01 July 2013

Deals that Never Happened: Part I

This will be a series covering the deals during that Angelos era that were very close to being completed before a certain owner allegedly interfered.  However, it might very well be poor sports writing using Angelos as a convenient crutch to connect with disgruntled Oriole fans.  Regardless, this series will explore some of the trades that were not and what they might have meant to the Orioles.


Trade #1 (Baltimore Sun)

Orioles receive catcher Chris Widger and top 100 infield prospect Desi Relaford
Mariners receive starting pitcher David Wells

In Pat Gillick’s first year, he found the club 10 games behind the first place Yankees and seven games behind the wild card leading Chicago White Sox at the deadline.  From his perspective, the team would benefit from getting rid of impending free agent veterans in exchange for promising young players for the team to rely upon in the future.  David Wells had been pretty unspectacular for the team with a 7-10 record and a 4.75 ERA.  He still had value though for many teams who remembered him as a potential ace with the Tigers and Reds.  Seattle, gearing up for their playoff run offered a promising catching prospect in Chris Widger and a top 100 SS prospect in Desi Relaford.

The Orioles were looking for pieces to replace two major upcoming holes in their roster: catcher and shortstop.  The team’s current catcher, Chris Hoiles, was beginning to wear down.  His bat was still excellent, one of the best bats ever for a catcher, but his defense was sliding rapidly.  The team needed a promising transition.  Likewise, Cal Ripken Jr. was beginning to struggle at shortstop and also likely needed someone who could push him to third base.  Gillick believed that Widger was one of the best catching prospects in baseball and was likely to become an All Star.  Desi Relaford?  The majority of scouting reports available from that time were pretty flowery about his defense as well as the potential for his offense.

However, the deal did not happen because Angelos allegedly thought that the fans deserved the best team he could provide.  Wells proceeded to go 4-4 (overall the team went 7-6 in his starts) while tossing a couple gems and getting shelled several times.  One could make an argument that Wells provided nothing for the playoff run other than, on average, replacement level pitching.  Though that might be too harsh.  The Orioles 6th starter (after dealing a largely ineffective Kent Mercker for Eddie Murray) was Jimmy Haynes who carried a 8.29 ERA over 89 innings that year.  And, well, the Orioles did wind up making the playoffs.

Wells left after the season to play for the New York Yankees, but secured the Orioles the Yankees first selection as well as a supplementary draft pick.  With those picks the Orioles selected promising OF prospect Darnell McDonald (who wound up with some cups of coffee in the majors, but no significant impact) and OF Ntema Ndungidi (who could rake in A ball, but could never figure out pitchers in AA).

So how did the two prospects fair?

Chris Widger
Year Age Tm PA 2B 3B HR BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS+
1995 24 SEA 49 0 0 1 3 11 .200 .245 .267 33
1996 25 SEA 12 0 0 0 0 5 .182 .250 .182 13
1997 26 MON 305 20 3 7 22 59 .234 .290 .403 80
1998 27 MON 448 18 1 15 29 85 .233 .281 .388 76
1999 28 MON 419 24 1 14 28 86 .264 .325 .441 94
2000 29 TOT 324 17 2 13 30 63 .233 .306 .438 83
2000 29 MON 312 17 2 12 29 61 .238 .311 .441 85
2000 29 SEA 12 0 0 1 1 2 .091 .167 .364 33
2002 31 NYY 68 5 0 0 2 9 .297 .338 .375 90
2003 32 STL 112 9 0 0 6 20 .235 .279 .324 59
2005 34 CHW 154 8 0 4 10 22 .241 .296 .383 77
2006 35 TOT 107 3 0 1 11 24 .172 .255 .237 27
2006 35 CHW 87 3 0 1 9 20 .184 .264 .263 36
2006 35 BAL 20 0 0 0 2 4 .118 .211 .118 -11
10 Yrs 1998 104 7 55 141 384 .238 .296 .393 77
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/30/2013.

