O's - Pads Trade: Huh?

The Orioles traded Oscar Salazar to the Padres for Cla Meredith.

Orioles Side: Baltimore picks up Meredith, a 26 year old Chad Bradford wannabe. Meredith's #'s are not good, a 4.17 ERA, 47 hits, 13 walks and 20 strikeouts in 36 and 2/3 innings. Think about that. You are asking him to now go from the most forgiving ballpark in the league (though he may not have been built for it, being a sinkerballer) to one of the toughest divisions to get out some of the better right handed hitters in a game. Maybe the Orioles see something in him.

Padres Side: San Diego picks up Salazar, a 31 year old Venezuelan. Salazar's bat hasn't been a question (with BAL: .419-.455-.613 in 31 AB's, with AAA: .372-.408-.618 in 199 AB's) but where do you play him? At 6 feet, he isn't an ideal 1B. He didn't get much of a chance at 3B and has played a bunch of positions in his time. However, he now goes from a tougher league to a much tougher home park. They may see him as a bench bat, because he still doesn't have an everyday spot unless they move Adrian Gonzalez (uh huh) or Kevin Kouzmanoff (possible, has been shopped).

Analysis: Huh? The Orioles, who have a plethora of starting pitching prospects that will need to some go into the pen, such as, in my opinion, Brandon Erbe, Jason Berken, Brad Bergesen (who I think IS Cla Meredith stuff and deception wise) and Kam Mickolio. Meredith may be auditioning for a job. Meanwhile, San Diego gets a 31 year old bat who is fairly unproven and the best they can likely hope for is something similar to David Newhan's 2004 season (.311-.361-.453). Some of you read that and are thinking, wait Tim, that is pretty good. Sure, if your a contender, however the Padres are at least 2 years from competing and maybe more depending on the Peavy situation. 2 years later, Newhan hit .252-.298-.374. Sound like a contributing player? Seems like a good idea to trade a 26 year old reliever for a 31 year old utility player. I will give a slight win to the Orioles.