Orioles ship righty Jeremy Guthrie to Colorado

In a somewhat-surprising trade, the Baltimore Orioles shipped one of their top starters, Jeremy Guthrie, to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for pitchers Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom Monday.



It appears as if the deal was spurred by stalled contract negotiations between the Orioles and Guthrie, who has been the team's Opening Day starter three of the past four seasons. Guthrie avoided arbitration with Colorado by agreeing to a one-year, $8.2 million contract with the Rockies after the trade. 

Guthrie, 32, has spent the last five seasons in Baltimore after pitching three seasons in Cleveland. He has a career 47-65 record and a 4.19 ERA. Last season he lost a American League-high 17 games and posted a 4.33 ERA. His record was clearly deflated by the fact that the Orioles were an AL East bottom-feeder throughout his time there.

A 2002 first-round pick out of Stanford, Guthrie joins the Rockies rotation that has been depleted by an injury to Jorge De La Rosa and the trade of Ubaldo Jimenez. Guthrie is likely to slot in at or near the top of the rotation with Jhoulys Chacin. 

Hammel, 29, pitched both in the rotation and the bullpen for Colorado last year, going 7-13 with a 4.62 ERA. Lindstrom, 31, was a setup man for the Rockies last year, and the hard-throwing righty went 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA pitching in hitting-friendly Denver last year.

My initial thoughts on this trade is that it doesn't make much sense for Baltimore. If they are going to trade one of their top starters, why not get some young prospects? Hammel and Lindstrom aren't part of their future, and the Orioles aren't going to win now with the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays in their division. But feel free to disagree.