put his stamp on the staff as a whole and be held accountable. The cost of either is not a factor, again imho.

I could care less if we help the Yanks or make them younger - we worry about ourselves first and fill the holes we need filled. You roll the dice and let the chips fall where they may - at least we are trying and I am excited to watch the strategy unfold.

[bird watcher]

Ok, so essentially we were able to get a #3-5 starter that we were looking for, for $3mil. It cost us Britton. We probably saved 3-5 mil because it would have cost us 6-8 mil to sign one of the free agent pitchers of the same ilk. I then ask you this.... What kind and how many relievers can we get for that 3-5 million that we saved? Would that or those relievers be better collectively then Britton? I think it is a good deal for the O's. Britton hadn't established that he would be Chris Ray or Bj Ryan yet, nor do I think he ever will be.