A 'prospect in A ball'?

C'mon, they couldn't part with Gorkys Hernandez?

Heaven forbid, we get something of value in the deal....

is vlad next?

I find it interesting that Lee's bat heats up when he knows he is talks about being traded. As conspiracy theories go, this stinks up the place. He never really wanted to come to Baltimore, which was clear from the very beginning. It is a hack of a first baseman, and the O's only will get a single A player. That is robbery and the Robber is McPhail. I am suprising myself on how negative I have become on the O's management over the past month or two. This is not an equal trade because of the upside of Lee despite his uninspirational bat this season with the O's. It's like McPhail trading Tejada from some unknow player - oh, wait that did happen last year. My goodness, I can't beleive how negative and frustrated I am wiht the O's brass. I am very frustrated!

MacPhail looks an idiot for signing this guy basically for 4 months for $4.8M.

MacPhail got Lee's market value. Unfortunately, His value is next to nothing. Lee hits bouncing balls that sometimes go through the infield for singles and other times are double plays. Oh yeah, he also hits a homer every couple weeks. The trade is addition by subtraction. From a fan's prospective, watching what Davis can and cannot do will be more interesting than continuing to watch Lee play out his career.

We should have thrown in Guerrerro -- maybe we could have gotten TWO A-ball kids from the Pirates!

Sounds like another bum deal for the O's by the bums in the front office, though I think we also get a compensation pick in next year's draft. The only way value could come from that, however, is if the entire front office turns in their resignation papers for their utter failure at building this team back into contention. We have only to ask who is looking for acquiring players--Pirates!--to see that we are now officially at the bottom of the pile.

I can't believe how frustrated I am with your spelling and grammatical errors. That made little to no sense.

Now, I would trade Guthrie for a set of RP's. The only teams that comes to mind is KC or Oak. They seem to have a few good relievers and may want a veteran SP. We replace Koji. I would take De Los Santos & Ziegler for Guthrie from Oak or Holland and Collins from KC. I am only mentioning KC/Oak to reference the type of deal, although I would do those as well. I cannot believe we did not even contact Boston about a Guthrie for Anderson (see Oak). I thought/hoped that would happen or Guthrie to Ari for Goldschmidt. My last deal would be Vlad to Yanks for Nova. In a perfect world, Matusz would net Dom Brown from Phillie...couldn't/shouldn't we atleast ask? Oh, I forgot Andy was at the coffee shop again...kudos for the Koji deal, though. He must have taken the cell to the la var a tory. Peace people.

Jeff, any possibility Guth may be offered to Kc for say...FRANCOEUR?

*I was pushing for him in ST.

I have no problems with the DLee trade - he was a bust for us no matter how hot he has been lately. I only wish we could trade Vlad also. He has been even worse than DLee.

I will miss Koji as he was hands down our best pitcher. I hope that Hunter and Davis turn out to be productive for the O's. Let's keep out finger crossed and wish them the best. But I have a feeling that the losing ways of the O’s will be too much for players who are used to winning.

P.S. For those who thought it was wrong to send Britton down so that he service time clock would stop, we now see that it is a moot point. He needs to stay in the minor’s until he is ready to pitch at the major league level.

Derrick Lee for some unproven player from "A" ball who probably will amount to nothing. Why not just GIVE him to the Pirates for nothing???

An A ball hitter who is not even a top prospect? I thought the idea was to improve the team..... Its frustrating that our season is always over by mid-June as the talent evaluation process around the Orioles stinks. Then July we are always sellers and get nothing in return. I feel sorry for Buck Showalter who obviously wanted to get back on the field but I know he did not imagine it would be this bad. Oh well all I can look forward to is football as the Orioles have disappointed me once again.

I don't think Gorkys Hernandez is the prospect of value that I'd like. The way you get a slightly better talent is by getting a more lower level prospect. That way, the Pirates has not yet invested the same amount of development time into him yet. Let's face it. DLee is not having a good year. So, any MLB-ready player he would command is going to be a fringy player who doesn't project to be a regular.

Hey, the Nats WANT a CF. Would you offer AJ/Machado/Matusz/Mahoney for, maybe:

Bernadina, Desmond, Storen and Clippard? LET'S BE O's BOLD!

They are offering Storen for Span. Span! AJ is worth Storen & Desmond alone.

Whatcha think?

I almost can't believe what I'm seeing. In fact I can't. I want to blame everyone (there's plenty to go around) but the utterly sad thing is ... the Birds are 12th in the majors in hitting? Reynolds was a good deal. Hardy was good as well. Lee perhaps not, but it was a one-year shot, I'm not too upset, same with Guerrero. Wieters and Jones are ... well, progressing. Slowly, but progressing. No, the O's' hitting really is NOT the problem.