It took ten years for Widger to finally show up in an Orioles uniform at the age of 25.  During his career, he found himself as a sometimes platoon, sometimes full-time catcher for Dan Duquette’s Montreal Expos where he displayed decent receiving skills and a below average bat.  After his age 29 season, he split time in the minors interspersed with a opportunities in the Majors.  In all, this was not the catcher that Pat Gillick was looking for.

Desi Relaford
Year Age Tm PA 2B 3B HR SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS+
1996 22 PHI 44 2 0 0 1 0 3 9 .175 .233 .225 22
1997 23 PHI 44 1 2 0 3 0 5 6 .184 .279 .316 56
1998 24 PHI 546 25 3 5 9 5 33 87 .245 .293 .338 65
1999 25 PHI 242 11 2 1 4 3 19 34 .242 .322 .327 63
2000 26 TOT 502 14 3 5 13 0 75 71 .215 .351 .300 69
2001 27 NYM 340 27 0 8 13 5 27 65 .302 .364 .472 119
2002 28 SEA 376 13 2 6 10 3 33 51 .267 .339 .374 92
2003 29 KCR 557 27 5 8 20 4 40 70 .254 .315 .376 77
2004 30 KCR 430 14 0 6 5 4 34 56 .221 .296 .305 57
2005 31 COL 238 13 2 1 3 3 22 42 .224 .308 .319 58
2007 33 TEX 28 0 0 0 0 1 2 6 .115 .179 .115 -20
11 Yrs 3347 147 19 40 81 28 293 497 .243 .319 .347 73
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/30/2013.

For a below replacement value career (-0.6 bWAR), Desi Relaford was able to find a lot of work.  His defense was adequate, never great.  He also never really figured out how to get on base enough to take advantage of his base running skills outside of 2000 and 2001.  Ripken’s actual replacement, Mike Bordick, wound up being superior in every way to Relaford further suggesting that the genius of Pat Gillick is not about the young players he acquires, but his incredible ability to recognize talent in Major Leaguers.  Relaford was still dealt though by the Mariners who were able to acquire the Phillies’ Terry Muhlholland who pitched slightly better than David Wells over the last few months of the season, so a short term win for all.  Widger wound up in a deal that was essentially him for Jeff Fassero after the 1996 season.  Fassero wound up giving the Mariners two excellent seasons as a starting pitcher before injuries derailed him and forced him to reemerge as a relief arm.

Trade #2 (Baltimore Sun)
Orioles receive relief pitcher Bryce Florie and top SS prospect Juan Melo
Padres receive 3B/LF Bobby Bonilla

As with the nixed Wells deal above, this deal was being cemented in the same context.  Like Wells, Bonilla was underperforming and just barely crested an 800 OPS on the final day to deal a player.  Gillick had two solid deals in place (I will discuss the other one next).  In the one with the Padres, he was angling for reliever Bryce Florie and well regarded SS prospect Juan Melo.  Florie was a promising starting pitcher who developed wildness late in his minor league career.  He had been able to subdue his wildness with a change to the bullpen and was enjoying his second season in that role for the Padres.   Melo was a top 50 prospect and one the best SS prospects at that time.  As with Wells, Angelos allegedly nixed this deal in consideration for the fans.

Where the Wells deal being nixed arguably was of little consequence, this nixed deal was incredibly important to the Orioles.  Bonilla was sitting at an 805 OPS on August 1st.  He proceeded to deliver a 964 OPS in August and a 918 OPS in September.  You could argue that there would have been no playoff comeback for the Orioles without Bonilla’s bat in the lineup.  The Orioles did not qualify Bonilla as someone worth compensation and he departed the dream Florida Marlin team of 1997.  Like before, the players that would have come back to the Orioles did not wind up incredibly sterling.

