The deadline has passed. All the deals have been made, and the Orioles that are leaving town are: Nobody!
Andy MacPhail apparently felt that no one was offering packages worth dealing for, so he stood pat at the deadline. Now, moves can still be made in August, but players must clear waivers, making it much tougher to make a big deal. Basically, the Orioles big trading chips (George Sherrill, Brian Roberts, Aubrey Huff, and probably Chad Bradford) are now with the team for the remainder of the year. Guys like Kevin Millar, Jay Payton, Jamie Walker and Ramon Hernandez may pass through waivers, allowing them to be dealt.
Hernandez is the one to watch the most closely, in my opinion. The Marlins may still look to upgrade at catcher, and Ramon may be an option for them. The fact that Matt Wieters continues to dominate the minor leagues makes trading Hernandez very easy to swallow.
In other Orioles-related news today, it was reported that MLB suspended Daniel Cabrera 6 games for throwing at Alex Rodriguez in Tuesday’s game at New York. Huh??? It was blatantly obvious he wasn’t intentionally throwing at him, and it was clearly a mistake my Chad Fairchild to throw Cabrera out. So instead of realizing it was a mistake and letting it go, MLB decided that the Orioles weren’t punished enough and suspended Daniel 6 games. Unbelievable. I understand why Edwar Ramirez of the Yankees only got 3 games for throwing at Kevin Millar yesterday (6 game suspension for a starter only makes him miss one start), but to suspend Cabrera at all is outrageous. Just because Joe Girardi thinks Cabrera threw at A-Rod on purpose doesn’t make it true. Even Rodriguez thought it wasn’t intentional. I really hope Dave Trembley goes off on somebody at MLB in his next press conference.
As for the team, they’ll head to Seattle in tact, to face a guy who was rumored to be heading to the Yankees. Jarrod Washburn will start for the Mariners Friday night, as the M’s and Yanks could never work out a deal for the left-hander. Garrett Olson goes for the Birds, as they begin a 6-game west coast swing, with 3 in Seattle and 3 in Anaheim against the Angels.
Keywords: Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners
