First Big Move: Orioles Add Reynolds
Those of us who have been clamoring for Andy MacPhail to do something — anything — to improve the Orioles this offseason have finally gotten our wish. Mark Reynolds is on his way in exchange for David Hernandez and Kam Mickolio.
The book on Reynolds is simple: plenty of power, plenty of strikeouts, low average. He’s coming here to provide much-needed power, plain and simple. Not much else to it. It isn’t what I’d call a great acquisition, but it is appropriate.
That we had to give up Hernandez to do it bothers me a little. I’ve always liked him, as you know, and reports have suggested that he’d been one of the team’s most inquired-about players in terms of trades. Might he have had value beyond just Reynolds? My gut says yes, but who knows. Maybe not.
Mickolio is a decent spare part but no big loss.
Ultimately, I can’t say I love this. And if it’s the only big move they make, I’ll probably hate it. For now I suppose it suffices to say that it seems to improve the team at least somewhat. That’s a start.
i feel exactly the same way neal. at first when i saw his BA, i was semi pissed, but then looking at his power/walks/rbi’s i felt slightly better. i have to wonder how those numbers will change in our division.
sad to see hernadez go, always liked him but was inconsistent. i wish him well.
When you can give up a bullpen arm for a young, controllable, power-hitting third baseman, you do it every time.
You immediately add 30-40 home runs, something we haven’t been able to do with one player in forever. He also drives in runs and takes walks. He can steal bases and play solid defense. His BABIP last year was crazy low, indicating that he probably won’t bat .198 again. I’m all about this move.
Sign Derreck Lee, Koji, Gregg, and find a shortstop and I’m good to go.
And maybe bring back Flat Breezy just for kicks.
The DBacks signed Melvin Mora an hour later. Haha.
a nice stopgap…but even though I’ve never been high on DH, I do wish we had not traded him away for a stopgap player. The Orioles probably picked up like a win or so swapping Reynolds for Hernandez, and a reliever is easier to replace than a third baseman…but it’s sort of like buying new deck chairs.
I’m a little mixed on this one.
If he hits 40 home runs, is he still a stopgap? He’s the 3B version of Adam Dunn and he’s younger.
Yeah, I don’t really think of him as a stopgap. I think he’s here to be the 3B for awhile, and if Bell ends up pushing him then that’s a nice problem to have.
If he puts up 30-40 homers I’ll get over giving up Hernandez. The main thing, though, is that this definitely has to be the first move of many.
@ neal s:
Absolutely – much more to be done. O’s need to get Koji signed before someone nabs him and makes the whole not-offering-him-arbitration thing look stupid. I think Derreck Lee is a nice complement to Reynolds in that he can put the ball in the play and obviously still has power. Pena would be tough to swallow given the similar player in Reynolds and LaRoche is boring. For me, it’s Lee. That’s the next logical piece unless they trade for somebody that I’m not thinking of.
It depends, I guess, but if he turns on the afterburners, then the smartest thing might be to trade him away. Buy low (check), sell high (TBD). But from what we know about the guy, he’s probably just a dude and not a cornerstone piece. Which is fine…but not as useful as you’d wish for.
@ Andrew: You’re probably right but there are only so many cornerstone pieces (guys like Adrian Gonzalez) available. If you figure we already have our own in Markakis and hopefully Wieters and maybe Jonesy, then what we really need is solid contributors across the board to back them up. Reynolds would seem to fit that mold.
I’m warming to this deal the more I think about it. It’s not blowing my mind or anything, but I think it could be very solid.
@ neal s:
Don’t get me wrong. Reynolds is a good player, and he’ll be exciting and fun to watch. He’s not a great player, which is fine, but for a team in the Orioles’ position, I simply take a small amount of umbrage at giving up anything for a non-great player. I wasn’t a big fan of Hernandez, but he was a chip, and now we have one less chip, in exchange for a good but not great player on a sub 80 win team.
It’s not a lot of umbrage, just enough to offset the joy at picking up a good player. It’s sort of a meh move for me, I guess…although Reynolds certainly has the potential to hit those afterburners and turn this trade from a “tie” (I guess?) to a “win”.
It took a little while to soak in, but I like this deal more and more. I don’t expect Reynolds to hit more than .225, but if he hits 40 bombs, totally worth it. I’m not excited about any of the 1st basemen left which makes me wonder. What is Nolan Reimolds status? Could he be major league ready this coming season and play 1B? I think we need to add another SP, RP, and SS before we go after Lee, Pena, or Laroche. If Reimold can have a good spring training and play 1st, problem solved, temporarily. If not Reimold, Wigginton. I think we have to sign him because of his versitility alone.
I hope Reynolds isn’t a stopgap, and when the time comes that Bell is ready, he can play first. He played some first at Norfolk.
I’m hearing Reimold for Bartlett… I sure hope not.
Wigginton to the rockies. hmmm. looks like we’re gonna have to get a 1B now. With Reynolds, I don’t think Pena is an option. Can’t have 2 guys batting under .210 in the lineup. I’d be for Laroche over Lee. I don’t like Reimold for Bartlett. Looks like the Rays wanted Alfredo Simon as well. Glad MacPhail didn’t pull the trigger on that one. MacPhail seems to be a genius when it comes to trades, but an idiot when it comes to free agents. Rays have a ton of young talent. If they want Reimold bad enough to replace Crawford, we should try to pry one of those young arms away. I would trade Reimold and Simon, for Hellickson.