Orioles Have Gavin Floyd on Radar

According to Danny Knobler, the White Sox are looking for a lefty bat. No surprise there. Also the team is apparently announcing (re-announcing) the availability of Gavin Floyd. Still, not a surprise. Then finally something we didn’t already know: the Baltimore Orioles have him on their radar. It’s usually pretty easy from where you and I sit to pick a player or two from a team and get creative with trade scenarios that work. In our minds they work. Because we don’t run a baseball team in reality, we run a baseball team in our minds.

I’m assured that Gavin is perfectly willing to wipe his face on any jersey. He does not discriminate. (Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports)

The problem is, looking at the Orioles roster, I can’t even come up with a trade that works. A left handed bat? Well Matt Wieters and Manny Machado are both switch hitters, played at catcher and third base last year respectively which kind of addresses a dual need. But if the O’s are dumb enough to send one of them back for Floyd the Sox may as well just ask for both. They recently acquired Trayvon Robinson, also a switch hitter and a bit more realistic…but I’m not much of a believer in his abilities. Adding strikeouts from the left side isn’t exactly what Hahn and Co. have in mind. Fun fact, though: Trayvon Robinson slugged .563 at AAA in 2011. Viva PCL!

Nick Markakis is a lefty, though I don’t see Baltimore parting with him and he is owed $47.5M over the next 3 years. Not touching that without a little help. If Kenny was still in charge (pay no mind to the man behind the curtain) sights would be set on Brian Roberts, the object of KW’s affection for many years. It’s a good thing that Kenny is not in charge though (pay no mind to the man behind the curtain) because Roberts is old and next to useless by now. Chris Davis plays first, which is still covered by Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn for the time being, the latter also taking care of the strikeout total that Davis would contribute. Nate McLouth? He had a bit of a comeback year and could make the Orioles feel like they’d be selling high. Well they would be selling high, so that’s no good for the Sox.

What I took the long way to tell you is there really isn’t much to be done with the Orioles. They are interested in Gavin Floyd, good for them. I’d like to add Justin Upton, good for me. Nothing’s likely to get done that appeases either of our roster desires. Sometimes when things pop up on your radar, you fire a torpedo. Sometimes you just listen to the beeps.

Unless…do you think they’d give us Wilson Betemit back?