NEW YORK — NEW YORK -- One week before Friday's nonwaiver trade deadline, the Orioles are in their usual position as sellers, looking to move a couple of their veterans to augment their young nucleus.
The Orioles haven't made a major trade-deadline deal since sending Larry Bigbie to the Colorado Rockies for Eric Byrnes in a swap of outfielders on July 30, 2005, almost two years before Andy MacPhail took over the club's front office.
"This is the time of the year that general managers live for, really," said MacPhail, the Orioles' president of baseball operations. "Obviously, it's a lot more fun when you're a game ahead or behind and you're trying to find a player to put you over the top. But in this circumstance, you're trying to take advantage of an opportunity to make your organization better in the future. At the end of the day, if we didn't do anything, it would be a little disappointing. But at the same time, you don't want to fall into doing something for the sake of doing something."
Closer George Sherrill has attracted interest from a number of teams and is one of the most coveted names on the trade market. Several of the Orioles' other trade chips have either failed to match last season's production (Aubrey Huff and Melvin Mora) or have struggled recently (Danys Baez). Still, MacPhail said he has been pleased with the interest in several of his players.
"The volume of calls has picked up," MacPhail said. "Like always, we'll evaluate things on a case-by-case basis and see what makes sense for us. But we don't have anything going on now to make us believe that something is close."
Here's a closer look at some of the Orioles' most-discussed trade chips. (Potential suitors are based on the needs of other clubs and not necessarily actual talks with the Orioles):
Danys Baez
Why he'll be traded: : Many teams are looking for relief help at the deadline. ... The right-hander is valuable as a multi-inning guy who can fill the setup role and has closer experience. ... The Orioles are eager to move him and aren't expecting much in return.
Why he won't: : He has thrown back-to-back days only once, so durability is an issue. ... He's still due about $2 million this season, and the Orioles will likely have to absorb a lot of that if they expect a mid-level prospect in return. ... His contract calls for a $500,000 assignment bonus to be paid by team that acquires him. ... He has struggled recently, his ERA jumping from 3.03 to 4.60 over his past 10 outings.
