Baltimore Orioles: Welcome to Baltimore, Seth!

It’s a new year and the Baltimore Orioles have a new right fielder in Seth Smith.

Baltimore Orioles GM Dan Duquette in essence performed a trifecta for the Orioles.  They’ve got their opening day right fielder. traded an excess starter who might have not even made the 25-man roster in Yovani Gallardo, and they saved about $4M in salary.

Let’s not get overly excited though. Smith is a 34-year-old outfielder who in all respects is “just a guy”.  On the flip side, he’s a guy who has played on average of 135 games in the past 4 years and has a great glove. He’s not going to hit 30 HR’s, but he’s also not going to strike out 170 times like Mark Trumbo did last year.

His .248/.249 batting average over the past two years aren’t great, but then again neither are the rest of the Orioles.  There’s already enough muscle on this team and they need a guy who isn’t going to be a strike out liability to hit behind Chris Davis.

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At this stage of the game, you’re simply not going to find a free agent player with a ton of value for

$7M a year unless he’s already on your roster.  The Orioles will have to find a guy to platoon Smith in the next few weeks to fill out that roster.

Who knows, with Smith, Rickard, Kim, and Jones, you may already have your Outfield set.  I’m not in love with it, but at the end of the day I know there’s other priorities with the team.

As an Orioles season ticket holder, and huge fan of the team, this trade makes me feel at least some optimism for the 2017 season.  I like how Duquette was able to move a pitcher who realistically wouldn’t have made the rotation for an everyday player like Smith.

Next: Orioles Trade Yovani Gallardo to Mariners

It will be seen how much of an impact he will make for the Orioles.  Duquette has had a nack of finding outfielders who end up having career years before hitting free agency. Welcome to Baltimore Seth! Here’s to hitting bombs onto Eutaw and making great catches in Camden this summer!