Baltimore Orioles Most Notable Trades: National League West

In part one of our six-part series, we take a division-by-division look at some of the more memorable trades in Baltimore Orioles franchise history. Up first, the National League West.

We all knew the Baltimore Orioles weren’t going to be very active this offseason, the first full offseason for general manager Mike Elias and his staff, but the small number of moves have been enough to keep the Orioles fanbase active this winter.

After selling off everything of value during the great purge of 2018, the Orioles have already traded infielder Jonathan Villar to the Miami Marlins and starting pitcher Dylan Bundy to the Los Angeles Angels, with reliever Mychal Givens and first baseman/outfielder Trey Mancini trade talk lingering in the air throughout the winter.

With little else to talk about over the winter, this led me down a rabbit hole of looking back at previous trades made by the Baltimore Orioles over the years. As a result, over the next week or so, we are going to take a look back at some of the more notable trades the Orioles have made since their inaugural 1954 season, broken down by trading partner.

What we will do is go division by division and break down the number of player-for-player trades between the Orioles and every other team in that division, take a look at the most notable trade made between those two franchises (good or bad), and discuss any other noteworthy deals made.

Let’s start with the National League West and go in alphabetical order, beginning with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Notable trades between the Baltimore Orioles and Colorado Rockies.

Like with the Diamondbacks, the Orioles haven’t been extremely active with the Rockies over the years, completing just six trades together since Baltimore sent 1B/OF Chris Richard to Colorado for OF Jack Cust. Cust rarely saw the field with Baltimore, but went on to hit 97 home runs in four seasons with the Oakland A’s, including a .247/.381/.457 slash line.

There was also the trading of RHP Rodrigo Lopez to Colorado for two pitchers in Jason Burch and Jim Miller. Neither pitcher had any success with the Orioles, while Lopez made just 14 starts in Colorado before undergoing Tommy John surgery and missing most of 2007 and 2008. He never came close to replicating his rookie season (15-9, 3.57 ERA, 2nd in ROY voting) and finished his career by bouncing around from Philadelphia to Arizona to Chicago (Cubs) before calling it a career in the majors.

The most notable trade has to be the 2012 dealing of Baltimore Orioles top starter Jeremy Guthrie.

• To Baltimore: RHP Jason Hammel and RHP Matt Lindstrom
• To Colorado: RHP Jeremy Guthrie

Guthrie spent five seasons in Baltimore (2007-2011), making 153 starts and compiling a 47-65 record and 4.12 ERA during his time in Birdland. He led the league in losses with 17 on two different occasions, but Guthrie was the top pitcher on staffs consisting of Jason Berken and Alfredo Simon, among others.

Guthrie crumbed in Colorado before closing out his career with some decent success in Kansas City (41-34, 4.38 ERA across parts of four seasons).

The move can be considered a win for the Orioles, who saw just 46 appearances from Hammel. That did include a 2.9 bWAR season in 2012 (8-6, 3.43 ERA, 9 HR allowed in 118 IP), which turned out to be one of the best seasons of his 13 major league seasons.

Lindstrom went 1-0 with a 2.72 ERA in 34 appearances out of the pen in 2012 before being traded to Arizona for starting pitcher Joe Saunders. Saunders would eventually beat out Yu Darvish and the Texas Rangers in that memorable 2012 American League Wild Card victory.

The Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers have made a few memorable trades.

There’s plenty to choose from when looking at trades between the Orioles and Dodgers, 18 player-for-player deals to exact since 1954. Two of these deals involved eventual MLB Hall of Famers in Frank Robinson and Eddie Murray, while the most recent transaction between these two clubs involved a four-time All-Star and Platinum Glove winner in Manny Machado.

We’re still many years away from seeing how the Machado deal will shake out, but should start to see one or two of the four prospects received in return crack the majors (IF Rylan Bannon and RHP Dean Kremer). OF Yusniel Diaz will head into 2020 looking to shake off hamstring injuries that hindered his 2019, while reliever Zach Pop will look to make his return from Tommy John surgery.

December 2nd, 1971 brought the end of the Frank Robinson era in Baltimore.

• To Baltimore: RHP Doyle Alexander, LHP Bob O’Brien, C Sergio Robles, and OF Royle Stillman
• To Los Angeles: OF Frank Robinson, LHP Pete Richert

Robinson was coming off three-straight All-Star appearances and had finished 3rd in MVP voting in two of the last three seasons but had a less than impressive one-year stint in Los Angeles. Robinson hit less than 20 home runs (19) for just the second time in 17 seasons and was worth just 2.0 bWAR. He posted a bWAR less than 4.0 just four times in 19 seasons where he appeared in at least 100 games.

