masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgAs the midnight deadline approaches for teams to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible players, the Orioles have narrowed the list by trading closer Jim Johnson to the Athletics for infielder Jemile Weeks.

The Orioles also will receive a player to be named later from the A’s minor league system.

Weeks, 26, went 1-for-9 with five strikeouts in eight games with the A’s this season. The switch-hitter was taken with the 12th overall pick in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.

Weeks is…As the midnight deadline approaches for teams to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible players, the Orioles have narrowed the list by trading closer Jim Johnson to the Athletics for infielder Jemile Weeks.

The Orioles also will receive a player to be named later from the A’s minor league system.

Weeks, 26, went 1-for-9 with five strikeouts in eight games with the A’s this season. The switch-hitter was taken with the 12th overall pick in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.

Weeks is a career .258/.319/.357 hitter in 223 major league games.

I just got off the phone with executive vice president Dan Duquette and will post his quotes later. In the meantime, Duquette noted that Weeks can play second base, shortstop and center field. He didn’t promise Weeks the starting job at second base. It’s still up in the air.

Duquette will look for another closer. He said the choice could come from within the organization or outside of it.

The Orioles tendered contracts to their other arbitration-eligible players. They didn’t offer contracts to outfielder Jason Pridie and knuckleballer Eddie Gamboa, making them free agents and removing them from the 40-man roster.

More to come.