Hoo boy. This should go over well. The O’s were rumored to be near a deal with the San Diego Padres for outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. Then, of course, Upton went to the Blue Jays instead. They got a high-ceiling A-level prospect from Toronto, which may have been more enticing to the Padres than anything the Birds were offering.
Cool. It happens. Move on. (Maybe to Steve Pearce?)
A tweet from Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller, though, could open up a whole new can of worms:
Sources: The #Padres were close to dealing Upton Jr. to #Orioles before Angelos changed mind & changed deal ($). Shifted to #BlueJays then.
— Scott Miller (@ScottMillerBbl) July 26, 2016
After all the money the Birds spent last offseason, it seems a bit odd that Angelos would balk at the money in this deal. Trading Upton’s contract for Ubaldo Jimenez’s (which was, again, the rumor that was floating around) would have cost the Orioles not more than about $3.5M in 2017. Why would that be enough for the owner to reject the deal?
Of course, perhaps San Diego was never actually prepared to take on Ubaldo and his contract. Then it would have been the Birds taking on all over Upton’s $17.05M 2017 salary, right? Well…
#Padres paying all but $5 million of Melvin Upton Jr.'s salary through next year, source confirms @JonHeyman report. #BlueJays @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 26, 2016
Again, maybe SD didn’t offer the same kind of financial help for the prospects the Birds were offering.
Still, this Tweet from Miller is disheartening for Orioles fans who, like myself, have defended Angelos lately, lauding his readiness to open up the checkbook to re-sign players like Chris Davis and Darren O’Day, and to let Dan Duquette and the front office work fairly unimpeded.
This smacks of the dark days, when all we heard about was how Pete was basically the owner AND General Manager.
On the other hand, fans who still resent Angelos for the way he ran the ship years ago, and who think tales of his more “hands-off” approach are overblown, will have a whole new magazine of ammunition to reload with.
We’ll see if we hear any denials (or non-denial denials) from Duquette the next time he’s asked about how this deal ended up falling through. In the meantime, here’s hoping he actually does have free reign to improve this team over the next several days.
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We never know all the details!
why hasnt Pearces name been mentioned.
Amen
I don’t believe the Orioles need another low average high strike out player that swings for the fences. Let’s hope Ubaldo has a strong showing in Minnesota that can fool another team to take In a deal and can absorb a bigger portion of his remaining contract.
I’m not sure why the O’s have a GM to run the team. Deals have been made over the years and Mr Angelos squashes the trade or signing. i really wish they would reacquire Steve Pearce