Do the O’s like Ike?

MASN’s Roch Kubatko made reference to something in his column this morning that we haven’t really addressed here on Birds Watcher. The Baltimore Orioles have been offered first baseman Ike Davis from the New York Mets in a trade proposition. Let me rephrase that; the offer was made some time ago, and it appears to still be a standing offer. Here’s the catch: New York wants pitching prospect Eduardo Rodriguez in return. The Orioles appear to be incredibly wary of dealing Rodriguez, who’s jolted to the top of the pitching prospects chart in the Orioles’ organization since Gausman, Bundy, et al have made their big league debuts.

Speaking for myself, I think that Orioles fans should be glad that Duquette and company don’t want to deal young pitching prospects. Furthermore, the Orioles certainly aren’t in the market for a first baseman. I suppose that (Ike) Davis could be lefty bat that could help the Orioles hit for a higher average,  however with a career average of .242 isn’t exactly what the Orioles would look for in a DH candidate. (Incidentally the skinny on that career average is that he hit .302 in 2011, which brings his average up to .242 for his career. He also only played in 36 games that year.) I would submit that this is a situation much like we saw last year with Detroit and J.J. Hardy. The Tigers seemingly identified Hardy as a guy that they wanted, and offered the Orioles some pretty lousy trades in trying to get him. I suspect that New York is seeing Rodriguez as a guy that they’d like to have in their organization, and are throwing the Orioles a pretty short bone in trying to get him.

As Kubatko says, Rodriguez isn’t totally untouchable. However he is unlikely to be traded. Regardless of where you stand on the Orioles’

Courtesy of Bob DeChiara-US PRESSWIRE

personnel moves under Duquette, one thing is undeniable; the club has made a concentrated effort to hold onto their top prospects. Teams have been trying to pry the likes of Bundy, Gausman, Schoop, and Machado away from the Orioles for years. And under a different GM they might have succeeded. With all of this said I do find it interesting that teams seem to simply make up their minds that various Orioles’ players or prospects are earmarked for them. It’s almost presumptuous if you think about it. However the good news is that the Birds seem determined to bring their prospects through the farm system and into the big leagues in the orange and black for the most part.

This is merely an opinion, but I don’t see Ike Davis joining the Orioles unless it only costs them a low level prospect. Granted Davis might well be a classic “change of scenery” type of guy, I’m not sure the Orioles could even use him. Incidentally, this is the second time the Mets have dangled Davis to the Orioles, and asked for a larger return than they would have been giving. Back in December at the winter meetings they offered Davis straight up in a trade in exchange for – wait for it – Dylan Bundy!