Bryce Florie
Year Age Tm ERA G GS SV IP HR ERA+ H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
1994 24 SDP 0.96 9 0 0 9.1 0 446 7.7 0.0 2.9 7.7
1995 25 SDP 3.01 47 0 1 68.2 8 135 6.4 1.0 5.0 8.9
1996 26 TOT 4.74 54 0 0 68.1 4 92 8.6 0.5 5.3 8.3
1997 27 MIL 4.32 32 8 0 75.0 4 108 8.9 0.5 5.0 6.4
1998 28 DET 4.80 42 16 0 133.0 16 98 9.5 1.1 4.0 6.6
1999 29 TOT 4.65 41 5 0 81.1 8 107 10.4 0.9 3.9 7.2
2000 30 BOS 4.56 29 0 1 49.1 5 112 10.4 0.9 3.5 6.2
2001 31 BOS 11.42 7 0 0 8.2 1 41 12.5 1.0 7.3 7.3
8 Yrs 4.47 261 29 2 493.2 46 104 9.1 0.8 4.4 7.2
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/30/2013.

Florie represented someone who could have beefed up the Orioles’ excellent pen, which was a concern because so much depended on 33 year old Randy Myers, 35 year old Roger McDowell, and 39 year old Jesse Orosco.  Florie also represented a potential spot starter, which the Tigers wound up exploring with in 1998 and 1999 with varying success.  He did not stay long with the Padres as they moved on from Bobby Bonilla to a deal involving the Brewers Greg Vaughn who wound up 78 home runs for them over 311 games.  Eventually, he was dealt to Dan Duquette’s Red Sox for Mike Maroth and was a serviceable member of their bullpen for a couple years.

Juan Melo
Year Age Tm Lev PA 2B 3B HR SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
1994 17 3 Teams Rk-A–AAA 174 4 3 1 3 2 11 39 .288 .356 .372 .728
1995 18 Clinton A 524 32 1 5 12 10 33 88 .282 .333 .384 .717
1996 19 Rancho Cucamonga A+ 536 27 6 8 6 8 22 102 .304 .345 .429 .775
1997 20 2 Teams AA-AAA 538 26 2 8 7 9 30 100 .286 .325 .393 .718
1998 21 Las Vegas AAA 500 26 1 6 9 8 24 91 .272 .311 .370 .682
1999 22 3 Teams AAA 340 12 3 6 10 5 17 67 .219 .265 .332 .597
2000 23 Fresno AAA 460 26 6 12 13 13 35 89 .295 .353 .472 .825
2001 24 Fresno AAA 405 22 4 9 9 9 19 64 .312 .349 .464 .813
2002 25 Fresno AAA 522 28 2 16 6 7 33 93 .276 .324 .443 .767
2003 26 3 Teams Ind-AAA 220 11 0 6 1 2 17 32 .322 .384 .467 .851
2004 27 2 Teams Ind-AAA 174 8 0 7 6 2 19 28 .309 .379 .500 .879
2005 28 2 Teams AAA-Ind 432 22 3 12 4 5 25 46 .314 .359 .475 .834
2006 29 2 Teams AAA 418 12 2 8 2 2 24 70 .263 .306 .367 .673
2007 30 3 Teams AA-Ind 405 25 0 12 6 6 28 51 .268 .325 .434 .759
2008 31 2 Teams Fgn-Ind 238 13 2 4 2 2 19 30 .237 .303 .372 .675
2009 32 Rio Grande Valley Ind











2010 33 Tijuana Ind 97 6 0 3 0 2 7 11 .236 .299 .404 .703
17 Seasons
5983 300 35 123 96 92 363 1001 .282 .331 .417 .748
AAA (11 seasons) AAA 3151 149 21 69 52 49 181 539 .279 .325 .416 .740
Ind (7 seasons) Ind 728 48 1 26 14 8 55 99 .304 .360 .497 .857
AA (2 seasons) AA 699 30 2 11 8 13 45 118 .273 .321 .377 .699
A (1 season) A 524 32 1 5 12 10 33 88 .282 .333 .384 .717
Fgn (1 season) Fgn 171 10 1 3 1 2 16 16 .217 .292 .355 .648
A- (1 season) A- 12 1 0 1 0 0 1 3 .364 .417 .727 1.144
Rk (1 season) Rk 162 3 3 0 3 2 10 36 .283 .352 .345 .697
A+ (1 season) A+ 536 27 6 8 6 8 22 102 .304 .345 .429 .775
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/30/2013.

