The Ol' Ballfield

Why, It's Another Trade!

The Baltimore Sun is reporting that the Orioles will send reliever Chris Britton to the Yankees for starter Jaret Wright and cash (reportedly $4 million, or what the Yankees would have paid to buy out Wright's contract).

Britton is the guy we know less about. Well, with the addtion of Britton and Humberto Sanchez, the Yankees have added a listed 508 pounds to their pitching roster. Britton is a righty that sports a low-90s fastball, and put up some good numbers in 53 2/3 innings out of the pen with Baltimore last season:

3.35 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 41 K, 17 BB, .286 OBPA, 3.49 FIP, 133 ERA+, 13.9 VORP

The WHIP, OBPA and ERA+ are each better than Jaret Wright has ever had, and last season Wright's VORP was fewer than four runs higher in almost 90 more innings. Wright is 31 and injury-prone, Britton is 24 and time will tell.

The Yankees lose a starter, but Wright was never a sure thing (one might say at least some of the Yankees' bullpen woes could be chalked up to Wright's tendency to not give more than five innings or so), and we're still waiting to hear what the final Matsuzaka bidding is. This helps the Orioles out in that Wright joins six other pitchers vying for a rotation spot next season, at least one of whom could be traded for some hitting. Of course, if the O's want hitting, they could always just sign this blast from the past.

Free agency starts today. Let the hot stove begin.

posted by Carnival @ 11/12/2006