The Orioles have dealt 35-year old righty swinging 1B Derrek Lee to the Pirates for 23-year old lefty swinging 1B Aaron Baker. Baker has played in 102 games in A-ball so far this year and he is 109 for 382 (.285 avg, .826 OPS) with 53 runs scored, 15 homers, 72 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Baker has now played in 289 games in his first three years in the minors and he is 281 for 1,068 (.263 avg, .797 OPS) with 155 runs scored, 36 homers, 183 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. The Orioles will likely bring Baker along slowly.

Derrek Lee played in 85 games for the Orioles this year and he was 82 for 334 (.246 avg, .706 OPS) with 39 runs scored, 12 homers, 41 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. This deal was made to make room at 1B for Chris Davis. For that reason, I like this deal for both the Orioles and the Pirates.

The Baltimore Orioles have acquired 25-year old lefty swinging 1B/3B Chris Davis and 25-year old righty starting pitcher Tommy Hunter from the Rangers for 36-year old righty reliever Koji Uehara and $2 million bucks. Davis will likely step in at either 1B or in LF for the Orioles. Davis has played in 28 games for the Rangers this year and he was 19 for 76 (.250 avg, .704 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 3 homers and 6 RBIs. He has now played in 266 games in his first four years in the majors and he is 219 for 882 (.248 avg) with 115 runs scored, 42 homers, 124 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Davis has also whiffed 302 times so far in his career but that’s the price you have to pay for his big time power. Davis has the power to hit 30+ homers in a season and the Orioles hope he gets to that level with them. Tommy Hunter pitched in 8 games (0 starts) for the Rangers this year and he was 1-1 with a 2.93 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. Hunter has now pitched in 53 games (44 starts) in his first four years in the majors and he is 23-13 with a 4.36 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. He will likely join the Orioles’ starting rotation from the time he arrives in Baltimore.

Koji Uehara pitched in 43 games (0 starts) for the Orioles this year and he was 1-1 with a 1.72 ERA and a 0.70 WHIP. He pitched in 98 games (12 starts) in his three years with the Orioles and he was 4-7 with 13 saves, a 3.03 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. Uehara has been a really solid reliever for the Orioles but they couldn’t say no to this deal.

This was an outstanding deal for the Orioles as Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter will be huge parts of the future for them.

28-year old righty swinging shortstop J.J. Hardy has really been impressive this year for the Orioles. He has played in 72 games for the O’s so far this year and he is 79 for 284 (.278 avg, .830 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 16 homers and 42 RBIs. Hardy has been so impressive that he got a nice 3-year contract extension a couple of weeks ago. Playing half his games at Camden Yards could net Hardy 25-30 homers a year if he can just stay healthy. The Orioles were very smart to bring him back as he’s a good defensive shortstop with a lot of pop in his bat.

The Orioles should be aggressive in the trade market next week. The O’s gave it a good shot last winter in signing a lot of veterans but it just hasn’t worked out so far this year. With that in mind, Vladimir Guerrero, Derrek Lee and Kevin Gregg are likely at the top of the list of players the Orioles are willing to deal. Felix Pie and Koji Uehara could also be moved before next Sunday as well. Uehara’s name has popped up in a lot of trade rumors recently. The Orioles would probably kick in most of the cash for lefty reliever Mike Gonzalez if they could find a team that wants him as he has been a huge disappointment so far in Baltimore. The biggest chip the O’s have is righty starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie. Guthrie has had back luck support wise from both the offense and the bullpen this year but he has done his part. The Tigers, Yankees, Red Sox and Cardinals would probably be the teams most interested in Guthrie. Out of the players mentioned above, none of them with the exception of Guthrie are in the O’s long term plans so it makes sense to deal them for players to help them in the future.

The Orioles have lost 33-year old lefty swinging outfielder Luke Scott for the rest of this year as he needs surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Scott played in 64 games for the Orioles this year and he was 46 for 209 (.220 avg, .703 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 9 homers, 22 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The O’s have recalled 24-year old switch-hitting 3B Josh Bell to replace Scott on the active roster. Bell played in 1 game earlier this year for the Orioles and he was 1 for 1 with 1 run scored. Bell also has played in 88 games in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 88 for 347 (.254 avg, .745 OPS) with 53 runs scored, 16 homers, 47 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Bell made his debut in the majors last year for the O’s and it didn’t go too well. Bell played in 53 games for the Orioles last year and he was 34 for 159 (.214 avg, .525 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 3 homers and 12 RBIs. Bell swung at everything last year as he only walked 2 times while whiffing 53 times last year. Unless he starts showing improved discipline at the plate, I don’t think he’s going to be much better this time around for the Orioles.