Melo wound up being an incredibly faded pale image of Relaford.  The promising offensive output by the defense oriented Melo as a 19 year old in HiA simply did not turn into more campaigns with a high batting average.  His defense also did not improve as much as many scouts thought it would.  He wound up on one more top 100 scouting list and then everyone seemed to divert their gaze.  By 1999, the Padres gave up on him and dealt him to the Toronto Blue Jays for a 25 year old AA pitcher named Isabel Giron who was not considered much of a prospect at the time.  Eventually, he found himself in the Majors with the Giants in 2000 where he logged 13 plate appearances and then went back into the shadows.

Trade 3: (Baltimore Sun)
Orioles receive Jeremy Burnitz, Eddie Murray, and Albie Lopez
Indians receive Bobby Bonilla and Jeffrey Hammonds

This was a blockbuster by every sense of the word.  Bonilla was a big name and Hammonds (two years from his ranking as the third best prospect in baseball) was considered a potential star in the making as long as he could remain healthy.  Yes, some of the shine had worn off of Hammonds, but there were still a great many believers in his talent.  Burnitz was an older prospect who was once considered a solid power prospect, but had difficulty finding success at the Major League level.  Murray would have been a steady veteran presence the team was thought to need to solidify the DH position.  Murray’s 1996 season to date was pretty poor, but he only the year before did he crush the ball for the Indians.  Lopez was a top pitching prospect in the Indians system who, like Burnitz, was having trouble breaking out in the Majors.  So, looking at the entire package, this appears to be an attempt by Gillick to appease a need to compete now, but also prepare for the future.

The supposed issue though was that Indians really were enamored with Jeffrey Hammonds’ potential and Angelos greatly desired a home grown positional prospect to take on the face of the organization.  It was supposedly similar to when Angelos allegedly nixed deals involving Brian Roberts.  So, as mentioned above, the Orioles did not deal Bonilla and Hammonds.  Burnitz wound up sputtering with the team he was actually traded to, the Brewers.  Eddie Murray wound up on the team and did probably far worse than you remember.  Lopez wound up doing pretty poorly for the Indians down the stretch.

A rundown of the non-Bonillas.

Jeffrey Hammonds
Year Age Tm Lg PA 2B 3B HR SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS+
1993 22 BAL AL 110 8 0 3 4 0 2 16 .305 .312 .467 104
1994 23 BAL AL 274 18 2 8 5 0 17 39 .296 .339 .480 105
1995 24 BAL AL 191 9 1 4 4 2 9 30 .242 .279 .371 66
1996 25 BAL AL 282 10 1 9 3 3 23 53 .226 .301 .383 72
1997 26 BAL AL 434 19 3 21 15 1 32 73 .264 .323 .486 111
1998 27 TOT MLB 306 16 2 6 8 3 39 56 .280 .376 .428 111
1999 28 CIN NL 293 13 0 17 3 6 27 64 .279 .347 .523 114
2000 29 COL NL 511 24 2 20 14 7 44 83 .335 .395 .529 111
2001 30 MIL NL 194 11 1 6 5 3 14 42 .247 .314 .425 92
2002 31 MIL NL 510 26 5 9 4 5 52 86 .257 .332 .397 93
2003 32 TOT NL 149 12 0 4 1 0 16 28 .242 .329 .424 96
2004 33 SFG NL 113 5 0 3 1 0 15 22 .211 .336 .358 80
2005 34 WSN NL 37 1 0 0 0 0 2 4 .219 .286 .250 46
13 Yrs 3404 172 17 110 67 30 292 596 .272 .338 .449 99
162 Game Avg. 576 29 3 19 11 5 49 101 .272 .338 .449 99

PA 2B 3B HR SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS+
BAL (6 yrs) 1494 76 8 51 38 8 109 249 .264 .322 .446 97
MIL (3 yrs) 745 39 6 16 9 8 69 135 .248 .321 .398 89
SFG (2 yrs) 221 15 0 6 2 0 28 43 .243 .353 .418 100
CIN (2 yrs) 396 17 1 17 4 7 40 82 .284 .358 .486 111
COL (1 yr) 511 24 2 20 14 7 44 83 .335 .395 .529 111
WSN (1 yr) 37 1 0 0 0 0 2 4 .219 .286 .250 46













NL (8 yrs) 1910 96 9 59 29 22 183 347 .278 .352 .451 101
AL (6 yrs) 1494 76 8 51 38 8 109 249 .264 .322 .446 97
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/30/2013.

