Baltimore Orioles rumoured to be interested in Seattle Mariners infielder Justin Smoak- MLB News
The Baltimore Orioles have had a rather quite off-season thus far and no high profile or unexpected signing has been made by the team. Some quarters have criticised the actions and have suggested that the lack of action on the part of birds may see their
good work in 2012 go down the drain in 2013.
Manager Buck Showalter has a different view on things who recently said that the best moves sometimes are the ones that are not made. He is an experienced manager who has been known to transform teams from bottom of the table dwellers into contenders.
The Baltimore ball club has been making some moves though and the latest one rumoured is a potential trade with the Seattle Mariners for Justin Smoak as a first baseman. If there is any truth to speculation, it is quite possible that one of many young pitchers
that the Orioles posses may be packing his bags.
Justin has had a mixed start to his career in the Majors. In the three years so far, he has a batting average of .223 with a .306 on-base percentage. During this period, the 26-year-old has managed 154 RBI’s and has gone long on 47 occasions. He has 281
career hits with over a hundred hits in both of last two seasons.
His numbers in the field are quite good. He has been on the first base in all of his 333 games in the Majors and posts a .995 fielding percentage. In 2012, he had 1094 putouts and 70 assists with four errors committed in a total of 1156 chances.
He has, however, not lived up to the expectations that the fans had from him and has been unable to secure the first base as his. With Kendrys Morales acquired by the Mariners from the Los Angeles Angels, matters will further complicate for Smoak if he stays
with the Seattle ball club.
The Baltimore Orioles had previously been interested in Justin but adding him to their ranks was something that just did not happen. In 2008, the O’s were interested in Justin during the draft but went with Brian Matusz in the first round and Smoak was picked
by the Texas Rangers as the 11th pick in the first round.
The Orioles also have the option to go with free agent Adam La Roche. However, if they do so, they will lose their first round pick in the draft in 2013 as Adam did receive a qualifying offer from the Washington Nationals, his team in the 2012 season.
It would be interesting to see if the Orioles decide to go after Justin with intent. He has the ability to do well at the highest level but he will have to translate that ability into performance to be a permanent fixture of the Mariners or in case of a
trade the Orioles or any other team.
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