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This Sinker Kills Fascists: Orioles Trade Jeremy Guthrie

In a move that makes sense to nearly no one outside of the involved organizations, today saw Jeremy Guthrie traded from the Orioles to the Rockies for Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom. While Guthrie is not a sexy pitcher, he’s been an awfully effective one for the Orioles, averaging nearly 200 innings a season and being the ace-in-name-only for the club. However, with the Rockies looking to shore up their rotation, they decided to acquire Guthrie despite a below average groundball rate of 39%—this despite changing his approach (or PITCHfx changing its classifications) by throwing a sinker 22% of the time.

In return, instead of acquiring sexy and dangerous prospects, the Orioles snagged Jason Hammel, a solid pitcher who has posted Guthrie-esque numbers and has nearly the same service time, and Matt Lindstrom, a reliever on the wrong side of 30. While no one would have been emptying their minor league coffers for Guthrie, you would think that Dan Duquette was out looking for players who could do more than merely occupy another losing Orioles club. Duquette did claim that there were no teams offering young prospects for Guthrie, but with pitching as thin as it is, some contender would probably have been willing to part with a youngster once injuries attacked their rotation.

The move is more defensible for the Rockies who could use someone to eat up innings behind Jorge De La Rosa and Jhoulys Chacin. Still, if there is one type of pitcher that tends to experience success in Colorado, it’s those who can keep the ball out of the Denver air. Guthrie may very well devour 200 innings and save those bullpen arms, but it may come at the cost of not winning many ballgames.

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