Was Hammonds a great player?  No, but he was an above average player in 1997 and a major reason why that team went to the playoffs.  He also put in a good, but not great 1998 season.  However, the team had grown tired of his injuries and decided to cash in on him for a look on RF Willie Greene.  Greene was let go after the season and was quickly out of baseball within two years.  Hammonds proceeded to do well for the Reds who mistakenly turned him into Dante Bichette who then Dan Duquette acquired for Chris Rietsma.  Hammonds then did well enough to earn a trip to the 2000 All Star game representing the Rockies and enjoyed some marginal success into his early 30s.

Jeromy Burnitz
Year Age Tm PA 2B 3B HR SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS+
1993 24 NYM 306 10 6 13 3 6 38 66 .243 .339 .475 118
1994 25 NYM 168 4 0 3 1 1 23 45 .238 .347 .329 79
1995 26 CLE 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .571 .571 .714 232
1996 27 TOT 239 14 0 9 4 1 33 47 .265 .377 .470 113
1997 28 MIL 577 37 8 27 20 13 75 111 .281 .382 .553 140
1998 29 MIL 691 28 1 38 7 4 70 158 .263 .339 .499 118
1999 30 MIL 580 33 2 33 7 3 91 124 .270 .402 .561 143
2000 31 MIL 686 29 2 31 6 4 99 121 .232 .356 .456 106
2001 32 MIL 651 32 4 34 0 4 80 150 .251 .347 .504 119
2002 33 NYM 550 15 0 19 10 7 58 135 .215 .311 .365 81
2003 34 TOT 505 22 0 31 5 4 35 112 .239 .299 .487 105
2004 35 COL 606 30 4 37 5 6 58 124 .283 .356 .559 121
2005 36 CHC 671 31 2 24 5 4 57 109 .258 .322 .435 94
2006 37 PIT 343 12 0 16 1 1 22 74 .230 .289 .422 81
14 Yrs 6580 298 29 315 74 58 739 1376 .253 .345 .481 112
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/30/2013.

Yes, Jeromy Burnitz was a monster for the Milwaukee Brewers and would likely have made the 1997 Orioles (as well as the 1998-2001 Orioles) a better team.  Who knows…Burnitz crushing the ball in RF for the O’s maybe would have resulted in the team not making a deal for Albert Belle.

The Indians, having missed on Bonilla, traded Burnitz (who was raking for the Tribe) to the Brewers for Kevin Seitzer who wound up delivering a 160 OPS+ and then basically nothing more after that season.  It should also be mentioned that Jeromy Burntiz wound up being pretty awful down the stretch, so he would not have helped the 1996 Orioles much in making the playoffs.

