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The Orioles have traded reliever Bryan Baker to the Rays this morning for Tampa Bay's No. 37 pick, in the competitive balance round. FanSided's Robert Murray was first with the Baker trade.
Baker said he felt "shock" after receiving the news, perhaps in part because he's under team control through the 2028 season. He was preoccupied with the "logistics," getting to Boston and "doing my job there."
"I'm sure more thoughts will come to me as the day goes on," he said.
Baker leaves with a 3.52 ERA and 1.096 WHIP, emerging as one of the club's top relievers.
Unfortunately for Baker, his last outing with Orioles on Tuesday resulted in a pair of two-run homers in the eighth inning that erased a 6-2 lead against the Mets.
The Orioles selected Baker on waivers from the Blue Jays in November 2021 after one major league relief appearance.
"It's been everything," he said. "They gave me my opportunity to get established in the big leagues and obviously getting close to everybody in this room and developing on the field and off the field. It's been four of the best years of my life for sure."
Yesterday’s postponement forces the Orioles into another doubleheader today, with Charlie Morton starting Game 1 against the Mets and Tomoyuki Sugano starting Game 2.
Morton has allowed 14 runs in his last 10 appearances over 45 2/3 innings for a 2.76 ERA. He’s 7-7 with a 3.85 ERA in 25 career games (24 starts) against the Mets.
Gunnar Henderson is on the bench for Game 1, with Luis Vázquez starting at shortstop. Coby Mayo is the first baseman. Jacob Stallings is catching.
Left-hander Grant Wolfram is the 27th man for the doubleheader.
Here’s what I wrote yesterday about Mets left-hander David Peterson prior to the postponement:
Peterson has made 17 starts and posted a 3.18 ERA in 102 innings. He’s allowed only seven home runs.
Peterson tossed a complete-game shutout last month against the Nationals. He’s registered 10 quality starts.
Left-handers are hitting .205/.255/.284 against Peterson this season and right-handers are hitting .253/.333/.370. He’s 5-0 with a 2.11 ERA and 1.157 WHIP in nine home starts and 1-4 with a 4.44 ERA and 1.414 WHIP in eight road games.
Peterson has faced the Orioles four times in his career, including three starts, and posted a 3.24 ERA and 1.440 WHIP in 16 2/3 innings. He’s allowed four runs in 9 2/3 innings at Camden Yards.
Ramón Urías, who’s playing third base in Game 1, is 2-for-4 with a double and home run against Peterson. Cedric Mullins is 2-for-4 with a double, but he’s on the bench.
For the Orioles
Jackson Holliday 2B
Jordan Westburg DH
Ramón Laureano LF
Tyler O’Neill RF
Ramón Urías 3B
Colton Cowser CF
Luis Vázquez SS
Coby Mayo 1B
Jacob Stallings C
Charlie Morton RHP
Orioles owner David Rubenstein, in a taped interview at the National Press Club that aired late last night on C-SPAN, expressed optimism for the second half of the season. Nothing less was expected from him.
“I leave the baseball to the baseball professionals,” Rubenstein said. “My job is to be the owner. It’s to help ticket sales, commercial things, take the blame when something goes wrong. But in the end, you’ve got professional baseball players, managers, general managers, and they know what they’re doing. Baseball is a game of some injuries and so forth, but we have a very good team. We have good players. We won three games in a row against the Atlanta Braves the other day. … I think we have a reasonably good chance in the second half of doing much, much better.”
Rubenstein didn’t address manager Brandon Hyde’s firing.