But ... I have NEVER seen a pitching staff implode the way this one has. Grow the arms? Can we call that part of the plan an utter failure, once and for all? When the singular notable accomplishment among the 'big four' young pitchers is Jake Arrieta's ability to avoid being sent to the minors (barely), how much worse can it get? And do we really think there is any help on the horizon, i.e. next 3-4 years? I don't see it. Whoever is responsible for player development in this organization (and I don't know who it is) really needs to explain. These four pitchers were supposedly 'can't miss' prospects but under the Orioles' guidance, it's safe to say they're all well on their way to ... well ... missing. Jeremy Guthrie should thank his lucky stars he learned to pitch elsewhere before coming here. And we should absolutely hang on to him because he may well be the best pitcher we see around here for another half decade or so, sad as that sounds.

Jeff

I just read from a Pirate blog that the O's are going to get Aaron Baker from Bradenton (A). He plays first base. So, now that they got Chris Davis, what happens to Brandon Snyder?

We get an 'A' ball player for Lee? That's the best we can come up with?

Because Chris Davis will be out of options next year, I suppose they have to audition him full-time during the remainder of the year and pray that he succeeds. Otherwise, next year will be a gamble.

I hope the player in return for Lee is at least comparable to his counterpart in Fredrick. All in all I suppose these moves represent reasonable gambles. Unfortunately, Koji was one of our few sure things.

Do people complaining about this deal know anything about baseball?

An aging, expensive, unproductive 1B who's only signed to the end of the season...and you expect a top prospect? Lee is useless to the O's now, so why not get what you can? Now Reynolds can bounce back and forth between 1B and 3B and Bell and Davis can get some action.

I'd much rather see Reynolds at 1B next year though. Great glove, and his erratic arm won't hurt them.

what did you expect to get back for a 2 month rental having this kind of year?
Be happy they got anything at all.

single a player somebody wake me up from this nightmare , koji only pitcher who threw strikes these last two months ought to be a pleasure, how did we get here whos next , earl help us !

I agree with all the comments that this is a bad deal. We should have made them give us Hanrahan, McCutchen, and Walker, at least.

Good job Mc-Fail..."grow the arms and buy the bats"...well let's see, every bat we buy is over-priced and 10 years past his prime, then we trade them for prospects that don't amount to anything. Good job there buddy. Then we "grow the arms"...while everyone else is using miracle-grow, we're using walmart brand. Zach Britton's last 2 games in the show has resulted in ONE IP, and 14 ER...don't get me started on Bergeson or Tillman.

Baker is 23 is batting .285 with 15hr and 72 rbi in 102 games at A+ ball for Bradenton Florida. He's in his third season of pro ball and has shown improvement each season...so far.

Why would we even bother to make a trade like that, unless it's just to dump Lee. Aaron Baker (if that's who he was traded for) is soon 24 years old and still playing "A" ball.

This salary dump might be significant on another front. The couple of $mill they saved might put them over the top with Bundy and the other unsigned draft picks.

The Pirates may have done the Oriole's a favor buy trading for D. lee. You can always count on the Pirates to be bottom feeders looking for bargain basement veterans, who they hope have a 1/4 tank left in them to play for the Bucs. Thats why we have Lyle Overbay!! From what I've read, Lee has been absent from the team for the better part of the year anyhow. If Baker performs the same way as Lee, You saved money, If he breaks out, you got a Deal!

mcFAIL does it again - what am embarrassment to the city of Baltimore this stooge is.

If Mark Reynolds had 20+ errors with Derrek Lee at 1B, I can only imagine how many he'll have now...

Aaron Baker has more HR's than Derrek Lee. Up grade!

Trading with the Nationals??!!?!....only for Danny Espinosa, Bryce Harper, Steven Strausberg, Ryan Zimmerman, Jorden Zimmerman, or Anthony Rendon. But that's it though....(sigh).

smitty, Yep ... you're right.

Another great move by your man AM. But since you love losing as much as breathing, every move he makes is right up your ally.

This is what you live for..... the trade deadline. Meanwhile, you not only lost your bet with Gil (20 games out by the end of august), you once again got DESTROYED.

Every year smitty, you're wrong about the team. In fact, you're always wrong about every single aspect of the team. That you even post anymore shows interesting kahuna's. Nothing ever embarrasses you. Instead, you continue to back an exec who last won before the internet.

But you're not alone smit my man. You have paulie (hehe), christopher and some others...... You all get to wave your losers pom poms this time every year.

Why don't you re print your post from early in the season smit. Please? Come on bro, give us all a laugh.

Then, you can give the only come back you can muster...... that I have multiple names. Why smitty... you know, all you have to do is call the Sun and have them check and crack down on me, like you did over on the blog that Pete used to have.

