McClellan to the Orioles?

According to MLB Trade Rumors the St. Louis Cardinals are shopping pitcher Kyle McClellan, and the Orioles are a possible suitor. According to Roch Kubatko of masnsports.com, the O’s are in fact interested in McClellan, however the Cardinals’ asking price is too high. This kind of dispells the idea that a trade could be in the mix involving Adam Jones and Kyle Wainwright. Based on the response that I got on twitter and in blog comments from that idea, let me just state again that it was just an idea. I’m not either team’s GM, and I was just tossing around some names. Having said that I find humor in the fact that most of the negative comments came from Cardinals fans. I would stress that while commenters of all team affiliations are welcome, this column is penned on behalf of the Baltimore Orioles and their fans.

McClellan will be entering his 5th season, and there is an aura of familiarity about him in the sense that he’s bounced between the bullpen and the starting rotation throughout his career. His career record is 17-21 with 243 K’s, an ERA of 3.55, and six saves. While aquiring him wouldn’t exactly be resurrecting the Titanic, it would probably offer a bit more support to the Orioles in terms of pitching depth. The question is whether or not he’d enter into the rotation or the bullpen. The Orioles have a plethora of pitchers at the moment, however my stance is that he would probably fit best in the pen. One way or the other, Dan Duquette has said on numerous occasions that the idea is to throw as much competition out there in spring training as possible and see what sticks to the wall. Some might criticize this as hoping for shots in the dark, however it’s certainly difference from what we’ve seen in the past couple of seasons. While there were some roster spots in play (in the rotation and bullpen), for the most part things were pretty much set from the get-go. Duquette would probablary argue that meant most guys came in complacent. Whether he’s right or not is another story, but  ultimately I’m willing to give this a try.

Again, it sounds like the Cardinals are asking too much for McClellan at the moment. According to John Morosi of Fox Sports, the Cardinals are on the hunt for Roy Oswaldt, so they’re looking at this as a possible salary dump on their part. McClellan does live in MARYLAND Heights, Missouri…coincidence?!

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