Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Mark Reynolds Trade Reaction

    Mark Reynolds is now officially a Baltimore Oriole. As odd as that sounds, The Orioles made the right move by acquiring a big power bat like Reynolds. Although, by trading for Reynolds, the Orioles become strikeout prone, the move solidifies the rest of their lineup. Reynolds will never be a 3-hole hitter type, but slotting him behind Nick Markakis, Matt Wieters and Adam Jones, the Orioles have become at least semi-deep in hitting.

Under manager Buck Showalter, the Baltimore Orioles went 34-23, which by any means is AMAZING, considering the Orioles only won 33 games between April-September. Yes, you heard that right, the Orioles won more games in the last two months than they did the rest of the season. 

Anyways, Reynolds becomes an integral part of the Orioles lineup this season, but he might not stay an Oriole for long, because he becomes arbitration-eligible after next season. The acquisition allows the Oriole's young pitching staff to develop and make mistakes, and behind the run support of Reynolds, they might be able to win a game or two if they allow >3 runs. 

Maybe the biggest impact of the Reynolds trade were the prospects that the Orioles gave up. In the trade, the Orioles gave up two highly touted prospects in David Hernandez and Kam Mickolio, the latter of the two, a behemoth of a man, standing at 6'9". Hernandez has the potential to be a shut-down closer, tossing his four seamer at the mid-to-upper 90's with a disgusting slider. Whereas, Mickolio, the main haul in the Erik Bedard trade, does not profile to be a front of the line starter. His fastball reaches the low 90's and his breaking stuff is most only horizontal. The important part for both of these players is that the Diamonbacks can use both players this year. Both have significant time in Triple-A, and if needed, could be called upon to play in 2010. Both the Orioles and the Diamondbacks got what they wanted in the trade, but now the Diamondbacks have a gaping hole in the middle of their order, and none of their prospects are hitting at the power level that Reynolds has.

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