Orioles Acquire Joe Saunders In Exchange For Lindstrom

[birdwatcher55]

Rosenthal and Hayman reporting we are "strongly" in the mix.

[TuckerBlair89]

He is officially an Oriole.

I'm just...whatever on this. Honestly don't think he is much better than the current crop. Assuming they gave up literally nothing, it's not the worst thing.

[A_K]

Tommy Hunter is an extremely bad baseball player and he's just been replaced by an extremely average baseball player (just over 1 WAR for 7 straight seasons). It's a small but undeniable marginal increase.

[TuckerBlair89]

Tommy Hunter is an extremely bad baseball player and he's just been replaced by an extremely average baseball player (just over 1 WAR for 7 straight seasons). It's a small but undeniable marginal increase.

Pretty much. They both give up HR's at an extreme rate. So I can't be excited over him.

Obviously they felt Arrieta could fill Lindstrom's role, and they could get another SP in the mix. I see their thought process. Guess we shall have to wait and see what happens.

I'm more worried about the PTBNL

[Matt P]

His ERA since May 1 is over 5 pitching in the NL West lol.

[ofahn]

It's a small but undeniable marginal increase

Perhaps they're looking at his OPS against for LHs. With the Yankees and Rays a heavy part of the upcoming schedule that COULD make sense, but we'll have to see..........................

[Matt P]

I feel bad for Lindstrom though. He seemed to really enjoy Baltimore from listening to him a few times on the Scott Garceau show. Talked about his view from his apartment of the Harbor, how close the team is, how much he loves the city, etc. He said it was the first time in his career he's been on a team like this and it has been his best major league experience. At least he is going to another playoff contender.

[OriolesRedskins28]

I feel bad for Lindstrom though. He seemed to really enjoy Baltimore from listening to him a few times on the Scott Garceau show. Talked about his view from his apartment of the Harbor, how close the team is, how much he loves the city, etc. He said it was the first time in his career he's been on a team like this and it has been his best major league experience. At least he is going to another playoff contender.

The Orioles bullpen is a close group of guys and I don't think it makes sense to get rid of one of them who has performed well for a mediocre SP like Saunders. Honestly I would have been more comfortable putting Arrieta back in the rotation than making this trade for Saunders. The deal was not worth it IMO.

[Matt P]

The Orioles bullpen is a close group of guys and I don't think it makes sense to get rid of one of them who has performed well for a mediocre SP like Saunders. Honestly I would have been more comfortable putting Arrieta back in the rotation than making this trade for Saunders. The deal was not worth it IMO.

That (bullpen being close) is another thing he brought up. Mentioned how relaxed they all are and how much fun they have. How Luis Ayala keeps everyone laughing the entire game and they all are friends.

[Rising O's]

Not sure what to make of this trade. He's a workhorse starter, will get you those 6+ innings. But he is still only a 4-5 starter at this point of his career. His presence takes away the need for someone like Lindstrom since 4 inning outings will be less likely.

Upsetting he bullpen camaraderie is a potential hazard.

[Matt P]

Another thing to keep in mind is Lindstrom is owed 4 million next year. That is a lot for the 5th best pitcher in the bullpen.

[osforlife]

Ehh. Saunders is a 3-4 starter at best in the NL WEST. He is striking out more and walking less /9 than ever before. I hear Arizona's stadium has a real nice batter's eye and NL WEST has pitcher's parks like Petco and LA's stadium so that could explain the home/splits. I doubt he will do well against the AL in Camden Yards. Lindstrom is a solid bullpen arm that I would rather have for another year over six starts from a mediocre Joe Saunders. The rotation was fine. Chen has been good all year. Gonzalez has looked great in 6 of 9 starts, kept us in the game in 2 of three bad starts, and blew one open when he had the flu. Tillman has been decent if not better, Britton has looked fantastic in his last two, and Steve Johnson has been very good in his two starts. Why take a piece out of your fantastic bullpen when your rotation is fine already? I've disagreed over some of DD's trades before(Guthrie) and they turned out to be great. The man is crazy in a good way, so I won't dog this trade just yet.

[ofahn]

Lindstrom is a solid bullpen arm that I would rather have for another year

Because he would have cost 4M next year my guess is that he would have been traded or had his option declined. We will have a bunch of potential quality replacements that will earn 1M or less.

I'm not justifying the trade; I just want to make it clear that I don't think we gave up more than six weeks of Lindstrom.

[osforlife]

Because he would have cost 4M next year my guess is that he would have been traded or had his option declined. We will have a bunch of potential quality replacements that will earn 1M or less.

I'm not justifying the trade; I just want to make it clear that I don't think we gave up more than six weeks of Lindstrom.

IDK, personally, I would have kept him. I would keep the bullpen strong. Ayala and Gregg will be gone and we can fill them with Johnson, Pomerez, etc.

[ofahn]

I would have kept him

You might be giving him more value than he's worth. He's a Seventh Inning guy that would earn 4M next year, Just remember, the other 29 teams had to pass up the chance to obtain him for nothing but the remainder of this year's salary for him to have cleared waivers and be traded.