O's Lose Wigginton

Another day at the Winter Meetings and the Orioles lose a key run producer from their team last year. Ty Wigginton, the utility infielder, signed a 2 year $7.5 million contract with the Colorado Rockies. Wigginton played first, second, and third base for the Orioles in 2010. He was clutch early on last season and was named to the All-Star team, but found his struggles in the second half of the season.

The acquisition of Mark Reynolds would most likely have affected Wigginton's playing time. The Rockies were in need of a right-handed utility bat and Wigginton fits the bill. He ended up hitting 22 HR in 649 plate appearances for Baltimore.

Former Orioles Making Headlines

Over the past few days, two former Orioles got contracts for the 2011 baseball season. The biggest beneficiary of the offseason thus far has to be Jayson Werth. Werth inked a 7 year $126 million contract with our beltway neighbors, the Washington Nationals. For those who may not know, yes, Werth was in fact a former Oriole. We drafted him number 22 overall in the first round of 1997 draft. While Werth did not appear in any major league games for the franchise, he was very highly regarded. He had great athletic ability and even above average speed for a catcher. After spending years in the minors, the Orioles traded him to the Blue Jays in exchange for pitcher, John Bale.

Werth's major league debut for the Jays came in 2002. Two years later, Werth was again on the move; this time to the Los Angeles Dodgers. At this point, Jayson was converted to the outfield to better suit his athleticism. He was declared a free agent and eventually signed a deal with the Phillies in 2006. He originally was in a platoon with Geoff Jenkins but an injury to outfielder Shane Victorino gave Werth an everyday role. In the rest of that season and in coming years, he established himself as a legitimate power threat and a key piece of the World Series championship in 2008. He stayed in Philly until after the 2010 season.

With the Nationals loss of Adam Dunn, Werth was signed to give Ryan Zimmerman lineup protection and to produce for years to come in DC.

Another former Oriole, Melvin Mora, inked a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Terms of the deal were undisclosed, but the Dbacks get a great role player with veteran leadership and a true passion for the game of baseball. Mora had a great stretch last year with the Rockies, parlaying that into a contract with another NL West team.

Even though they are no longer Orioles, I wish the best of luck to both of these players in their future endeavors and for the remainder of their MLB careers.

Orioles Acquire 3B Mark Reynolds

In an offseason where the Orioles made offers and got turned down by some top free agent targets, they turned to the trade market. Over the previous few days, the Orioles had discussions with the Arizona Diamondbacks regarding 3B Mark Reynolds. The discussions gradually heated up. It was originally speculated that Arizona wanted Chris Tillman in exchange for the power hitting corner infielder. Reliever, David Hernandez's, name was also mentioned as a potential match for Arizona. The Diamondbacks had a disastrous bullpen in 2010 so improvement was a priority for Kevin Towers, the GM, this offseason.

Yesterday, a deal was finally consummated between the two franchises, sending Mark Reynolds and a player to be named later to Baltimore in exchange for pitchers David Hernandez and Kam Mickolio. Hernandez was a highly sought after pitcher on the trade market this year after he found a home in the Orioles bullpen last season. Both of these relievers were power arms at the back of the bullpen.

Mark Reynolds, while definitely prone to the strikeout, offers great power and the ability to drive in runs. He will easily out produce the Orioles third baseman's HR and RBI totals from a year ago. There just has to be a way to cut down the strikeout totals. He sets a strikeout record one year, then surpasses it the next. Over 200 K's in back to back years may have some loyal Orioles fans wondering, why? As Andy MacPhail mentioned in his interview, Reynolds is also an improving defensive 3B who plays both side of the game well.

The next target would logically be first base, or a bonafide ace to slot in front of Jeremy Guthrie at the head of our rotation. Stay tuned for more updates about the Orioles from the Winter Meetings.