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6.22.2004
Grimsley to Baltimore
Baltimore Orioles get: Jason Grimsley. Kansas City Royals get: Denny Bautista. Grimsley's going to be a welcome addition to the Oriole bullpen. He's an experienced righty reliever who is having a decent season (3.38 ERA in 26.2 innings over 32 appearances and allowing 24 hits (1 homer) and 15 walks while striking out 18). He'll bring some stability to a bullpen that has been inconsistent, crappy and young thus far. He's not making ridiculous money ($1 million for the season, and considerably from this point forward), so that doesn't appear to be much of an issue. Grimsley supposedly signed a one-year extension with Baltimore upon being dealt, though it's unclear how much that's for - though it seems unlikely that it'd be far off this year's salary. The question then is whether or not a year and a half of Grimsley is worth as promising a young arm as Denny Bautista. Young pitchers, of course, are fraught with an awful lot of risk - there's no guarantee that Bautista is ever going to be a succesful major league pitcher. In spite of his inauspicious debut (allowing 8 earned runs in two innings to start his major league career), Bautista's a highly thought of prospect who won't be 24 until the end of August. He hasn't exactly torn it up at AA Bowie (going 3-5 with a 4.74 ERA over 62.2 innings, allowing 58 hits (5 homers), walking 33 and striking out 72), but he's a young pitcher with promise. While the Orioles are dealing from a position of strength (as they're not without other promising young arms), this is a move that could easily look bad in the near future. The question then is whether or not having Grimsley is going to make a significant difference for the Orioles. Looking at the AL East, it seems highly unlikely that Baltimore is going to be in position for a division title or wild card berth in either of the next two seasons (which is how long Grimsley's going to be around for). I can see a contending team making a move like this, adding a veteran for a young player or players down the stretch (Bautista was dealt last year from the Marlins to the Orioles last year in such a move - it allowed the eventual champions to reacquire Jeff Conine). I'm not sure I understand it from a team in the Orioles' position. - |