Eddie Murray
Year ▴ Age Tm PA 2B 3B HR SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS+
1977 21 BAL 666 29 2 27 0 1 48 104 .283 .333 .470 123
1978 22 BAL 690 32 3 27 6 5 70 97 .285 .356 .480 140
1979 23 BAL 687 30 2 25 10 2 72 78 .295 .369 .475 130
1980 24 BAL 683 36 2 32 7 2 54 71 .300 .354 .519 138
1981 25 BAL 422 21 2 22 2 3 40 43 .294 .360 .534 156
1982 26 BAL 627 30 1 32 7 2 70 82 .316 .391 .549 156
1983 27 BAL 680 30 3 33 5 1 86 90 .306 .393 .538 156
1984 28 BAL 705 26 3 29 10 2 107 87 .306 .410 .509 157
1985 29 BAL 677 37 1 31 5 2 84 68 .297 .383 .523 149
1986 30 BAL 578 25 1 17 3 0 78 49 .305 .396 .463 136
1987 31 BAL 694 28 3 30 1 2 73 80 .277 .352 .477 120
1988 32 BAL 681 27 2 28 5 2 75 78 .284 .361 .474 136
1989 33 LAD 690 29 1 20 7 2 87 85 .247 .342 .401 113
1990 34 LAD 645 22 3 26 8 5 82 64 .330 .414 .520 159
1991 35 LAD 639 23 1 19 10 3 55 74 .260 .321 .403 105
1992 36 NYM 625 37 2 16 4 2 66 74 .261 .336 .423 115
1993 37 NYM 659 28 1 27 2 2 40 61 .285 .325 .467 112
1994 38 CLE 467 21 1 17 8 4 31 53 .254 .302 .425 87
1995 39 CLE 480 21 0 21 5 1 39 65 .323 .375 .516 129
1996 40 CLE 374 9 1 12 3 0 34 45 .262 .326 .402 84
1996 40 BAL 263 12 0 10 1 0 27 42 .257 .327 .439 92
1997 41 TOT 185 7 0 3 1 0 15 26 .222 .281 .317 55
21 Yrs 12817 560 35 504 110 43 1333 1516 .287 .359 .476 129
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/30/2013.

Murray was a great story in 1996.  I remember with great fondness that he hit his 500th home run in an Orioles jersey.  That said, he was a pretty poor DH.  Kent Mercker, the player the team traded him for, had done pretty poorly with the team and could not rekindle his performance during his time in Atlanta…until he was dealt to the Indians who only used him in a relief role similar to his role during his more successful years in Atlanta.

Albie Lopez
Year Age Tm W L ERA G GS IP HR BB SO ERA+ H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
1993 21 CLE 3 1 5.98 9 9 49.2 7 32 25 73 8.9 1.3 5.8 4.5
1994 22 CLE 1 2 4.24 4 4 17.0 3 6 18 112 10.6 1.6 3.2 9.5
1995 23 CLE 0 0 3.13 6 2 23.0 4 7 22 151 6.7 1.6 2.7 8.6
1996 24 CLE 5 4 6.39 13 10 62.0 14 22 45 76 11.6 2.0 3.2 6.5
1997 25 CLE 3 7 6.93 37 6 76.2 11 40 63 68 11.9 1.3 4.7 7.4
1998 26 TBD 7 4 2.60 54 0 79.2 7 32 62 183 8.2 0.8 3.6 7.0
1999 27 TBD 3 2 4.64 51 0 64.0 8 24 37 107 9.3 1.1 3.4 5.2
2000 28 TBD 11 13 4.13 45 24 185.1 24 70 96 119 9.7 1.2 3.4 4.7
2001 29 TOT 9 19 4.81 33 33 205.2 26 75 136 94 9.9 1.1 3.3 6.0
2002 30 ATL 1 4 4.37 30 4 55.2 1 18 39 96 10.7 0.2 2.9 6.3
2003 31 KCR 4 2 12.71 15 0 22.2 7 17 15 39 16.3 2.8 6.8 6.0
11 Yrs 47 58 4.94 297 92 841.1 112 343 558 95 10.0 1.2 3.7 6.0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/30/2013.

Lopez eventually panned out as a member of the fledgling Devil Rays.  He provided a few years of solid pitching, but nothing exceptional.  He would have been a solid throw in to match with Burnitz in this deal though.

Conclusion of these Three Non-Deals
There is a decent argument to be made that if Wells was dealt that the team could have struggled to make the playoffs in 1996.  A better argument could be made if Bonilla was dealt.  However, acquiring Jeromy Burnitz would have set the team up well for the next several years.  These Orioles teams did not really lack offense in the outfield, but Burnitz would have provided premium offense for not much cost.  You could argue that Angelos probably made the right decision to play for now than to put off to the future.  He had an aging squad and a team’s window lasts only so long.  That said, getting nothing in return for Bonilla likely hurt the team in the long run and, perhaps, was the butterfly flapping its wings into the Albert Belle signing.

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