The wild final week of pre-waiver trading is over and the Orioles are clearly less-equipped to finish the 2009 season on an upswing than they were before closer George Sherrill headed off to Mannywood.
That doesn't mean they won't be better off down the line, but it raises all sorts of questions about the timetable for Andy MacPhail's rebuilding plan and just what the club might look like when it reports to its new spring training home in Sarasota, Fla., in February.
Like, for instance, are the Orioles really focused on being competitive in 2010 or will it be another transitional season?
Based on MacPhail's comments in several print and television interviews during the past few days, the answers to that two-headed question appear to be yes and yes.
The Sherrill deal brought back two Double-A prospects who still need to develop - third baseman Josh Bell and right-handed pitcher Steve Johnson - and created uncertainty in one of the few areas in which the Orioles have been pretty solid the past couple of years.
Talk about mixed signals. MacPhail made it clear earlier this year that the Orioles need to show recognizable improvement at the end of this season to create some momentum for 2010, which - though he didn't specifically articulate it this way - would show the fans and possible free-agent acquisitions that the franchise truly is turning a competitive corner.
He has not backed away from that, but he acknowledged after the Sherrill trade that he had added a little more "short-term pain" to the equation. What that actually means was left unsaid, but it obviously puts manager Dave Trembley in an even more uncomfortable situation as he plays out the final two months of the season with his future riding on the performance of this last-place team.
For the most part, Orioles fans have been on board with the middle stage of the rebuilding effort. That's the stage where the improved minor league depth begins to surface at the major league level, and it has generated real excitement and anticipation about the attractive young players who continue to arrive in Baltimore this season.
The news that broke Saturday that the club is considering promoting 2008 first-round draft choice Brian Matusz to fill the spot in the rotation left by injured starter Brad Bergesen is just another reason for fans to keep paying attention. But the Sherrill deal still has to be viewed as an indication that the transition period between the player development stage and the competitive stage is going to stretch further into 2010 than a lot of fans would like.