The MLB legend would rebound with two strong seasons with the Angels before ending his career in Cleveland.

Of the four players sent to Baltimore, only Doyle Alexander amounted to anything. Alexander pitching for 19 seasons in the bigs, five of them with the Orioles. He would go 35-37 with a 3.41 ERA, walking nearly as many hitters (196) as he struck out (215).

• To Baltimore: IF Juan Bell, RHP Brian Holton, RHP Ken Howell
• To Los Angeles: 1B Eddie Murray

One of the greatest Orioles to ever play the game, the relationship between Eddie Murray and the Orioles had fallen out of favor by 1988, resulting in moving the seven-time All-Star and 1977 Rookie of the Year for three players who would contribute very little to Baltimore.

While Murray continued to be Eddie Murray for nearly another decade, the duo of Bell and Holton would combine to be worth -1.5 bWAR in their very limited time in the major leagues with the Orioles. Howell never appeared in the big leagues with Baltimore. He was traded again soon after his arrival.

Without a doubt, this was one of the worst trades in team history.

Brad Brach joined the Baltimore Orioles from the San Diego Padres in one of the more noteworthy deals between the two teams.

Of the 15 trades made between Baltimore and San Diego, none have been extremely noteworthy, but the Orioles have been able to find value in dealing with the Padres.

That value started with the first deal back in 1970. The Orioles sent RHP Tom Phoebus and three other players to San Diego for two RHP in Pat Dobson and Tom Dukes. Pheobus was 50-37 with a 3.06 ERA through his first five major league seasons with Baltimore, but went on to win just six more games in the big leagues after the trade.

Dobson would go on to throw 550 innings in his two seasons in Baltimore, winning 36 games and posting a 2.78 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in the process. It was a small, but solid move for the Orioles.

The biggest Orioles/Padres swap is one we recently discussed here on the site,

• To Baltimore: RHP Brad Brach
• To San Diego: RHP Devin Jones

Jones never made it out of Double-A ball and finished with an ERA over 6.00 in two AA seasons. Brach, however, became a steady force out the Baltimore Orioles bullpen for the next five seasons.

Overall, Brach was 27-15 with a 2.99 ERA and 1.21 WHIP during his time in Baltimore. He struck out 343 hitters across 327 innings, was an All-Star in 2016, and was worth 6.1 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference. Brach recently re-signed with the New York Mets for the 2020 season.

The Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco Giants have made plenty of smaller moves.

The Giants and Orioles have swapped players a total of 12 times, with the O’s netting themselves a few productive pieces along the way, including an Orioles Hall of Famer.

In November of 1959, the Orioles sent RHP Billy Loes and LHP Billy O’Dell to San Francisco in exchange for OF Jackie Brandt and two other players. O’Dell was coming off back-to-back All-Star appearances, but had up and down seasons with the Giants after the trade.

Brandt played six seasons in Baltimore, hitting 86 home runs and making both All-Star games in 1961. He was worth 10.9 bWAR as an Oriole.

• To Baltimore: RHP Stu Miller, C/1B John Orsino, LHP Mike McCormick
• To San Francisco: C Jimmie Coker, RHP Jack Fisher, LHP Billy Hoeft

The most notable deal made between the two teams has to be the trade that brought Stu Miller to Baltimore. Miller ranks fifth in O’s history with 99 saves. He pitched for five seasons in Baltimore, during his age 35-39 seasons. He would make 297 appearances, winning 38 games and recording an ERA of 2.37 and a 1.12 WHIP. Miller was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1989.

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The trio of players sent to San Francisco all played just one year with the Giants before moving on elsewhere to close out their careers.

We also can’t forget about the Sidney Ponson trade. Sir Sidney was 14-6 with a 3.77 ERA to start the 2003 season before being traded to San Francisco for LHP Damien Moss, RHP Kurt Ainsworth, and LHP Ryan Hannaman. Hannaman never made it out of A-ball, while Moss and Ainsworth were roughed up during their brief stints in Baltimore.

Ponson closed out the 2003 season by going 3-6 with a 3.71 ERA, electing free agency after the season and re-signing with the Orioles where he would pitch for another two seasons before being released.

Tomorrow, we look at the National League Central division and a handful of blockbuster trades made over the years.