Anyway... Even I was wrong about Lee when we picked him up. I thought we'd get more for him at the deadline when the season started. I guess I can't be perfect.

Christopher- You are missing the point. Lee should have never been signed in the first place. $7.25M for 1 year?

And Reynolds has hands of stone and no range. 1st base is where he belongs.

When Koji finishes his career in Texas, hopefully with a ring on his finger, we need to bring him back here to be in charge of pitcher development for the entire organization. The man rarely throws 90 mph, but he knows how to pitch. Excellent control, throws strikes, keeps the ball down, changes speed, keeps hitters off balance, etc. All those things that our young guns coming up from the minors DON'T DO. Honestly, who's teaching these guys how to pitch?

Don't worry everyone...There is no compensation pick either. Derreck Lee is not a Type A or B free agent due to his offensive struggles this year.

@cliffdweller,

I was thinking the same thing about Koji returning one to develop our pitchers -- but for a language barrier problem.

O's signing of Derrek Lee was only for one year . We found out Lee's better days are BEHIND him . Like an earlier poster said , O's were lucky to get anyone for Lee !

Here is my prediction : Lee wont get $ 7.25 million annual salary from ANY team next season .

Any takers ?

This past 14 years reminds of "The Wizard of Oz" where the Orioles fan is Dorethy and the Little wizard behind the curtain is Peter Angelos. Each year we are intentionally misled into thinking our 3 year plan will propel us into contention, of course, the 3 year plan never get s out of year one. Any GM who takes this gig represents the Scarecrow. Any manager on duty, they're just passing through, represents the cowardly lion... And of course the Tin Man is any player singed to a multi-year contract over 10M dollars....once these guys get paid, they have no heart...Roberts, mar kakis, etc. Adam jones and writers are waiting for their 50M+ contracts. Once they get paid, they will lose their heart as well. Sad state of affairs.

Gentleman you all better come to the realization that what gil and myself have been preaching over the years has finally come true. This doesn't have anything to do with being negative this only has to do with being realistic and not watching and cheering for your team with your heart only. I know lee hasn't put up great numbers but every other team in the league views the orioles as the sorry souls that they are. Washington traded a utility infielder harriston yesterday to milw for the brewers minor league player of the year last year. A utility infielder mind you and at least got somebody back that could be a potential good player We are lucky to get a low minor league player that carries the water for the team. You have seen this year after year after year and still defend this hapless organization.I proposed a trade yesterday to Atlanta while it wouldn't be popular because nick is the fair hair poster child of this organizaton for multiple prospects. If houston got 4 prospects from houston then you can bet the orioles could get the same from Atlanta. You have to finally let go of the notion that nick is going to be the face of tthis organization and carry them to the playoffs. It will never happen in this lifetime. While good he never has nor will he ever amount to the player that the orioles envisioned him to be. Wake up people wake up andy and do the right thing now while you have a chance.

So why didn't the Orioles just save themselves the trouble and put Lee's salary into their scouting and player development departments as part of a strategy to, you know, actually be competitive one day. How did the Rays climb to the top of the AL East? It wasn't through utterly wasting money on over-the-hill veterans in vain attempts to reach .500.

Goodness. A minor leaguer for a multi gold-glover. Is Davis our long-term answer for 1st base? You know, as I know, that the answer is no. Another fine move by the FO.

JoeFoss...clearly you haven't watched any O's games this year. One thing Reynolds does have is range. I've seen him charge countless balls, or range over into the hole to knock them down. It's his wild throws that account for 80% of his errors.

And wayne...you still haven't answered the million dollar question: why do you come here? I don't spend my days in an Astros forum telling their fans how much the Astros suck. And as we've established, you're clearly not an O's fan, so why are you here?

You spout off about how nothing embarrasses us and we love every move MacPhail makes. Yet you fail to see that you're at the opposite extreme...in your mind, AM hasn't done a single thing right since he got here. Clearly you are among those who think they should have held on to Lee until the got that top prospect that wasn't coming.

I've expressed my frustration with Andy and Buck countless times, but I also give them credit where it's due.

I love baseball and I turn to this game as an escape. So I choose to ignore certain things as much as I can for the sake of enjoying the game and cheering for my team. Unlike you, I don't get off on the negatives and getting a rise out of other people.

Once again, I feel really sorry for you. You must lead one sad lonely life, and I hope it gets better for you.

Aaron Baker has serious strikeout issues; 115 with West Virginia last year, 92 so far this season with Bradenton. ISN'T THERE ANYONE IN THE ORIOLES ORGANIZATION NOT NAMED NICKY MARKAKIS WHO ACTUALLY KNOWS HOW TO USE A BAT?