Sherrill Traded to Dodgers for Josh Bell & Steve Johnson

[RandyM]

Well, that seems to be why they got rid of Bradford.

That was 1 million dollars that was already spent..Hopefully that is put towards Sano or draft picks or something like that.

Its not a huge part of the deal but BB is right in mentioning it.

Wonder what the offer would have been if we picked up the 1 mill. Does that get you Elbert instead of Johnson or in addition? Would you rather have Elbert or 2 from Mychal Givens/Ryan Berry/Devin Harris?

[JTrea81]

Wonder what the offer would have been if we picked up the 1 mill. Does that get you Elbert instead of Johnson or in addition? Would you rather have Elbert or 2 from Mychal Givens/Ryan Berry/Devin Harris?

I'd rather have the pitcher with the better injury history frankly.

There were concerns about Elbert's injuries not allowing him to repeat his delivery which would push him into the bullpen.

[o's fan 14]

Does anyone have any idea why McPhail made the trade this afternoon instead of tomorrow afternoon? I would think the closer we get to the deadline there would be more pressure on the Dodgers to sweeten their deal. Of course that's assuming there really were 8 teams after Sherrill willing to offer competitive trade packages.

[Sports Guy]

Does anyone have any idea why McPhail made the trade this afternoon instead of tomorrow afternoon? I would think the closer we get to the deadline there would be more pressure on the Dodgers to sweeten their deal. Of course that's assuming there really were 8 teams after Sherrill willing to offer competitive trade packages.

Or the Dodgers could have done something else and left us with nothing(at least in terms of trading Sherrill for something).

AM got what he wanted and pulled the trigger.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any idea why McPhail made the trade this afternoon instead of tomorrow afternoon? I would think the closer we get to the deadline there would be more pressure on the Dodgers to sweeten their deal. Of course that's assuming there really were 8 teams after Sherrill willing to offer competitive trade packages.

... and more opportunity for them to rescind the offer; and less opportunity for us to move 100% of our logistical and mental energy onto other possible deals. If the offer we like is there, ya gotta grab it.

[Anonymous]

Or the Dodgers could have done something else and left us with nothing(at least in terms of trading Sherrill for something).

AM got what he wanted and pulled the trigger.

... and more opportunity for them to rescind the offer; and less opportunity for us to move 100% of our logistical and mental energy onto other possible deals. If the offer we like is there, ya gotta grab it.

Singin' in tune through the straight and narrow (from Who's Next, for those who don't recall the music of my youth).

[o's fan 14]

Or the Dodgers could have done something else and left us with nothing(at least in terms of trading Sherrill for something).

AM got what he wanted and pulled the trigger.

Yea I can understand that, and I'm not insisting I dislike the deal because I think it is very favorable for the Orioles.

[Trace21230]

Does this mean we aren't planning on competing in 2010, either?

[ThisIsOurHouse]

Does anyone have any idea why McPhail made the trade this afternoon instead of tomorrow afternoon? I would think the closer we get to the deadline there would be more pressure on the Dodgers to sweeten their deal. Of course that's assuming there really were 8 teams after Sherrill willing to offer competitive trade packages.

I think McPhail got what he wanted, he got a potential power hitting 3B, and more minor league pitching, McPhail loves his minor league pitching prospects. Overal I do not think we could have gotten a better deal. He gave us a possible long term solution at 3B, and more pitching depth. Great deal.

[TakebackOPACY]

Yes, it's good we're saving that money. But no, it doesn't work that way! Do you really think that absent this trade, we would not sign some of "those prospects" (not really sure whom you're referring to here -- but it's not all that important), and that simply because of this trade, we will now sign them? A million dollars is pocket change in making these kinds of calculations. If we had signed Tex, that would have been a budgetary game-changer. But not this kind of a trade.

You could say "we'll wait and see if they spend it" or you could say "we'll never really know if they would have signed player X or player Y anyway", but I think this is exactly how it works. They now have $1m that was earmarked to be spent that is free to be used in other endeavors. I'm not sure in what respect $1m is pocket change. Some of the unsigned draft picks are probably in intense negotiations over an extra $100,000.

Have you read Moneyball? Do you remember the wheeling and dealing Beane had to do to free up something like $300k? Have you read which teams laid off front office personnel due to the economy this year? Did they even save $1m after putting dozens of employees out of work? Heck, $1m is 40,000 $25 tickets. That's like having two extra home games at the box office.

[murrayfan420]

Does this mean we aren't planning on competing in 2010, either?

I think the most realistic HOPE would be to be a .500 ball club next year with a solid rotation of the young guns.. with continued progress from Wieters/Reimold etc.

Then in 2011 Matusz/Arrieta/Tillman will all have been in the bigs for about a year. Wieters and Reimold will be in their 3rd year, Jones and Markakis will be right in the middle of their prime and hopefully we've found a 1B, maybe Bell is the 3b then.. who knows.

That's how I HOPE this all pans out.

[DBean]

Thanks for helping me see the upside of this trade. With the report that 8 teams were interested in Sherrill, I was wondering if AM really got what he could for him. I thought that the Orioles could/should have gotten someone that could help out immediately for the team, but I still have complete faith in what AM is doing. Not sure what I feel about the trade now, but it should turn out well for the Orioles.

[JTrea81]

3B is a very weak position throughout the minors. The Orioles got one of the best 3B prospects available IMO after Wallace.

[LookinUp]

Yes, it's good we're saving that money. But no, it doesn't work that way! Do you really think that absent this trade, we would not sign some of "those prospects" (not really sure whom you're referring to here -- but it's not all that important), and that simply because of this trade, we will now sign them? A million dollars is pocket change in making these kinds of calculations. If we had signed Tex, that would have been a budgetary game-changer. But not this kind of a trade.

How on earth do you know this? You say it very definitively, but I don't see the basis for you saying this. Are you actually familiar with where the O's draw their budget lines?

[RShack]

Hardball Times says O's Win!

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/dodgers-strike-for-top-lefty-reliever/

Bell, 22, has a .296/.386/.497 line at Double-A, cranking 11 home runs. Since being drafted in the fourth round in 2005, he has done nothing but hit.

He's also done nothing but boot balls in the field, as his career .897 fielding percentage at third would suggest. Boy, that's ugly. He's at .929 this year, but that's still not even close to acceptable. That would rank second-to-last in the bigs, just ahead of Chipper Jones' current .919 fielding percentage.

Considering Melvin Mora is set to be a free agent after the year unless the team picks up his club option, the Orioles figure to give him every shot possible at sticking at third. Given Bell's only other competition at first base would be Brandon Snyder, however, and he moves to a league with a designated hitter, he has no shortage of options in front of him. I am personally very impressed with what Bell has done in his career so far. He's handle every level thrown at him offensively, and I would project him as the Orioles' starting third baseman in 2011.

I'm confused by the 2 bolded parts. On the one hand, he's bad in the field, but on the other he projects to be a MLB regular.

Do 3B-men really improve from bad to MLB-quality in a year in the bus leagues? (This is a real question. I don't know the answer.)