Orioles 2, Rangers 4
Box Score / Play-by-Play / AP Recap
The Birds smacked eleven hits off of Rangers's starter Matt Harrison in just six innings but were only able to plate two runs as the O's fell again to the Rangers. In his first start for the O's, Mitch Atkins went six strong, allowing eight hits and no walks while striking out four. J.J. Hardy and All-Star selection Matt Wieters each hit solo shots, accounting for the only two runs of the game for Baltimore. Staff ace Jeremy Guthrie tries to help Baltimore avoid the sweep today -- you can read the STATS LLC preview here.
Of interest...
Of interest to me this morning is a pair of trade targets to add to our list of potential trade deadline targets. Yonder Alonso and Zack Cozart are members of the Reds's AAA affiliate, the Louisville Bats. Each were selected to the International League All-Star team, a brief player summary from the team's official blog:
OF Yonder Alonso will be appearing in his first career Triple-A All-Star Game. This will be his second career All-Star selection in his minor league career. The other was in 2009 as a member of the Sarasota Reds when he was selected to the Florida State League All-Star Game. In 2011, Alonso has a .299avg with 9hr and 42rbi. His .299 batting average is good for fourth best on the team with a minimum of 200 at-bats.
SS Zack Cozart has been selected to his third career minor league All-Star Game and it will be the first time he has played in the annual IL – PCL showdown. He was a 2009 Southern League All-Star while with Carolina and a 2008 Midwest League All-Star while a member of the Dayton Dragons. In 2011, Cozart has a .321 avg. with 7hr and 30rbi. He also is second on the team and third in the International League with 26 doubles.
Both Alonso and Cozart fill potential holes for Baltimore -- long term shortstop and long term first baseman -- and Alonso is clearly blocked at first by slugger Joey Votto. As with Blanks, we will go more in depth with Alonso and Cozart in our full scouting report. For now, here are links to their respective stat pages:
Yonder Alonso: Fangraphs Baseball-reference
Zack Cozart: Fangraphs Baseball-reference
3 comments:
Alonso would be a must in any deal and then Cozart or Todd Frazier would be of great interest to me. Frazier was their top prospect last year and is also stuck in AAA without a position with nothing left to prove. Would they go Guthrie+Hardy for all three? Or throw in Pie or a reliever if necessary? Frazier could take over 2nd. Very intrigued by this trade possibility and have been for a while.
The O's have very little to offer the Reds for those two. Alonso and Cozart are high profile prospects that will cost a lot to acquire. Jocketty is a smart man and won't give them up cheaply. The Reds need an ace, SS, and a LF...possibly a future 3B. Looking at the O's team, Hardy fits but that's about it. Maybe the O's would give up Jones + Hardy for those 2 plus Stubbs but that is unlikely.
What could the O's even offer that would be worth the Red's time? I can't see a matchup here and if you think that offering the festering remains of Derek Lee or Kevin Gregg someone of that ilk would get a deal done you are sorely mistaken.
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